India completes world's only fully electrified dedicated freight corridor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the final three sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), completing India's ambitious rail freight infrastructure project. The sections—New Sanand-North-New Makarpura, New Umbergaon-New Saphale, and New Saphale-New JNPT—span 326 km and cost over ₹20,700 crore.

With this inauguration, the entire 2,843-km dedicated freight network is now operational, linking the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai with Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The network comprises the 1,506-km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and the 1,337-km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

Conceived in 2004 and approved in 2006, the project remained stalled until the Modi government revived it in 2014, resolving long-pending issues. India is now the only country with a fully electrified dedicated freight corridor capable of double-stack container operations, enabling reduced transit time, lower fuel consumption, and higher cargo capacity per train.