On 12th March 2024, the Indian government opened new sections of the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC). These include the 401 km section from New Khurja to Sahnewal of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and the 244 km section from New Makarpura to New Gholvad of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC). The DFCs, totalling 2,843 km in length, cost an estimated €13.7 billion (INR 1.24 trillion). While the construction of the 1,337 km EDFC has been completed, around 14% of the work on the 1,506 km WDFC is still pending. In particular, the 109 km Vaitarna – Mumbai section is expected to be completed by 2025. Indian state railway IR has committed to shifting 70% of its rail freight transport services to the DFCs. Around 250 freight trains currently run on the completed sections of the two DFCs every day, which corresponds to a transport performance of 304 million gross tkm.
