World Bank to fund India’s EDFC
Published: Tue, 2014-12-16 15:50The Government of India and the World Bank recently signed an agreement worth USD 1.1 billion to secure the second loan for the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). The 1839 km long Eastern Corridor extends from Ludhiana in the state of Punjab to Kolkata in West Bengal.
“The EDFC will ease congestions choking the railway system and reduce travel-time for passenger trains plying on this arterial Ludhiana-Delhi-Mughal Sarai railway route. The corridor will add additional rail transport capacity, improve service quality and create higher freight capacity,” said Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
The project will help increase the capacity of freight-only lines by raising the axle-load limit from 22.9 to 25 tonnes and enable speeds of up to 100 km/hr. It will also help develop the institutional capacity of the DFCCIL to build and maintain the DFC infrastructure network.