JNPT rail link to DFC soon; operational challenges to continue   

The last leg of the Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) is nearing completion with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPT) rail connectivity to Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) expected by March 2026. Experts warn that crew shortage is expected to hamper the DFC traffic optimisation for next two years.  

The complete operationalisation of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) has been delayed for at least two years due to land acquisition issues for connectivity to the JNPT, India’s largest container gateway.    

However, the Dedicated Freight Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) has a bigger challenge at hand. Even after completion of this key link, total traffic input, and output of DFCCIL is unlikely to be optimised. The biggest challenge is crew shortage.

Sanjiv Garg, Secretary General of the Chartered Institute of Logistics Transport (CILT), says it is unfortunate that although a multi-crore asset has been created (costing almost ₹2 lakh crore), but there are frequent shortage of crews to operate trains on DFC, leading to hold-ups and detentions to freight traffic at interchange junctions between the DFC and IR.

“Although the Indian Railways has kept the provision of crew in the DFC within its control, but it has not been able to make available the required number of loco pilots for working trains on DFC,” said Garg, former Additional Member, Railway Board.

Crew shortage

A recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways noted that the DFCCIL acknowledged that the availability of crew if the biggest challenge in running of trains.

“The crew for running the trains is provided by the neighbouring zonal railways. There is issue of outstation rest for the crew on DFCCIL stations. Since the running rooms are available on Indian Railways’ stations, the commute of crew from DFCCIL station to Indian Railways’ station is long and is affecting the availability of the crew,” the DFCCIL told the parliamentary panel.

It further said that due to the congestion on the feeder routes and other infrastructure constraints on the feeder routes, the total traffic input and output of DFCCIL is not optimised. Also, the congestion at the Indian Railways’ terminals results in stabling of trains on DFCCIL.

DFCCIL in its further submission regarding its framework has stated that it is an infrastructure company and as per Railway Board’s instructions, DFCCIL has been given the mandate that crew and moving infrastructure will be provided by Indian Railways. Accordingly, locomotives, wagons and crew are provided by Indian Railways and DFCCIL maintains and operates tracks.

Garg says Railways should grant freedom to DFCCIL for recruitment of its own crews for efficient train operations on the dedicated freight corridors.

“Otherwise, the challenge of crew shortages on the DFC is likely to hamper DFC operations for next 2-3 years, even if DFCCIL attains project completion which will prevent the harnessing of full benefits of such an expensive transport infrastructure asset,” he said.

According to Indian railways, the sanctioned strength of loco pilots is 1,42,814 but actual strength is 1,07, 928, a shortage of 34, 886. Moreover, passenger trains get preference for crew over freight trains. Some container train operators have informed railways that their trains are stuck for hours due to crew shortage on the DFCs.   

Private investment

There are three new DFCs planned and as per the mandate given by Indian Railways, DFCCIL undertook and completed the work of Preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of these sections. It includes East Coast, East West, and North South. The DPRs for above corridors have been submitted to the Railway Board and are under consideration of the Railway Board.

However, Railways has failed to get private investment for these key infrastructure projects.

Replying to query of the parliament committee about lack of private sector participation in creation of DFCs, DFCCIL said: “Private sector participation in Railway infrastructure creation has remained a challenge due to high capital investment requirement, long gestation periods leading to delayed returns, and revenue uncertainties linked to traffic diversion by the Indian railways.”

It said that the Sonnagar-Dankuni section of Eastern DFC was planned under PPP model to attract private investment.

“Despite multiple rounds of consultations, conferences with the prospective investors and suitable modifications in the bid conditions, the private sector response remained tepid. Consequently, Indian Railways had to abandon the PPP approach and opt for government equity funding,” it added.