Lockdown Pinches: Despite Limited Labour Availability, Railways Expedites Work On Dedicated Freight Corridors

Defying heavy odds, work on the Dedicated Freight Corridor is going on with limited workforce of about 15,000, while goods trains are picking up maximum speed up to 97 kmph on the completed section.

Currently, there are 15,291 people working in the biological bubble to carry out the rail laying and other related work to make both the Eastern and Western Corridors fully operational for exclusive freight train operations in the country.

The ongoing night and weekend curfew, lockdown and other restrictions imposed in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat due to the pandemic has adversely affected the pace of work, said a senior DFCC official.

Besides, there has been an exodus of labour after the lockdown and a severe shortage of industrial oxygen has also impacted progress of
structures.

The shortage of industrial oxygen has slowed down liner cutting, welding operations and fabrication work pertaining to shuttering etc. and splitting/cutting steel pipes for casing of gas pipelines.

However, despite all the restrictions, we have created biological bubbles to perform work, said the official.