Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the remaining three sections of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) in Gujarat, marking a major milestone for India’s freight railway network connecting the western, northern and eastern parts of the country.
The newly inaugurated stretches cover a combined 326 route kilometres and have been developed at a cost of more than ₹20,700 crore. The sections are New Sanand North–New Makarpura, New Umbergaon–New Saphale and New Saphale–JNPT.
The inauguration was part of a series of development projects launched by Modi during his visit to Vadodara.
PM Modi Attacks Previous Governments Over Delay
While inaugurating the freight corridor, Modi strongly criticised previous governments over the prolonged delay in executing the project. He said the concept was first proposed in 2004, while a dedicated company to implement it was established in 2006.
Taking a dig at the pace of work before 2014, Modi said the project remained caught up in bureaucratic procedures for years.
“Those of you who are young here today, when this idea was first conceived, many of you were probably not even born yet. Until 2014, the file was just there. It went from here to there; the files were travelling on the table,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister then highlighted what he described as the extremely slow progress of the project during those years.
“The truth is that for seven or eight years, not even one kilometre of the freight corridor was completed. If they had run the country like that, I don’t know if three or four generations would have passed and it still wouldn’t have happened,” he added.
Freight Corridor Expected to Cut Travel Time and Costs
Modi also underlined the economic and logistical advantages of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, saying the infrastructure has helped freight movement become faster and more efficient.
According to the Prime Minister, dedicated freight routes have reduced transportation time and costs while also helping lower fuel consumption.
He said freight operations on India’s Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors have expanded significantly, with more than 400 freight trains running every day. The number, he said, has reached around 430 trains daily.
The completion of the remaining WDFC sections is expected to strengthen the movement of goods between major industrial and commercial centres, while allowing freight trains to operate more efficiently on dedicated routes.
Three More Railway Projects Announced
During his Gujarat visit, Modi also laid the foundation stone for three additional railway projects.
These include the third and fourth railway lines between Vadodara and Ratlam, gauge conversion on the Miyagam Karjan–Choranda–Malsar route, and doubling of the Vishwamitri–Dabhoi railway line.
The projects are part of the government’s wider push to expand railway capacity and improve connectivity across key industrial and freight routes.
Modi to Inaugurate Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai
After his Gujarat engagements, Modi is scheduled to travel to Mumbai to inaugurate the seventh edition of the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Mumbai event is expected to bring the Prime Minister’s infrastructure and economic development agenda into focus alongside India’s rapidly expanding financial technology ecosystem.
With the final WDFC sections now inaugurated, the freight corridor project has entered a new phase, with the government presenting it as a key piece of infrastructure for faster cargo movement, reduced logistics costs and stronger connectivity between India’s major economic regions.
