Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 306-km New Rewari-New Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) virtually on Thursday, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. The statement said PM Modi will also flag off the world’s first Double Stack Long Haul 1.5km container train hauled by electric traction from Haryana’s Ateli to Kishangarh in Rajasthan.
Governors and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Haryana along with Union minister Piyush Goyal will also be present at the occasion.
Here’s what you need to know:
Rewari-Madar section of WDFC
1. The Rewari-Madar section is situated in Haryana, approximately 79km in Mahendragarh and Rewari districts and Rajasthan approximately 227km, in Jaipur, Ajmer, Sikar, Nagaur and Alwar districts.
2. It consists of nine newly-built DFC stations in which six are crossing stations of New Dabla, New Bhagega, New Sri Madhopur, New Pachar Malikpur, New Sakun and New Kishangarh while the other three are in Rewari, New Ateli and New Phulera are junction stations.
3. The opening of this stretch will benefit various industries in Rewari, Manesar, Narnaul, Phulera and Kishangarh areas of Rajasthan and Haryana and will also enable better usage of the container depot of CONCOR at Kathuwas.
4. This section will also ensure seamless connectivity with the western ports of Kandla, Pipavav, Mundhra, and Dahej in Gujarat.
5. The inauguration of this section will bring about seamless connectivity between the WDFC and EDFC. The Prime Minister dedicated the 351km New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of EDFC on December 29, 2020.
Double Stack Long Haul Container Train Operation
1. This operation will have an enhanced axle load of 25 tonnes.
2. It has been designed for the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) by Research Design and Standards Organisation’s (RDSO) wagon department. Trial runs of BLCS-A and BLCS-B wagon prototypes have been completed.
3. The design will maximise capacity utilisation and uniform distributed and point loading. These wagons on a long-haul double-stack container train on the WDFC can carry four times in terms of container units compared to the current traffic on Indian Railways.
4. DFCCIL will run freight trains at the maximum speed of 100km/per hour as against the current maximum speed of 75kmph on the Indian Railways’ tracks.
5. The average speed of freight trains will also be increased from the existing speed of 26kmph on Indian Railways lines to 70kmph on DFC.
