PM Modi to Inaugurate 306-km Stretch of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor on January 7: PMO

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 306-km New Rewari-New Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) via video-conferencing on January 7, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Tuesday. Modi will also flag off the world’s first double-stack long-haul 1.5-km-long container train hauled by electric traction from New Ateli-New Kishangarh during the event.

The governors and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Haryana, along with Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, will be present on the occasion. 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). It consists of nine newly-built DFC stations, of which six are crossing stations — New Dabla, New Bhagega, New Sri Madhopur, New Pachar Malikpur, New Sakun and New Kishangarh — while the other three at New Rewari, New Ateli and New Phulera are junction stations.

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. This section will also ensure a seamless connectivity with the western ports of Kandla, Pipavav, Mundhra and Dahej in Gujarat. With the inauguration of this section, a seamless connectivity between the WDFC and the EDFC will be achieved. Earlier, the 351-km New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of the EDFC was dedicated to the nation by the prime minister on December 29.

The wagons on a long-haul double-stack container train on the WDFC can carry four times in terms of container units compared to the current traffic on the Indian Railway tracks, the PMO said. The DFCCIL will run freight trains at the maximum speed of 100 km per hour as against the current maximum speed of 75 kmph on Indian Railway tracks, whereas the average speed of freight trains will also be increased from the existing 26 kmph on Indian Railway tracks to 70 kmph on DFC.

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