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The three new dedicated corridors for railways announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2021-22 are valued at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, officials related to the development said.

The Railways Minister last year had assigned the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of Indian Limited (DFCCIL) to undertake and prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for new DFC.

The DFCCIL will submit the report for the East Coast corridor and North South Corridor by November this year while the DPR for the East West Corridor will be submitted by December this year.

A DFCCIL official said that three projects are worth Rs 1.78 lakh crore, which includes the cost of the land acquisition and the cost of construction

The three corridors -- East-Coast Corridor, which is 1,115 km from Kharagpur to Vijaywada, East-West Corridor, which is 1,673 km from Bhusaval to Dankuni and 195 km Rajkharsawan to Andal and North-South corridor, which is 975 km from Vijaywada to Itarsi.

Sharing details of the East-Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijaywada, an official of the DFCCIL said that the approximate length is 1,115 Km which passes through three states of West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

The DFCCIL official said that it also traverses over three zonal railways (South East Railway, East Coast Railway and South Central Railway) and four divisions -- Kharagpur, Khurda Road, Waltair and Vijayawada.

The official said that the proposed East Coast Corridor starts from Kharagpur near Hijli station of railways and passes through Rupsa, Jakhapura, Haridaspur, Rajatgarh, Khurda Road, Naupada, Vishakhapatanam and ends near north of Vijayawada station. This route connects the ports of Paradeep and Vishakhapatanam with the Dharma and Gangavaram.

The official said that this corridor will have 31 stations of which 15 will be junction stations while 16 crossing stations. He said that the new proposed corridor will connect with the two other DFCs.

Sharing the details, he said that the East Coast Corridor will connect with the East–West DFC ?at New Hijli junction and with the North South DFC at Vijayawada.

He said that the capital cost for construction was Rs 50,175 crore.

Sharing the details of the East-West Corridor between the Dankuni-Bhusawal, the official said, the proposed East– West DFC between Kolkata (Andal/Dankuni) to Bhusawal, (including Rajkharsawan-Kalipahari-Andal route) with approximate length of 1868 Km passing through five states in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

The East-West corridor also traverses four zonal railways namely Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, South East Central Railway and Central Railway.

Sharing the details of the route of the new proposed corridor, the official said that it will cover the distance of 1,673 km and connect Bhusawal–Wardha-Nagpur-Rajkharsawan-Kharakpur-Uluberia-Dankuni, while 195 km of the route will be between Rajkharsawan-Kalipahari-Andal.

The official said that the East-West corridor starts from Bhusawal and traverse via Wardha-Nagpur-Durg-Raipur-Bilaspur-Jharsuguda-Chakradharpur up to Rajkharsawan.

He said that after Rajkharsawan East West DFC has two legs, one towards Andal and the other to Dankuni via Kharagpur -- to connect the East Coast Corridor with East-West DFC at Hijli near Kharagpur and ends at Kamarkundu near Dankuni.

The official said that the East-West corridor will have 57 station including 36 junction stations and 21 crossing stations.

The official said that the capital cost for construction is estimated at Rs 84,060 crore.

Discussing the details of the 975 km North South corridor between Delhi-Chennai, the official said this corridor passes through three states of India in Madhya Predesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, three railway zones (West Central Railway, Central Railway and South Central Railway) and three divisions (Bhopal, Nagpur, and Secunderabad).

The official said that the alignment starts from Vijayawada and runs via Kazipet-Warangal-Wardha-Nagpur and ends at Itarsi.

He said that the North South corridor will connect with the East Coast DFC at New Vijayawada, with East– West DFC at New Sindi near Nagpur.

He said that this corridor will have 24 stations including nine junction stations and 15 crossing stations.

The estimated cost for construction is Rs 43,875 crore.