The Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has said that the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, the largest infrastructure project in the country, is gaining momentum. Presenting the Railway Budget 2016-17 in Parliament today, he said it is proposed to take up the following freight corridors: North-South connecting Delhi to Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai & East Coast connecting Kharagpur to Vijayawada. He said, it is proposed to put these three projects on high priority to ensure structuring, award and implementation in a time-bound manner through innovative financing mechanisms including PPP. He said that before this financial year closes, almost all the contracts for civil engineering works would have been awarded. He said, since he assumed office, contracts worth ₹ 24,000 crore have been awarded against ₹ 13,000 crore worth of contracts in the last 6 years.

The Minister said, given the emphasis on rapid expansion of freight business, it is essential to build more dedicated freight corridors for increased traffic with consequent benefits for the economy and environment.

Dedicated freight corridor prioritisation to accelerate time bound delivery using innovative financing and PPPs. Priority designation for expansion of freight rail infrastructure is announced for three Dedicated Freight Corridors (Delhi-Chennai; Kharagpur-Mumbai; Kharagpur-Vijayawada), to be advanced on a high priority basis with structured planning, time bound award and implementation and use of innovative financing including public-private partnership. The announcement commits to imminent large scale civil works contract awards within the fiscal year and links corridor development to freight growth and economic and environmental benefits.