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For the first time, Railways allows empty passenger trains to run on Dedicated Freight Corridor – Here’s why

Dedicated Freight Corridor: For the first time, Indian Railways (IR) has permitted the movement of empty passenger trains on the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) network.

the national transporter has planned to run 1,500 special trains to manage the heavy passenger rush ahead of Chhath Puja. (Image: Southern Railway)

Dedicated Freight Corridor: For the first time, Indian Railways (IR) has permitted the movement of empty passenger trains on the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) network. The DFC, primarily developed to boost freight transportation and enhance logistics efficiency, has now been utilized for this unique operational move.

Speaking to Indianexpress.com, a senior railway official has confirmed the development. “This is for first time, empty coaching rake movement in DFCCIL line permitted.”

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Why did Indian Railways allow the movement of passenger train rakes over the DFC network?

Elaborating further, the railway official explained that the coaching rake movement was permitted to enable the operation of a larger number of passenger and express trains during the ongoing festive season. “Passenger and express trains can be run in large numbers,” the official told Indianexpress.com.

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The move will greatly benefit passengers traveling to their hometowns for the Chhath Puja festival. This year, Chhath Puja will be celebrated from October 25 to October 28.

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Chhath Puja Special Trains 2025

In addition to the regular trains, the national transporter has planned to run 1,500 special trains to manage the heavy passenger rush ahead of Chhath Puja. It is operating more than 12,000 special trains across the country between October 1 and November 30, 2025 — a span of 61 days.

Dedicated Freight Corridors in India

The railways is constructing two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km).

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Apart from these, the Ministry of Railways has undertaken the work of preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for following three (03) new Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs).

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East-Coast Corridor: Kharagpur to Vijayawada
East-West corridor: (a) Palghar-Bhusawal-Nagpur-Kharagpur-Dankuni and (b) Rajkharsawan – Kalipahari – Andal
North-South Sub-corridor: Vijayawada-Nagpur–Itarsi

However, in a statement issued in March 2025, the Railways said: “None of the above three DFCs have been sanctioned yet. The DFC Projects are highly capital intensive and the final decision regarding the sanction of any DFC Project depends upon many factors such as technical feasibility, financial & economic viability, traffic demand and availability of funds & financial options etc.”

Anish Mondal

Anish Mondal is a business journalist with over nine years of experience. He writes on diverse subjects such as Infrastructure, Railways, Roadways, Aviation, Politics, Market, Parliamentary affairs, Corporate earnings, General and International news etc. ... Read More

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