`Yarl Devi’ project takes off tomorrow

Ananth Palakidnar

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will inaugurate the `Yarl Devi’ railway project to the Jaffna peninsula, at the Presidential Secretariat tomorrow at 4.00 p.m., informed sources said.

Train services which existed between the North and the South for more than hundred years came to a halt following the troubles started in the North in the eighties.

The last `Yarl Devi’ train to operate between Colombo and Jaffna was in 1990 and the service was terminated at Vavyunia.

The `Yarl Devi’ was one of the four services to run between Colombo and Jaffna and was the largest revenue earner for the Sri Lanka Railway.

Following the disruption of railway services around twenty five stations big and small on the northern line had been completely damaged with the removal of railway tracks by the terrorists.