PM Modi to inaugurate New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of eastern freight corridor on Dec 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the ‘New Bhaupur - New Khurja section’ of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) on December 29 at 11 am via video conferencing.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Modi will also inaugurate EDFC’s Operation Control Centre (OCC) at Prayagraj.

Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Piyush Goyal will also be present on the occasion.

The 351 km New Bhaupur - New Khurja section of EDFC is situated in Uttar Pradesh and is built at a cost of Rs 5,750 crores. The section will open new vistas of opportunity for the local industries such as aluminium industry (Pukhrayan region of Kanpur Dehat district), dairy sector (Auraiya district), textile production/block printing (Etawah district), glassware industry (Firozabad district), pottery products (Khurja of Bulandshahr district), asafoetida or ‘hing’ production (Hathras district) and locks and hardware (Aligarh district). The section will also decongest the existing Kanpur - Delhi main line and will enable Indian Railways to run faster trains.

“A state-of-the-art Operation Control Centre (OCC) at Prayagraj will act as the command centre for the entire route length of the EDFC. The OCC is one of the largest structures of its type globally, with modern interiors, ergonomic design and best-in-class acoustics. The building is environment-friendly with a Green Building rating of GRIHA4 and is built as per norms of the ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’,” the PMO said.

The EDFC which is envisioned over a route of 1,856 km, starts from Sahnewal near Ludhiana in Punjab and will pass through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal.

It is being constructed by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), that has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to build and operate Dedicated Freight Corridors.

DFCCIL is also constructing the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (1,504 route km) that connects Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai and will traverse through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.