World Bank team to assess Indian Railways' eastern freight corridor project

A six-member World Bank team will hold discussions with Indian Railways about the funding requirements for the ambitious dedicated eastern freight corridor project.

Indian Railways, which has approached the World Bank for funding the Rs12,000 crore eastern dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project, will present a detailed report of the plan to the visiting team, as there are certain World Bank guidelines which need to be adhered for receiving any fund, a railway ministry official said.

While the World Bank team will be in New Delhi on 14 July, another delegation from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will also visit India tomorrow to assess the engineering and environment aspect of the western corridor of the dedicated freight corridor.

JBIC is expected to fund the 1,483 km long western freight corridor project estimated to cost about Rs16,000 crore.

The DFC to be commissioned as part of the long term railway strategy aims at separating freight and passenger corridors.     

The corridor will be used exclusively for operating freight trains at a maximum permissible speed of 100 kmph.         

All the procedures including land acquisition, compensation, tendering process, procurement involved in the eastern freight corridor are expected to be discussed with the World Bank officials during their visit, said the official.