Railways may have to pump in Rs 12,000 crore for freight corridor
In what is proving to be another attempt at public-private partnership (PPP) foundering, the Ministry of Railways may have to end up building a crucial Rs 12,000-crore stretch of a dedicated freight corridor from its own pocket, drawing the curtains on the hunt for a suitor, multiple senior officials have told Business Standard.
“A proposal was moved to the Railway Board to construct the 371-km stretch between Sonnagar and New Andal through a railway organisation itself,” a senior executive of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) said.
The 538-km stretch between Sonnagar, Bihar, and Dankuni, West Bengal, was envisaged as the railways’ high watermark in monetising operations, allowing private players to benefit from the traffic on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
