|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 6 June 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Modernisation imperative for better rail service by Anura Maitipe The Sri-Lanka Railways which caters to over 300,000 passengers daily and transportation of goods, needs urgent modernisation to provide a better service for the rail commuters, Chief Planning Officer, D. A. M. S Munasinghe of Railway Department said in an interview with the 'Sunday Observer'. Last week, alone four derailments occurred causing grave inconvenience to rail commuters - the latest being at Fort Railway Station on Thursday. A full scale probe is now under way following a directive by Transport Minister Felix Perera on Friday. He ordered General Manager-cum-Competent Authority of Sri Lanka Railways, Piyal Silva, to interdict all those responsible for the derailments following a meeting held with the officials at the ministry. "Power sets are specially made for short distance operations which require fast acceleration at frequent intervals to transport commuters and these trains mainly operate from Colombo to Kurunegala, Ambepussa, Polgahawela, Mirigama, Panadura, Galle, Chilaw and Awissawella", he said. "In addition, locomotives operate daily from Colombo to Kandy, Mahawa, Badulla, Matara and Vavuniya. However, the Railway Department is not in a position to upgrade the train services due to the insufficient number of power sets and carriages. "In the process of modernisation of railway, attention must be focussed on four areas - preventing delays of trains,introduction of a computerised information system, increase of number of carriages as well as power sets, introduction of container services and further extension of a double track beyond Kalutara South and Ambepussa. The delay in arrival and departure times of trains are mainly due to the enforcement of speed limits as a result of the improper maintenance of rail tracks which are in a dilapidated state. Such tracks should be rehabilitated for the smooth operation of trains to minimise delays and avoid resultant derailments which had been on the increase for the past so many years," he said. However, during the past two years the Railway Department was not able to implement the rehabilitation of rail tracks due to non-allocation of funds from the Treasury. Now the Railway Department had requested the Treasury to allocate necessary funds to expedite such work. "The Railway Department workshop at Ratmalana daily attends to repairs of nearly 25 to 30 carriages but still it cannot meet the present demand of 100 carriages per day. In addition, at least 30 new carriages are required to meet the current shortage of carriages for trains," Munasinghe said. A container transportation system should be introduced from Colombo Port to Katunayaka and Koggala for the movement of goods. This would also enhance revenue for the department. The department already possessed over 30 container beds and facilities for yards, are available at Ragama and Colombo Port. The department lacks handling equipment for loading and unloading purposes. This process was proposed to be given over to the private sector with the operational part to be handled by the department". With the implementation of rail container services, the traffic congestion on roads could also be eased, Munasinghe pointed out. The Railway Department has a large quantity of unusable scrap iron in the yards and, with the sale of these junk, it could earn millions of rupees which could be utilised for the development of railways, he said. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
