NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways has begun initial work on four more dedicated freight corridors in the country, although the eastern and western freight corridors being currently implemented have been pushed back by six months due to Covid-19.

“Survey has been started for four more corridors, and we are planning to complete them by 2030. DPR (detailed project report) will be ready by December 2021,” , Railway Board chairman VK Yadav told reporters during a press briefing on Thursday.

The 1,483 km long western dedicated freight corridor between Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai and the 1,839 km eastern dedicated freight corridor between Punjab and West Bengal were set to be completed by December 2021.

“We have faced some setback due to Covid-19, the desired pace of work, skilled labour was not available and we are trying to restore the pace of work,” Yadav said. “Our revised target (for completion of DFC) is June 2022,” Yadav said.

He said that the ministry was taking steps to ensure a “sustained” quantum jump in freight loading by the railways.

On August 19, the freight loading was 3.11 million tonnes (MT), which is higher than 2.97 MT recorded on the same date last year.