New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- The Railway Board is accelerating the roll-out of the newly announced 2,100 km Dankuni-Surat Dedicated Freight Corridor, a rail project which has been emphasised in the Union Budget 2026.

Rail minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed officials to ensure a speedy execution of this vital rail project, which is aimed at speeding up the rate of east-west freight traffic as well as decongesting the existing rail network.

The corridor would extend from West Bengal to Gujarat, and it would also traverse states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra. This corridor, once it comes into force, would make freight transport much more efficient and would reduce the transit time for goods trains.

The officials at the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) have been asked to decide on the optimal technology standards, which need to be based on the latest technology available for freight logistics. Some of the proposed features being reviewed at present include high-capacity electrification, removal of level crossings, and the use of technologies such as Kavach for signalling.

The DPR for the corridor will be updated to reflect changes in costing and other factors. Officials say this will be useful for better planning and budgeting, allowing for parallel execution of different segments.

In order to move the process faster, the project will be divided into smaller areas, and dedicated core teams will be deployed to closely monitor the process. Secondly, the Railway Board will also ensure that all preparatory work before construction is done and moved forward, together with the preparation of contract documents, to avoid delays during rollout.

There is a study underway to identify the optimal manpower required for the corridor.

The Railway Board will review the progress weekly, keeping a note of what actions are taken, what milestones are met, and what support is required to ensure smooth and uninterrupted implementation.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.