The trial took place on the section between Ateli in the Mahendragarh district of Haryana and Phulera in Rajasthan's Jaipur district, with the train covering the 190km stretch in 3h 52min.
The 100km/h line speed on the Western DFC compares with a maximum of 75km/h for freight trains on IR’s existing network. This is expected to lift the average speed of freight trains on key freight corridors from 26km/h to 70km/h.
IR is constructing two DFCs totalling 3373km on India’s eastern and western flanks to boost rail capacity by segregating freight from passenger traffic.
The Western DFC runs from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai to Dadri near Delhi and will largely cater for container traffic from existing and emerging ports in Maharashtra and Gujarat to terminals in the northern hinterland.
Earlier this month IR announced it had shortlisted five bidders for a contract to supply 200 electric locomotives for the Western DFC.
