The last and most crucial part of the multi-crore Dedicated Freight Corridor - which is land acquisition - will be completed by September, at least in Maharashtra. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) needs only 4.5 hectare of land from the total 229 hectare that has been acquired from districts of Palghar, Raigad and Thane. This corridor will be beneficial as the load of running goods and freight trains will be completely cleared from the tracks on which suburban and long-distance trains ply.

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Sources said that on August 23, CM Devendra Fadnavis enquired about the development of this project and fast track the process as well. Off the 1504 kms stretch between JNPT-Dadri, there are 427 kms that fall under Maharashtra. There are 3200 project affected people (PAPs) who have been staying on these lands and shall now be compensated for the same. Sources said that these PAPs are not only being given 4 times of their land cost but also alternate place to stay in Kalyan.

"Nearly 700 homes are ready. The state government has agreed to give 3000 more homes for the PAPs who have started coming forward," said a senior railway official. For each district an official has been appointed who is going through the process of rehabilitation and land acquisition. The compensation is expected to touch near Rs 200 crore plus 265 sq.feet homes for the displaced.

The stretch between Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT)-Kopar is already free and track laying can be done. On August 15, the rail authorities ran a trial on 190 kms stretch between Ateli in Haryana and Phulera in Rajasthan that falls under western corridor of DFC. The railways are looking at running freight trains at 100 kmph which otherwise run at 25-30 kmph.

These Goods trains will also be 1.5kms long instead of the existing 750 meters in length. Around 38000 trees in Maharashtra has been cut for this Rs 44500 crore DFC. In Mumbai and it's MMR there are 6000 trees between JNPT and Gholvad. These would be double stacked that would allow single wagon to carry 15000 tonnes of containers instead of the current capacity of 4000 tonnes.

Once the corridor is ready all the way - till Dadri goods train can leave from JNPT, go via Panvel and Vasai and onwards - would reach within 24 hours instead of the existing run of 3 days. The project was first inaugurated on October 2006 by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Parel.

WHAT'S THE NEED

  • This corridor will be beneficial as load of running goods & freight trains will be cleared from tracks on which suburban & long-distance trains ply   
  • On Aug 23, CM asked to speed up project