The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is a freight corridor in India stretching 1,506 km. It runs between Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Raigad District, Maharashtra. The corridor has been developed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public-sector undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways, and has double-line electrified operation. It also includes a new single-line branch connecting Prithla in Palwal district to Tughlakabad in Delhi, running parallel to the existing New DelhiâÂÂFaridabadâÂÂPalwal railway line.
The Western DFC is dedicated exclusively to freight, operating at higher speeds and with greater load-carrying capacity than conventional lines. The primary commodities it will carry include fertilizers, food grains, salt, coal, iron, steel, and cement. It uses Flash Butt Welded head-hardened (HH) rails in 250àm lengths, with an axle load capacity of 25àt on tracks and 32.5àt on bridges â an improvement over the 22.9àt to 25àt axle loads used on existing Indian Railways tracks. The line will accommodate freight trains up to long, hauled by high-power WAG-12 electric locomotives at speeds exceeding . The tracks will be fully grade-separated and feature a generous loading gauge of in width and in maximum height, enabling double-stacked shipping containers to be carried on flatcars â unlike in most other countries, where well cars are required for double-stack rail transport. This allows a single train to carry up to 400 containers. Trains will also be equipped with radio communications and GSM-based tracking â a first for the Indian railway sector.
The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) includes a 46 km branch line connecting Khurja in Bulandshahr district on the Eastern DFC with Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district on the Western DFC.
Meerut has been proposed as the largest logistics hub on the Eastern DFC, owing to its strong connectivity via several expressways. Together with the DelhiâÂÂMumbai Expressway, the Western DFC will form a key backbone of the DelhiâÂÂMumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The Western DFC will intersect the DelhiâÂÂMumbai Expressway at two points in Haryana: Sancholi village in Gurgaon district, and Paroli village in Palwal district.
With the JNPTâÂÂNew Saphale (Vaitarna) section coming into operation, DFCCIL announced the completion of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, marking the countryâÂÂs second Dedicated Freight Corridor as complete on March 31st 2026. The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) was completed earlier, in October 2023.
The Government of India established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) on 30 October 2006 to undertake construction of this project.
India's first 2 DFCs, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra and the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal, via Meerut (Logistic Hub) and Khurja are aimed at decongesting the railway network by moving 70% of India's goods trains to these two corridors.
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC) will begin at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) on a new stretch of railway line right of way between Dadri-Rewari and then will run parallel to existing railway lines via Narnaul, Sri Madhopur and Reengus (Sikar). The other important stations will be Phulera and Marwar Junction in Rajasthan, Palanpur, Ambli Road Railway Station near (Sabarmati), Makarpura (Vadodara), Gothangam/ Kosad in Gujarat and Vasai Road in Maharashtra before it terminates at JNPT (Nhava Sheva Port) in Maharashtra's Raigad district. The Dadri-Rewari railway line passes through a 1 km tunnel with 14.5 m width and internal height 10.5 m to 12.5 m to carry double-stacked containers.
The DFCCIL has divided the construction work of the Western DFC into 5 section for contracting purposes.