Dedicated Freight Corridor: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for strict monitoring of work, suggests incentives for contractors

New Delhi: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday (September 1) reviewed the progress of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL), directing the DFFCIL management team and the contractors to take all possible steps to speed up the pace of works on all the sections of the Western DFC (1504 route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km). 

In the review meeting, which was attended by all the top officials of Railways Board, DFCCIL including CRB and MD/DFCCIL, and the contractual agencies, the progress of each individual section was discussed in detail, and instructions were given to ensure smooth progress by resolving all hindrances, according to an official statement.

In order to fast track the project, the Railway Minister suggested a slew of measures:

1. Holding regular weekly meetings with all contractors, vendors, and suppliers.

2. Work out the possibility of offering some kind of incentives to contractors willing to take up and finish their work before the stipulated time frames.

3. Creation of a Dashboard by DFCCIL for real-time ‘Km by Km’ project monitoring and follow up. This would also be accessible to the Railway Board officials. The provision of dashboard will help in the resolution of all contract implementation matters on an urgent basis and would also act as an Institutional mechanism for resolving contract related issues through the dashboard.

The meeting decided that strict monitoring of the work of all contractors to be done. Resolution of all issues, including coordination with the states to be done on a mission mode. The Ministry has already written letters to all the concerned states to resolve the pending issues of land, ROBs, and law and order. 

Notably, the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) is one of the largest rail infrastructure projects (total length of 3360 route km) undertaken by the government. The overall cost is pegged at Rs 81,459 crores. DFCCIL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to undertake planning, development, mobilization of financial resources, construction, maintenance, and operation of Dedicated Freight Corridors.

Freight loading for August 2020 

Indian Railways has achieved a significant milestone in pulling freight traffic ahead. Indian Railways Freight loading for the month of August 2020 surpasses last year’s loading for the same month, said the ministry.

In the month of August 2020, Indian Railways loading was 94.33 million tonnes which are 3.31 million tonnes higher compare to last year’s loading for the same month (91.02 million tonnes).

In the month of August 2020, Indian Railways loading was 94.33 million tonnes which include 40.49 million tonnes of coal, 12.46 million tonnes of iron ore, 6.24 million tonnes of foodgrains, 5.32 million tonnes of fertilizers, 4.63 million tonnes of cement (excluding clinker), and 3.2 million tonnes of mineral oil.

Improvements in freight movements will be institutionalized and incorporated in the upcoming zero-based time table. A number of concessions/ discounts are also being given in Indian Railways to make Railways Freight movement very attractive.