Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day International Heavy Haul Seminar 2026 at Bharat Mandapam here, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) managing director Praveen Kumar said the event has been organised to bring together experts from across the world and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technologies that can help lower India’s logistics costs.
The DFCCIL MD said the seminar has been designed as a platform for technical discussions and networking among railway professionals, technology providers and policymakers.
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“Keeping this objective in mind, we have organised this two-day international conference. The purpose is to bring together international experts and technologies. We have also carried out many innovations here, and this platform will enable the exchange of knowledge,” he said.
“Around 12 speakers, including international experts, representatives from Indian Railways, RDSO and other organisations are participating. They will present and deliberate on various topics over the two days. We will learn from one another and try to implement these learnings in the DFC and Indian Railways,” he said.
The discussions are centred on emerging technologies that can improve railway maintenance and operations, Kumar said.”The discussions are focused on technologies such as AI-based predictive maintenance, autonomous inspection, monitoring and maintenance systems,” he said.
He noted that many railway functions are still carried out manually and said technology adoption can significantly improve safety and reliability.
He said that only a handful of countries operate heavy-haul freight railway systems and said India has now entered that category through the dedicated freight corridors.
“Only about seven or eight countries in the world operate heavy-haul freight systems. These include the United States, Sweden, China, Australia, Brazil and South Africa. Heavy-haul freight trains run in these countries,” Kumar said.
Explaining the importance of the dedicated freight corridor programme, Kumar said reducing logistics costs has been a key objective of the project from the beginning.
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“The Dedicated Freight Corridor was conceived with the objective of reducing logistics costs. Globally, logistics costs are around 7-8 per cent of GDP, whereas in India they are around 13-14 per cent. Unless we focus on freight transportation, our logistics costs will remain high,” he said.
He said the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors were sanctioned with the specific aim of making freight movement more efficient and reducing logistics costs.
“The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor were sanctioned with the aim of reducing logistics costs once they became fully operational. Studies have already shown that logistics costs have declined after both DFCs became operational,” Kumar said.
Kumar also outlined the corporation’s future role in building dedicated freight infrastructure, citing the recently announced East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor.
“The Dedicated Freight Corridor was created specifically to develop freight infrastructure. This is evident from the government’s recent announcement of the East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor, which will run from Dankuni in West Bengal to the Surat region in Gujarat, crossing the country from east to west,” he said.
Providing details of the proposed project, Kumar said the corridor will be a major addition to the country’s freight network.
“The corridor will be around 2,100 kilometres long, with double-line tracks and high-rise overhead electrification. The government has entrusted DFC with the responsibility of constructing it,” he said.
He said DFCCIL’s experience in building the Eastern and Western freight corridors puts it in a strong position to execute future projects.