New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw presented awards to state-owned Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) teams and individual employees for outstanding performance.

On Sunday, the minister addressed DFCCIL's 17th Foundation Day at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi as the Chief Guest.

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DFCCIL's mission is to build a corridor with appropriate technology that enables Indian railways to regain its market share of freight transport by creating additional capacity and guaranteeing efficient, reliable, safe and cheaper options for mobility to its customers.

Other dignitaries present were VK Tripathi Chairman and CEO Railway Board and Chairman DFCCIL, and RN Singh Secretary Railway Board, RK Jain, MD DFCCIL, N Srinivas Director/OP and BD, HM Gupta, Director/Infra. Hira Ballabh Director/Finance, Pankaj Saxena Director/PP, Ashish Kumar CVO. An array of senior officers from Railway Board, Zonal Railways, DFCCIL, PSUs, World Bank and JICA, Project Partners, Stakeholders attended the event.

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Vaishnaw handed over individual, team and running shields today. 34 individual awards, one posthumous awards were awarded. The Group award was awarded to the in-house team consisting of four members who contributed in the development of the Dedicated Freight Information System (DFIS) system. The running shield for the Western Corridor was awarded to the Ahmedabad Field unit and for the Eastern Corridor, it was jointly awarded to the Prayagraj East & West Field Units. The Hon'ble Minister unveiled the DFC in-house journal The Game Changer & the special edition of Manthan, the Rajbhasha House journal.

The Union minister said that DFC has not only created new ways of working, and new ways of project execution but also set new benchmarks about how IR is to evolve in the future. The Hon'ble MR spoke about 28 major reforms initiated by Railways. Vaishnaw spoke about IR aiming for 40 per cent modal share and 3000 MT loading.

He also said that projects worth Rs 90,000 crores have been identified by Indian railways to facilitate the movement of people and cargo. Construction of freight corridors in mineral-rich Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha can add significantly to the growth in IR's cargo-carrying capacity. Vaishnaw said that DFCs should focus on the shift from the construction phase to the operation & maintenance (O&M) phase.

Further, Vaishnaw stressed on a significant change in the mindset with a hunger for growth, cargo and ensuring customer satisfaction. He said that the IR is a repository of tremendous talent which can be leveraged for the good of the nation.

Speaking on the occasion, VK Tripathi Chairman & CEO Railway Board & Chairman DFCCIL said India is among a select group of nations having dedicated freight corridors. He said that the nation has a lot of expectations from DFCCIL especially by decongesting saturated IR routes and providing ease of mobility. In the operations phase DFC should strive for time bound delivery and innovative freight products.

RK Jain, MD, DFCCIL, while addressing the august gathering said that the DFCs have entered from Sanrachna (Infrastructure)` to Sanchalan (Operations) phase. The dedicated freight corridors are freight expressways capable of transforming not only the transportation but the logistics landscape by providing longer, faster, heavier and longer trains.

Rajeev Mehta Chairman Logistics Committee, Cement Manufacturers Association and CLO Ultra Tech Cement and Jakob Friis Sorensen, MD APM Terminals Pipavav spoke on occasion and provided an insight into the importance of DFC from a customer standpoint. (ANI)

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