Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday said his ministry has sanctioned the preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for new Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) on three routes and their outcome would be the primary basis for arriving at an investment decision.
Vaishnaw said due to continuous economic growth, demand for rail transportation in both passenger and freight sectors is continuously increasing and the Indian Railways is constantly endeavouring to increase its capacity over a large number of routes to meet this growing demand.
"The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned preparation of DPRs for new DFCs on three routes, including the East Coast Corridor- Kharagpur to Vijayawada (1115 kms)," he said during Question Hour.
The minister said the work of preparation of DPRs has been entrusted to M/s Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public sector unit under the Railways ministry.
He said the outcome of the DPRs would be the primary basis for arriving at an investment decision as the report would essentially bring out some key data such as alignment, technical feasibility, major streams of freight and growth potential of key sectors along the corridor, financial internal rate of return (FIRR), economic internal rate of return (EIRR) and other relevant details.
"None of the DFCs has been sanctioned yet and any further decision with regard to taking up the new DFCs may be taken on the basis of the final outcome of DPR and other factors like financing options etc," he said. The three projects are East-Coast Corridor, East-West Sub-Corridor and North-South Corridor.
With PTI inputs.
