Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor in Uttar Pradesh via video conferencing.
The 351-km section, which has been built at a cost of ₹5,750 crore, will open new avenues for local industries in Uttar Pradesh.
The prime minister also inaugurated the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor's (EDFC) operation control centre at Prayagraj.
Here are 10 points on the newly inaugurated section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor:
1) The EDFC is 1,840-km-long in total and extends from Ludhiana in Punjab to Kolkata in West Bengal.
2) The new freight section will open new vistas of opportunity for local industries such as aluminium industry in Pukhrayan region of Kanpur Dehat, dairy sector of Auraiya, textile production and block printing of Etawah, glassware industry of Firozabad, pottery products of Khurja, asafoetida or 'heeng' production of Hathras, and locks and hardware of Aligarh district, according to officials
3) The section will also decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi mainline and will enable the Indian Railways to run faster trains.
4) PM Modi also inaugurated the EDFC's operation centre at Prayagraj and flagged off the first 1.5 km long goods trains.
5) While inaugurating, the prime minister said that on coming to power, he personally monitored the project and held a dialogue with the stakeholders and got new technology as a result of which about 1100 km work will be completed in the next few months.
6) Modi also hit out at previous governments for delaying the Dedicated Freight Corridor project and ignoring modernisation of railways.
7) "We changed this work culture and thinking after 2014 and ending the separate Railway budget, invested in rail tracks, ended unmanned crossings, focussed on broadening and electrification of the network, he said.
8) Echoing on the lines of the prime minister, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that Railways should gear up to ensure all last mile connectivity as it speeds up the problem progress of DFCs in the country.
9) The minister also suggested the formation of dedicated management teams, led by a senior official for each project of Railways, for day to day effective monitoring and resolution of the project issues.
10) Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km including Sonnagar-Dankuni PPP Section).
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