Analysis: Potential Impacts of Dedicated Freight Corridors in Indian Economy

For years, freight trains suffered second class treatment as express trains and other passenger trains got priority to use the tracks. As a result, goods never reached their destination in time. Both industry and the railways suffered as a result. Exporters, anxious to reach their consignments to destination within deadline, were among those who preferred to move their goods by road, even though it is a far more expensive mode of transportation. This led to a sharp decline in share of freight carried by railways from 86 per cent in 1950-51 to 36 per cent by 2011-12, even as total freight traffic grew exponentially. In comparison, in many countries, about 50 per cent of freight moves through the railway network. So providing separate and exclusive tracks for freight trains is the need of hour.

Following are its benefits:

1. The existing rail network runs on a combination on diesel and electricity. But the dedicated freight corridor will operate entirely on electric trains so there will be less generation of greenhouse gases.
2. The new tracks being laid for the freight corridor can handle heavier trains – this will increase freight handling capacity of railways. Freight train capacity is proposed to be more than doubled from the current 6,000 tonnes to 13,000 tonnes. The western corridor would primarily cater to containerised traffic, mostly exports and imports, while the eastern corridor will be used most to move coals from mines in east India to power plants in north. It is also proposed to operate double stack container trains, thereby increasing the handling capacity of the railways and also help decongest ports when consignments arrive. Therefore overall it will help in faster movement of goods.
3. Moving most freight trains to the new corridor will also benefit passengers – it will reduce congestion on the main tracks and enable passenger trains to move faster.

Construction of will lead to multiplier effects for economy. For example, higher economic growth requires investment in infrastructure. These corridors will help in faster transport of raw material like cement; steel etc. Along with this transportation cost will also decrease.