'From files to final track': PM Modi hails completion of India’s 2,843 km Dedicated Freight Corridor

India's Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) network has reached a major milestone with the completion of more than 2,800 km of dedicated freight railway infrastructure.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a "highly historic achievement for India of the 21st century". He made the remarks in Vadodara after dedicating three key sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) to the nation.

The three sections - New Sanand-New Makarpura, New Umbergaon-New Saphale and New Saphale-New JNPT - cover 326 route km and have been developed at a cost of more than ₹20,700 crore.

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'Files were travelling across tables': Modi on DFC delay

Recalling the history of the project, Modi said the idea of a dedicated freight corridor was conceived in 2004, while a dedicated company was established in 2006 to execute it. However, he criticised the pace of implementation before 2014.

“Until 2014, the files simply kept moving from one place to another. The files themselves were travelling across tables… And look at the misfortune, even these files were not fortunate enough to get a dedicated corridor,” Modi said.

He added that despite seven or eight years having passed, “not even one kilometre of the Freight Corridor work could be completed.”

Using the phrase “atakti, latakti, bhatakti”, Modi said files relating to major infrastructure projects had remained stuck, pending or lost in administrative processes.

The Prime Minister said the DFC would have taken much longer had the country continued to function at the earlier pace.

“If the country had continued to function according to their way of working, who knows, even three or four generations after you might have come and gone, and this project would not have been completed,” he said.

'Lifeline of a rapidly developing India'

Modi said the completed freight network is changing the way goods move across the country.

“Dedicated Freight Corridor is the lifeline of a rapidly developing India. It has transformed India’s transportation sector,” he said.

He pointed out that more than 430 freight trains run every day on the two corridors. According to Modi, a freight train that earlier took about 6.5 hours to cover 100 km can now cover the same distance in less than half that time.

Similarly, a journey that takes a truck around 30 hours can be completed in approximately 10-12 hours through the freight corridor.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the capacity advantage of double-stack container trains. He said a recent train carrying cargo from JNPT to Vadodara transported goods equivalent to the load of more than 250 trucks.

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Vaishnaw highlights DFC milestone

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also highlighted the completion of the DFC network in a post on X, underlining the transformation taking place in India's freight transportation system.

The Railway Minister wrote about the Dedicated Freight Corridor as “From files to final track,” saying that it has had a positive impact on the country's logistics sector. He had also said that freight transportation timings had been reduced by half and that the corridor was playing a crucial role in reducing logistics costs.

The completion of the final WDFC sections now connects the freight network more seamlessly with Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), strengthening the link between industrial centres and one of the country's major maritime gateways.

The government has positioned the DFC as a key component of India's logistics infrastructure, aimed at shifting freight movement onto dedicated tracks, easing congestion on conventional railway routes and improving the speed and efficiency of cargo transportation.