Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor or Eastern DFC is a broad gauge freight corridor in India. The railway line runs between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni (near Kolkata) in West Bengal via Meerut and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. This railway line is one of the multiple freight corridors being constructed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a public-sector unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways.

Logistic Hub and Network

A large Logisitic Hub is proposed in Meerut, which is well connected to EDFC and several expressways.

The Eastern DFC will mostly have double tracks and will be electrified, but the section from Ludhiana to Khurja (365 km) will be single line electrified due to lack of space. This freight corridor will cover a total distance of 1,839 km. This corridor is having a 46 km branch line which is joining Khurja (Bulandshahr district) on the Eastern DFC with Dadri (Gautam Buddha Nagar district) on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC).

As of August 2023, 1150 km or 86% of the Eastern DFC has been completed and 99% required land for these have been acquired. First two DFCs, Western DFC, from Dadri, Uttar Pradesh to JNPT (Navi Mumbai) and Eastern DFC from Punjab to West Bengal, which will decongest the railway network by moving 70% of India's goods trains to these two corridors.

The freight corridor will cover first 447 km of Ludhiana - Dhari - Khurja section with single electrified track. After this the remaining line will be double track electrified up to Dankuni in West Bengal. This will pass through the important districts of Sahnewal, Doraha, Ludhiana, Sirhind, Rajpura, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut (Logistic Hub), Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Barhan, Tundla, Firozabad, Etawah, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Chandauli. To reduce load over the main line, this line will have many junctions. The proposed junctions on this line are Dhandharikalan, Sirhind, Rajpura, Khalanaur, Khurja, Daudkhan, Tundla, Bhaupur, Prempur, Manauri, Karchhana, Jeonathpur, Mughalsarai Junction railway station, Ganjkhwaja, Sasaram, Dehri On Sone, Son Nagar, Gomoh, Andal, Bardhaman and Dankuni (The eastern terminal point).

A large logistic hub is also proposed in Meerut, since the city is suitable major hub due to its well connectivity and proximity with expressways like Delhi Meerut Expressway, Ganga Expressway, Delhi Mumbai Expressway, Yamuna Expressway and upcoming Meerut Haridwar Expressway.

The land around the departure points of Meerut, from where the expressway is to start, will be developed for industries.