Indian Railways aims to boost MSME markets through DFC project

Indian Railways has undertaken a mega-infrastructure project namely the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), comprising Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC- from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust 1506 Km) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor(EDFC- from Ludhiana to Sonnagar-1337 Km) covering 2843 route Km in totality.This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.A total route length of 1610 Km (799 Km of EDFC and 811 Km of WDFC) has been completed out of total 2843 Km till October, 2022.In this regard, a pilot project for ‘JPP’ has been launched on 31.03.2022, by attaching a Parcel Van in Tapti Ganga Express (19045/46) between Surat and Varanasi.Joint Parcel Product (JPP) has been launched by Indian Railways in collaboration with India Post which aims to target business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets focusing on e-Commerce and MSME markets.Under the ‘JPP’, India Post provides First & Last Mile services, and Indian Railways provide Middle Mile services.