OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Projects, one of India’s fastest growing and most admired infrastructure companies, announced that it has commenced work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) project which the company has recently won in partnership with Aldesa of Spain.

This is the first major contract awarded for the EDFC through an international competitive bidding process. It involves construction of a 337 kilometre double track line and 14 kilometre of single line between Bhaupur and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh. World Bank has sanctioned USD 975 million for this project, which will be a design-build lump sum contract and will be executed within four years.

The EDFC is an ambitious project of the ministry of railways, Government of India, which involves construction of two corridors, the eastern corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni covering a length of 1,839 kilometre and the western corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai covering 1,499 kilometre for promoting a seamless movement of rail freight traffic. The EDFC has been designed for 32.5 tonne axle load, as compared to the current carriage tracks of 22.5 ton axle load, which is at par with the standard in America, Russia and China. Dedicated freight network is a key infrastructure project for Indian railways as it will segregate the passenger network from freight network. The corridor will also increase the speed of freight trains by up to 100 kilometre per hour.

Tata Projects will leverage its execution expertise and uncompromising standards of quality and Aldesa will provide its technical expertise of mechanical track laying for high speed trains to create a world-class freight corridor that will significantly reduce goods transit time and help grow the economy.

On this occasion, Vinayak Deshpande, managing director, Tata Projects, said, “We are delighted to commence work on this prestigious project. Tata Projects, with its technological capabilities and execution excellence is best suited to deliver this project at par with global standards. Award of this contract is testimony to our capability in this area. This project is an important milestone towards modernisation of India’s railways freight transportation and we at Tata Projects look forward to pioneering new initiatives that contribute to the development of India and accelerated growth.”

Tata Projects has a dedicated business unit for railways and significant expertise in this area. Some of the important projects the company has executed include:

240 kilometre track over head electrification (OHE) of Chhapra to Gorakhpur section.

355 kilometre track OHE, signaling and telecommunication of Gooty to Yehelanka section for Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL).

350 kilometre OHE of Kondapuram – Guntakal section for RVNL.

EPC of railway infrastructure for 1,050MW thermal power plant for GMR.

Apart from the above, Tata Projects has executed major work in formation of major and minor bridges, and track work of gauge conversion of 122 kilometre of meter gauge to broad gauge between Villipuram to Malayaduturai.