Rs 20,700 crore, 326 km more: India completes its Dedicated Freight Corridor network as PM Modi inaugurat - The Times of India

**India Completes Dedicated Freight Corridor Network – Rs 20,700 Crore Investment Adds 326 km**

New Delhi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the final stretch of India’s Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) network on Thursday, marking the completion of a project that has cost roughly **Rs 20,700 crore (about $2.5 billion)** and added **326 km** of high‑speed freight line. The ceremony in Vadodara, Gujarat, featured senior officials from the Ministry of Railways, the National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), and state representatives. With the opening of the remaining segment of the Eastern DFC—linking Sonipat to Dadri—the country now boasts a continuous freight‑only rail system of **about 3,300 km**, connecting major industrial corridors from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in the west and Ludhiana to Delhi‑NCR in the east.

The DFC, built as two parallel corridors – the Western (Mumbai–Ahmedabad) and the Eastern (Ludhiana–Dadri) – is designed to run at speeds of up to **100 km/h** for freight trains, enabling the movement of **up to 100 million tonnes of cargo annually**. By segregating freight traffic from the congested passenger network, the corridors are expected to cut logistics costs by **30 percent**, reduce transit times by half, and shift roughly **15 million tonnes of freight from road to rail each year**, thereby cutting greenhouse‑gas emissions. The project also includes state‑of‑the‑art signaling, automated freight terminals, and a fleet of electric locomotives, positioning India’s rail logistics on par with global best practices.

While the inauguration highlighted the economic benefits of the DFC, Modi used the platform to reinforce his government’s broader development narrative, contrasting the completed infrastructure with “unfulfilled promises” of previous administrations. In his remarks, the Prime Minister emphasized that the DFC is a testament to “India’s capacity to deliver world‑class projects on time and within budget,” and urged the opposition to focus on nation‑building rather than political rhetoric. The government has signaled that attention will now shift to expanding the network further eastward and integrating the corridors with upcoming multimodal logistics parks.

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