The Indian Railways' quadrilateral linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah, commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral and its two diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah), adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km carries more than 55% of revenue earning freight traffic of IR. The existing trunk routes of Howrah-Delhi on the Eastern Corridor and Mumbai-Delhi on the Western Corridor are highly saturated with line capacity utilization varying between 115% and 150%.

The rapid growth of Indian economy in the last few years has created demand for additional capacity of rail freight transportation, and this is likely to grow further in the future. This burgeoning demand led to the conception of the dedicated freight corridors along the Eastern and Western Routes. Hon'ble Minister for Railways, made this historic announcement on the floor of the House in the Parliament while presenting the Railway Budget for 2005-06.

In April 2005, the Project was discussed at the Japan-India Summit Meeting. It was included in the declaration of co-operation signed between the Hon'ble Prime Ministers of India and Japan for a feasibility study and possible funding of the dedicated rail freight corridors by Japanese Government. The feasibility study report was submitted to Ministry of Railways in October 2007.

In the meanwhile, Ministry of Railways initiated action to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle for construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors. This led to the establishment of “Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCC)”, to undertake planning & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the dedicated freight corridors. DFCC was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act 1956 on 30th October 2006.

• The mission of DFCCIL is encapsulated in the following bullet points.
• Construct, maintain and operate the dedicated freight corridors as a profitable commercial entity.
• Provide a modern, quicker and safer freight transportation system.
• Maximise railways’ share of freight transport business by leveraging quality and pricing of rail freight transport services.
• Leverage reduced emission of Green House Gases by encouraging a modal shift from road to rail.
• Institutionalise an organizational environment that breeds ‘sincerity, speed and success

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle set up under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways to undertake planning & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the Dedicated Freight Corridors. DFCCIL was incorporated in October 2006 under Indian Companies Act 1956.

The plan to construct dedicated freight corridors across the country marks a strategic inflexion point in the history of Indian Railways that has essentially run mixed traffic across its network. Once completed, the dedicated freight corridors will enable Indian Railways to improve its customer orientation and meet market needs more effectively. Creation of rail infrastructure on such a scale - unprecedented in independent India – is also expected to drive the establishment of industrial corridors and logistic parks along its alignment.

In the first phase, DFCCIL will be constructing two corridors – the Western DFC and Eastern DFC- spanning a total length of about 2800 route km. The Eastern Corridor, starting from Ludhiana in Punjab will pass through the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and terminate at Son Nagar in Bihar. The Western Corridor will traverse the distance from Dadri to Mumbai, passing through the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Ministry of Railways (MOR), Government of India have planned to construct Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) covering about 2,762 route kms on two corridors, Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Sonenagar/Dankuni and Western corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai to Tughalkabad/ Dadri near Delhi along with inter-linking of the two corridors at Khurja. The proposal entails construction of mostly Double track railway lines capable of handling 32.5 ton axle load /longer trains and also double stack containers. Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCC), a Government of India Enterprise, is set up for implementation of this project. DFCC is engaged in the construction of eastern and western DFC and, as a part of this endeavor, DFCC intends to invite tender for “Design and Construction of formation including blanketing, Major Bridges, Minor Bridges, RUBs, ROBs, Supply and Spreading of Ballast and other related infrastructural works for Dedicated Freight Corridor from Chainage 14.108 Km (Near New Karwandiya) to Chainage 119.437 Km (Near New Ganj Khawaja) (Approx. 105 KMs) on Mughalsarai-Sone Nagar Section of Eastern Corridor in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India”. (‘0.00’ Chainage starts at Km 550.245 near Sonenagar of IR track)

Dedicated freight corridor from Chainage 14.108 Km (Near New Karwandiya) to Chainage 119.437 Km (Near New Ganj Khawaja) (Approx. 105 KMs) is a part of eastern corridor. This section is located along Gaya-Mughalsarai Section of Delhi-Hawrah Route (via. Grand DFCC Design & Build Contract NKWD-NGAQ Eastern Corriodor Sec I Preamble Page 5/ 18 Chord) of East-Central Railway. The proposed New Karwandiya and New Ganj Khawaja Stations are located near existing Karwandiya station -565 KM of IR track and Ganj Khwaja station of IR tract at KM 666.00. The section traverses through two districts (Rohtas and Kaimur) of Bihar for app. 80 Km and balance in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. Entire proposed DFC alignment on this section is located on north side of existing IR track and is running adjacent to the existing IR Track except where the alignment is taking detour to avoid city congestion at Karmnasa, Said Raja and Chandauli Majhwar modification of existing ROB near Bhabua.