Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the 306-km New Rewari-New Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) to the nation.

• Through video-conferencing, Modi also flagged off the world's first double-stack long-haul 1.5-km-long container train hauled by electric traction from New Ateli-New Kishangarh.
• This dedicated freight corridor project is being seen as a game-changer for India in the 21st century, said Modi.
• The New Rewari-New Madar section of the WDFC is situated in Haryana (approximately 79 km in Mahendragarh and Rewari districts) and Rajasthan (approximately 227 km in Jaipur, Ajmer, Sikar, Nagaur and Alwar districts).
• The opening of this stretch will benefit various industries in the Rewari, Manesar, Narnaul, Phulera and Kishangarh areas of Haryana and Rajasthan and also enable a better usage of the container depot of the CONCOR at Kathuwas.

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

• It is a high speed and high-capacity railway corridor that is exclusively meant for the transportation of freight, or in other words, goods and commodities.
• DFC involves the seamless integration of better infrastructure and state of the art technology.

DFC consists of two arms:

1. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC):

• It starts at Sahnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
• The EDFC route has coal mines, thermal power plants and industrial cities. Feeder routes are also being made for these.
• The EDFC route covers Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal
• The World Bank is funding a majority of the EDFC.

1. Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC):

• The other arm is the around 1,500-km WDFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
• The WDFC covers Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
• It is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
• Connecting Link for Eastern and Western Arm: It is under construction between Dadri and Khurja.
• The industrial corridor of Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Kolkata are also being developed around both these DFCs.

Benefits:

• Logistics costs will be reduced.
• Higher energy efficiency.
• Faster movement of goods.
• It is environmentally friendly.
• It will provide ease of doing business.
• Helps in generating more employment.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd.

• DFCCIL under the Ministry of Railways is a special purpose vehicle tasked with planning and completion of 3,306 kms of DFCs.

• It is headquartered in New Delhi and is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU).
• It engages in the planning and development, deployment of monetary resources, building, upkeep, and the operation of the DFCs.