OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2015. One of the flagship projects of Indian Railways namely Dedicated Freight Corridor continues to maintain implementation tempo. The Nodal PSU of Indian Railways entrusted with the implementation of this project namely Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) achieved yet another milestone by successfully awarding the System Contract for Bhaupur (Kanpur) - Khurja Section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) Phase- I to AIL-ATSA JV. This section has a 343 kms. (Double Track) length. This contract has been awarded on Design Build lump sum basis at a cost of about Rs.1497 crore. The work involves Design and Construction of Electrification, Signalling, Telecommunication, Buildings and other associated works. The contract has been awarded through International Competitive Bidding Process. The work is funded by World Bank.

The Electrification work includes Traction Power Supply, Over Head Equipment (OHE) and state of art SCADA for 2X25 kV System. The Signalling and Telecommunication work includes Automatic Signalling, Electronic Interlocking, Train Detection using Multi Section Digital Axle Counters (MSDAC), Train Management System, OFC based communication system, GSM-R based Mobile Train Radio Communication etc. The Building work includes Station Buildings, Operation Control Centre (OCC), Maintenance Depots and Residential Quarters. The Bhaupur-Khurja Section will have 10 stations at a spacing of 35-40 Kms of which 4 are Junction Stations connecting to Indian Railways for exchange of freight traffic. The system shall be designed to carry long Haul (1500 M.) Freight trains of 13000 tons at a maximum speed of 100 kmph and will improve the present average speed of 25 kmph on Indian Railway to 65 kmph. The contract for Civil Work is already awarded and the construction work is progressing at a fast pace. The complete Bhaupur – Khurja section is planned for opening during 2018.

DFCCIL, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is engaged in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors and in the first phase, the two corridors, namely, Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1840 kms) and the Western Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) (1502 kms) are being constructed. The entire Western Corridor is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), while the Eastern Corridor from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World Bank.