Dedicated Freight Corridor to join hands with Amazon, Flipkart to boost its parcel business

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is planning to join hands with e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Flipkart.  

DFCCIL is talking to the e-commerce firms for using its logistics hubs. According to sources close to this development, a partnership with the e-comm firms would boost its parcel business.

"Apart from reducing average delivery time of a parcel for major cities, hinterland customers will also benefit out of this through our intermediate stations," said a Business Standard report quoting a DFCCIL source aware of the development.

Meanwhile, the Indian Railway Board has already initiated a pilot with Amazon by providing it parcel space in Sealdah and Mumbai Rajdhanis.

Most of the eastern and western hubs, which cover a total of 3,360 km track, will be reportedly operational by December 2021. "E-comm firms will be able to use them once they are operational," added the report.

The eastern and western dedicated freight corridors project will be passing through states including Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.  DFCCIL has also reached out to these states to provide suitable road connectivity to each station on the DFC.

The move will likely to cut the parcel delivery time for metro cities from five days to one day.

At present, the average speed of freight trains is 22.4 kmph. It is expected to go up to 75-100 kmph to improve on delivery time.

Indian Railways has been witnessing a downfall in its parcel business. In FY19, its parcel business went down 8 per cent to Rs 1,744.8 crore in compared to Rs 1,895.9 crore in FY18.