The Indian government is likely to abandon plans to construct three new dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) – East Coast, East-West, and North-South – due to low capacity utilization of the existing ones and issues with their network planning. Instead, the focus will shift to building commodity-specific rail networks for specific goods...
more...

like energy, minerals, and cement, as well as for port connectivity and high-traffic density. This change in strategy comes after the recent commissioning of the East and West freight corridors, which have struggled to attract enough customers, resulting in low capacity utilization. The decision was announced by the Finance Minister in the interim budget and aligns with the PM Gati Shakti initiative, aiming to improve multi-modal connectivity and boost GDP growth while reducing logistic costs. While the three proposed DFCs would have totaled 4,315 kilometers in length, the commodity-specific corridors are considered more practical due to their existing customer base and the challenges faced by the existing DFCs.