Year: 2016

Freight operations on the Indian Railways are set to witness a paradigm shift with the stage-wise completion of its 2 dedicated freight corridors, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC), over the next 4 years, beginning 2017-18. Let’s have some updates from Ministry of Railway!

What are the objectives of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs)?

• To create world-class rail infrastructure with advanced technology and knowledge to carry higher throughput per train.
• To improve overall transport efficiency.
• To offer customer guaranteed, faster transit, energy efficient, environment-friendly transport.
• To encourage total supply chain management.
• Increase Rail share in the freight market.

What’s the mandate for DFCs?

• Effective independence in decision-making and functions with a market focus and business orientation.
• DFCs will provide non-discriminatory access to freight trains belonging to Indian Railways and other qualified operators.
• A Complementing Indian Railways for increasing the Rail share.

So, that’s why Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) come into picture?

• Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle set up under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways.
• To undertake planning & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the DFCs.
• DFCCIL has been set up with 100% equity by Ministry of Railways and registered as a company under the Companies Act 1956 on 30th October, 2006.

Did you know about Golden Quadrilateral ?

• The genesis of the Dedicated Freight Corridor is due to saturation in rail transportation capacity of Indian Railways on the Golden Quadrilateral.
• The Indian Railways’ network linking the 4 metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah, along with its 2 diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah) commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral.
• Adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km, carries more than 58% of its revenue earning freight traffic.

What are the reasons that led to demand for additional capacity for rail freight transportation?

• Growing international trade along existing Eastern and Western Routes.
• In the first phase, the Government of India has approved construction of two corridors-the Western DFC (1504 route km) and Eastern DFC (Estimated 1856 route km)- spanning a total length of about 3360 route km.
• The Eastern Corridor, starting from Dankuni in West Bengal will pass through the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to terminate at Ludhiana in Punjab.
• The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai – Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), will traverse through NCR and the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

How will these corridors helps in Industrial Growth?

Multi Modal Logistic Hubs

• The DFC network would attract setting up of Multimodal Logistics Parks along the corridor to facilitate value addition including packaging, retailing, labeling, pelletizing, transportation etc.
• The last mile connectivity in terms of door to door services will be provided to the customers by 3PL service providers.

Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) & Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC)

• Impact of DFCCIL is visible as a driver of Industrial Growth with planning and development of DMIC & ADKIC along the DFC.
• Industrial Corridors have been planned using the backbone of the DFC.
•  Industrial Corridor will get benefits from the World-Class Rail Infrastructure of the DFC.
• The traffic originating from the Industrialized Corridor will contribute significantly to traffic on the DFC.

Let’s see progress of these 2 significant corridors –

Western Corridor

• Western Corridor comprising of estimated 1504 km of a double line track from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to Dadri via Vadodara-Sanand-Palanpur Phulera-Rewari.
• The Corridor will provide a boost to EXIM Trade.

Eastern Corridor

• The Eastern Corridor with a route length of estimated 1856 km and consisting of the some distinct segments.
• Traffic on EDFC comprises of coal for the power plants in the northern region of India from Coalfields located in state of Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal , finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizer, limestone from Rajasthan to steel plants in the east and general goods.

How will DFC aim at reducing Carbon Footprints?

• DFC aims at to follow a low carbon path adopting various technological options which can help DFC to operate in a more energy-efficient fashion.
• As per detailed study on a Green House Gas (GHS) emission forecasting for a 30-year period Cumulative GHG emissions over the 30-year period in the case of no-DFC scenario would have been 582 million ton CO2 while in the DFC scenario it would be 124.5 million ton CO2.
• This demonstrates that in absence of DFC implementation approximately 4.5 times more GHG would be emitted in 30-year period for freight transportation envisaged on the Eastern and Western Corridor.

Are there any future corridors in the list?

Ministry of Railways has assigned DFCCIL to undertake Preliminary Engineering & Traffic Survey (PETS) for 4 additional corridors, which is in progress.

• East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai) Approx 2330 Kms.
• North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai) Approx 2343 Kms.
• East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijayawada) 1100 Kms.
• Southern Corridor (Chennai-Goa) Approx 899 Kms.
  

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Source - PIB features

The Finance Minister is a worried man. It’s Budget time after all. The top season for unreasonable demands has just begun at the ministry.

On hearing that the FM met with the “captains” of the Indian industry, Mr Bedi alleged that this kind of a “cricket huddle” should not be allowed in the budgeting process. After all, the Finance Ministry is the Deep Deficit Cutting Association aka DDCA. With personal blessings from AAP, he has asked that the FM step down from this DDCA as well.

But the muffler has more to demand from the business suit. “Why is the FM suddenly backtracking on the fiscal consolidation path for the year 2016-17? We are against this. We are basically against everything that the government does. Book the Jantar Mantar for a Dharna! Be fiscally prudent, keep deficits in check. And be physically prudent, wear a muffler in Delhi.”

“Hmph! Prudent or not, he is definitely impudent,” is what the FM was thinking. But then not for nothing is our FM known for keeping his temper in the most trying of circumstances. The good man sent an entire team from Delhi School of Economics to the AAP office to teach them the basic Keynesian model. “When the private investments won’t pick up, the Government spending has to spur the system. Hence, we may have to go soft on fiscal targets next year, so that growth can be on track.” AAP reacted by sending leftists from JNU to the Finance Ministry, causing a nervous breakdown amongst the younger, innocent economists at the Ministry.

In a wild attempt to get some economic sense going, the FM gave personal assurances to AAP that fiscal targets will only be softened for those financial years ending in odd numbers. Thus, we will stick to the FY16 target of 3.9 per cent like a leech, but we go soft in FY17. AAP has finally okayed the proposal.

The NCP in the meanwhile, believes that it has a master solution for the entire macroeconomic framework. It has asked that tax exemptions be given for not only buying the second home, but also the third, fourth and fifth properties. The moment you give these exemptions, people will start buying properties. Voila! Construction will begin anew and all problems concerning low private investment levels will disappear. Not only that, but as this huge inventory of unsold houses reduces, the banking system will also become robust. This is good fiscal and monetary policy, all rolled into one. Dr Rajan, who shuddered after receiving such out-of-the-bank ideas, has said curtly that there is no need for the NCP to get worried about banks.

The UPA scion, fresh from the Europe sojourn, insists that the Indian states are like the European Union. “I know what needs to be done in the Budget! We need to have a common market and a common currency!” On being informed that we already do (just pass the GST!), the UPA has declared that all brand new ideas pertaining to Europeanising Indian markets will only be discussed on the Arnab Goswami show. Rumour is that Mr Goswami has gone into hiding and will only be seen post-Budget.

The PM has suggested from a remote location in Antarctica, that the FM incorporate a “Lambi Udaan, Sasti Udaan” Yojana to give a boost to the airline industry. Subsidies could be declared for frequent fliers.

The poor FM is left wondering how to handle flights of fancy.