GUJARAT, AHMEDABAD | 08th AUGUST 2025: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, has announced the full commissioning of works under its Ahmedabad Unit, marking a significant milestone in India’s largest railway infrastructure project since Independence.
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), stretching 1,506 km across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, is now operated and monitored from a state-of-the-art Operational Control Centre (OCC) at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. The facility serves as the operational nerve centre for the entire western route.
Featuring a 72-metre curved video wall, one of the largest of its kind in Asia, the Centre enables real-time monitoring of all freight trains, overhead power systems and track conditions across the network. Integrated safety features, such as automated alarms for hot axle detection, allow for immediate action, ensuring secure freight operations. The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is also the first in India to operate with no manned level crossings along its entire stretch.
Manish Awasthy, Chief General Manager, DFCCIL, Ahmedabad, said, “The Operations Command Centre at Ahmedabad is the heartbeat of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. From here, we manage the movement of longer, faster trains at speeds of up to 100 kmph, handle double-stack container operations, and ensure maximum efficiency in connecting India’s busiest ports with its industrial hubs.”
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor’s latest milestone is the operationalisation of the New Sanand connectivity, an engineering marvel and a strategic link that includes India’s first large-scale rail-over-rail flyovers, enabling seamless freight movement between all four corners of the country. With the addition of the Palanpur–New Makarpura section, DFCCIL now directly connects major ports such as Mundra, Kandla, Tuna, Navlakhi, and Pipavav to the dedicated network, reducing transit time from 24–36 hours to under a day.
This enhanced connectivity is expected to relieve congestion on existing Indian Railways passenger and freight routes, enable 1.5–2 trips for port-bound trains within the same time frame as one earlier, support industries in Palanpur, Mehsana, Sanand, Vadodara, Jamnagar and surrounding regions, and lower logistics costs and improve supply chain reliability.
The corridor also supports high-speed cargo services for MSMEs, e-commerce platforms and time-sensitive industries, with New Rewari–New Sanand connectivity offering less than 11-hour transit times, reducing road dependency and improving last-mile efficiency.
“This dedicated, time-bound freight corridor is a big step forward in decongesting traditional routes and supporting multimodal logistics growth,” Mr. Awasthy added.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Project, comprising the 1,337 km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and the 1,506 km WDFC, has been declared an Iconic Project by the Government of India. To date, 96.4% of the total 2,741 route kilometres have been commissioned.
