Till November 2, loading by the Railways was 689.88 million tonne (mt) compared to around 683.19 mt during the same time last year
If public sector majors like NTPC or Coal India show any interest, the possibilities of a joint venture cannot be ruled out
The railways is expected to float a tender by October
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has already placed contracts worth Rs 510 billion, while only about Rs 30 billion worth of signalling contracts are only pending now
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC), the Indian Railways' arm implementing the ambitious freight corridor project, will award contracts worth Rs 14,000 crore in the current financial year (2016-17) in a bid to quickly wrap up work and meet the 2019 deadline for commissioning the Rs 82,000-crore project."By July 2016, we are going to place orders worth Rs 10,000 crore. The balance - around Rs 4,000 crore worth of contracts - will be placed in the rest of the current financial year itself. After this, work will be progressing in every section of DFCC," said a senior executive.He added the company has so far placed 76 per cent of the contracts for civil works and 63 per cent of electrical contracts, apart from 48 per cent of the total signalling contracts.For the construction of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, contracts worth Rs 4,000 crore were awarded in 2013 followed by another Rs 5,000 crore contracts in 2014. Last year, the DFCC placed around five contracts for sign