PM Modi opened three Western Dedicated Freight Corridor sections spanning 326 km at over Rs 20,700 crore, completing India's full DFC network.

India Completes Dedicated Freight Corridor Network

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday opened three new stretches of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), completing India's dedicated freight rail network along its entire planned length. The three sections span 326 route kilometres and were built at a cost of more than Rs 20,700 crore.

The newly commissioned stretches are New Sanand (North) to New Makarpura, New Umbergaon to New Saphale, and New Saphale to New JNPT. Modi also flagged off freight train services from New Sanand (North), New Makarpura, New Umbergaon and New JNPT in Mumbai. With these sections now running, both of the country's freight corridors are fully operational.

The Ministry of Railways built two such corridors. The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) stretches 1,337 km from Ludhiana to Sonnagar. The Western corridor covers 1,506 km, linking Dadri to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT).

The direct rail connection to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) is meant to quicken the flow of export and import cargo, tie industrial centres more closely to ports, lower logistics costs and relieve pressure on Mumbai's crowded suburban rail lines. Railways officials expect the wider corridor system to sharpen multimodal links, shorten transit times and let goods travel more smoothly between regions.

443 trains a day and rising freight volumes

Before the latest sections opened, the two corridors were already carrying an average of about 443 trains every day, according to the Ministry of Railways. The ministry said performance on the corridors has held up well, with freight tonnage climbing, average speeds increasing, turnaround times falling and reliability improving.

Those gains sit within a longer rise in overall rail freight. Indian Railways loaded 1,098 million tonnes in 2014-15. The figure climbed to 1,223 MT in 2018-19, dipped slightly during the pandemic years, then rebounded to 1,418 MT in 2021-22 and kept growing to 1,591 MT in 2023-24. Loading reached 1,670 MT in 2025-26, a level the ministry says makes Indian Railways the world's second-largest freight-carrying rail system.

By diverting goods trains onto the two corridors, the network has released space on the conventional rail system. That freed capacity has let the Railways run additional freight and passenger services elsewhere. The dedicated lines also support Double Stack Container (DSC) trains and higher axle-load wagons, and they open a faster route from the northern interior to western ports.

A new east-west corridor from Dankuni to Surat

The network is set to grow further. The Union Budget for 2026 announced a fresh corridor connecting Dankuni in eastern India with Surat in the west. Work on preparing and updating the Detailed Project Report for that route has already begun.

Beyond the corridors, the Railways is pursuing several measures to lift its share of the country's freight traffic and build stronger first- and last-mile links. Under the Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT) policy, it is encouraging modern rail freight terminals while also upgrading its own goods sheds.

To draw private money into rolling stock, the Railways has rolled out wagon investment schemes, including specialised wagons for commodities such as cement, oil, steel and fly-ash. The Joint Parcel Product-Rapid Cargo Service (JPP-RCS) scheme offers tailored logistics, including door-to-door parcel delivery, and lets customers book parcel space online through aggregators and India Post via a Virtual Aggregation Platform (VAP).

CONCOR, a public sector company under the Ministry of Railways, is using the JPP-RCS scheme to run door-to-door parcel services on the Delhi-Kolkata and Mumbai-Kolkata routes. It is also testing door-to-door logistics through a pilot at the Sonik Goods Shed.

The ministry said these steps together have pushed up both freight loading and revenue for the national carrier over recent years.

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