14 pillars of freight corridor razed; lapses in project plan?
Mumbai: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) recently demolished 14 completed pillars and a deck slab across a 1km stretch of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) near Kharbao in Palghar district, raising questions about project planning and management lapses.
While no official reason has been offered yet for the demolition, sources indicated that it might be due to structural design changes.
The dismantled stretch formed part of a viaduct that was intended to connect the WDFC to Indian Railways' existing lines. The deck slab and parapet work were already completed.
Rail enthusiasts on social media flagged the issue, questioning how such an extensive section could be built, and then razed, without accountability.
"May it affect the deadline or not, how is this wastage justified?" asked Saurabh Raut on his X post, tagging Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the railway ministry, and PM Modi.
"Well of course DFCCIL babus will now call it a 'technical issue', but what were engineers doing during piling, pier construction, and girder launching stages?" Raut posted, adding that this wasn't the first instance of poor planning.
He cited an earlier case where alignment beyond Boisar had to be re-laid even after major groundwork was completed up to blanket and drainage level.
Chief general manager (Mumbai North) of DFCCIL, Vikas Kumar, declined to respond to TOI's queries on the matter. Tata Projects, who had constructed the demolished stretch, stated that an official response would be issued by DFCCIL.
The WDFC spans 1,506km from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, traversing five states and serving as a crucial freight link for containers, imported coal, fertilisers, and foodgrains.
Its twin, the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, connects northern power plants to eastern coalfields.
In Maharashtra,WDFC trial operations began on Apr-il 27, with a successful speed run on the 75km New Umbergaon Road–New Saphale stretch. The corridor's commissioning, originally scheduled for March 2025, was pushed to Dec due to various execution-related hurdles.
The latest episode adds to DFCCIL's growing list of execution woes. In 2022, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India flagged delays on both dedicated freight corridors in its compliance audit for the year ending March 2020. The report cited a slow pace in land acquisition, utility shifting, finalisation of design, and delays in overhead equipment works, leading to significant cost escalations. According to the CAG, DFCCIL incurred Rs 2,233.8 crore by March 2021 toward price escalation and anticipated an additional liability of nearly Rs 2,671.3 crore.
The report, tabled in Parliament in April 2022, warned of systemic issues and inadequate interface coordination between contractors and the executing agency.
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