In a landmark moment, DFCCIL conducted successful trial runs of two fully-loaded freight trains on the Bhaupur –Khurja section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) on 11th December 2020. The trains were remotely flagged-off from both Khurja & Bhaupur by DFCCIL outgoing MD R.N Singh along with newly appointed MD DFCCIL Ravindra Kumar Jain in presence of Alain Spohr, MD Alstom India & South Asia and other Directors of DFCCIL.
The train attained a peak speed of 100 kmph on this 343 kms stretch, which is the only fully functional DFC in the country and has been executed byCommenting on this milestone, Alain SPOHR, Managing Director,India & South Asia, Alstom said, “Congratulations to DFCCIL and kudos to our team at Alstom for doing a stellar job on this only electrified section of DFC.
Alstom is proud to have introduced several ‘firsts’ in India toensure speedy execution on this project. This is also a good reference ofAlstom’s commitment to Make-in-India. The complete design and engineering for OHE electrification, Civil, Power Supply, Signalling has been done indigenously. This begins a new era of freight rail revolution that all stake holders envisioned jointly.”In 2015, Alstom won the contract worth over €200 million to provide theelectrification, signalling and telecommunications system for the 343-kilometre-long eastern portion of the Dedicated Freight Corridor.
As part of the contract, Alstom has also supplied state of the art Signalling System, Telecom System, construction of Traction Sub Stations, station buildings and other civil works and has constructed one of the world’s largest Operations Control Centre (OCC), at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh monitoring operations on the entire eastern stretch of DFC.
What is the extra traffic the freight corridor is supposed to handle ? Will it be cheaper ?