PM inaugurates the New Bhaupur- New Khurja Section and the Operation Control Centre of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
New Delhi: The New Bhaupur- New Khurja section and the Operation Control Centre of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor was inaugurated today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conference. Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said today when the first goods train runs in the Khurja Bhaupur freight corridor provided with the modern rail infrastructure, one could hear the “roar of the self reliant India”. He said Prayagraj Operation Control center is one of the modern control centres and a symbol of the new strength of the new India. He reiterated that the Government was focussing on the five wheels of highways, railways, airways, waterways and i-ways. He said today’s inauguration of a large section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor was a big step in this direction.
The Prime Minister stressed on the need for these dedicated freight corridors. He said as the population grew, economy grew, the demand on freight increased manifold. Since both Passenger trains and Goods trains plied on the same track, the speed of the goods train was slow. Hence because of the slow speed of the goods train, and with interruption in place, the cost of transportation was high. “Being expensive, our products lose the competition in our markets of the country as well as abroad,” he said and added that the Dedicated Freight Corridor was planned to change this situation.
Initially two Dedicated Freight Corridors were planned. While the Eastern dedicated Freight corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni route has coal mines, thermal power plants and industrial cities, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to Dadri has ports like Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav, Dawri and Hazira. Both corridors would be served through feeder routes. Besides, the Industrial corridor of Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Kolkata were also being developed around both these Freight Corridor. Modi announced that North to south and East to west Corridors were also being planned.
The Prime Minister said with such dedicated freight corridors problems of delayed passenger trains would be resolved. Due to this speed of the freight train also would increase 3 times and would be able to carry double the volume of goods. He added when goods trains arrive on time the cost of our Logistics Network would be cheaper. When our goods will be cheaper, it would benefit our exports. He said it would create a better atmosphere, Ease of Doing business would increase and India would become an attractive place to invest and many new opportunities for self-employment will also be created.
He said the freight corridor will boost the development of eastern India which is left behind industrially. He said about 60 percent of the corridor falls in UP. It would attract a lot of industries towards UP. He said Kisan Rail would be benefited due to this dedicated freight corridor. “Farmers can send their produce through rail to any big markets across the country, safely and at a low price. Now through this Freight corridor their produce would reach even faster. In Uttar Pradesh a lot of Storage and cold storage facilities have come up due to Kisan Rail,” he said.
