Dedicated Freight Corridor(DFC)


by Satyasiddha Mishra

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited(DFCCIL) is a Public Sector undertaking, run by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. The purpose of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was to create a separate line for the running of the goods trains. These trains are said to be the ‘Cash Cows’ of the Indian Railways! But the irony is that these are the most ignored by the Railways, which is indeed an irony! 

Whenever we travel by a train, we can observe that a goods train is on halt in every place possible, sometimes in the middle of nowhere! The reason being passenger trains are given priority as the general public is involved! It is said that with every 100 rupees Railways earns, they have to spend 115 rupees to maintain it! And even with that, most of the money has to be spent on passenger trains!

Goods trains have a lower running cost but a higher return! But due to both goods and passenger trains running on the same line and passenger trains getting preferential treatment for obvious reasons, Indian Railways have suffered. Goods movement has become expensive due to delays, even though practically it is one of the cheapest modes of transportations, only after water transport! This has led to a decreasing share for Railways in the field of transportation. 

In the year 1950, the share of Railways was 80%, with Roadways taking the remaining 20%. But today the share of Railways has fallen to a dismal 30%, with Roadways taking 70% of the share! With the increase in share of Road Transport, traffic congestion, pollution and accidents on roads, has increased manifold in recent times! 

The DFC would replace 4 lakh trucks in each Corridor, which would not only significantly contribute towards reduction of carbon particulates in the atmosphere but also reduce congestion and bottlenecks, in the Road and Rail networks significantly.

One might say that this will lead to joblessness among truck drivers and closure of many transport businesses. But that’s not the case, as for short distance travel and last mile connectivity, Roadways are still very much important. Railways travel on main lines and transport to a particular destination is always done via Roads in India. 

The DFC will rather help truck drivers as they will be free from long distances. It is quite common for them to drive for two to three days with hardly any time to sleep properly! This is said to have a detrimental effect on their health and thereby, leading to accidents due to various individual lapses like drinking and driving etc. 

The DFC is said to be fully electric and with the introduction of WAG – 12 locomotives, it is indeed a ‘Game Changer.’ This locomotive has been developed by Alstom in its factory in Madhepura, Bihar. It has hooping power of 12,000 horse power (HP) with a load pulling capacity of 6,000 tons at the maximum speed of 100 kmph! (Imagine, it has the collateral power of pulling about 100 elephants on freight!)

This will in turn lower our fuel imports, as the largest import cost is always that of fuel, due to scarcity of crude oil reserves. This will lead to lowering of trade deficit, thereby strengthening our economy. What a miracle it will lead to!

But the biggest benefit of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) is the lowering of logistic cost! It is said that in China logistics and transportation constitute only 6% of a product’s cost but in India, sadly it is close to 30%! With the introduction of DFC, product cost will reduce considerably. This will make our products more competitive in both our domestic and international markets. 

Consequently, it will increase our exports, thereby boosting our economy. The day is not far when India will become a trade surplus country rather than its current trade deficit position. So the choice is in our own hands. Should we transport our goods by cheaper goods trains or send them by the expensive road transport through trucks?

Sanjay Kumar Mishra
WhatsApp# +919981411674
snjymshr64@gmail.com
Department of English
Rajkumar College, Raipur
Chhattisgarh, India

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