Under public-private partnership:

CGR increases revenue

By Gamini WARUSHAMANA

The Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) is ready to initiate public private partnerships to utilise spare capacity in the Railway and increase revenue, said the Commercial Superintendent of CGR, G.W.S.Sisira Kumara.

“Today we use only around 25 percent of the capacity of the track and there is a huge potential to use this spare capacity to bring in more revenue to the CGR.

The Railways has been running at an annual operational loss of Rs. 3.17b and today the revenue is not sufficient even to cover the salaries and wages of staff.

Minister of Transport, Kumara Welgama and Secretary to the Mministry, Dhamika Perera are keen to design new transport products in collaboration with the private sector,” he said.

The new luxury service started under the public-private partnership with Expo Lanka and the Rajadhani is extremely successful. Under this project a luxury carriage is attached to the Colombo Kandy Intercity express and services are provided.

The CGR has leased out these carriages and earns Rs.360 for each seat. The CGR gets 5 percent of the profit for its services. The rates are Rs.1200 (with meals) and Rs.850 (meals on demand).

The new service has attracted a significant number of passengers and the carriages are fully booked on weekends and around 50 percent on other days, booking agents of Expo Lanka said. Sisira Kumara said that this service has attracted passengers who were earlier not happy with the train service. Commuters are prepared to pay more for quality service.

The railway is the most convenient and fastest transport service between Colombo and Kandy and the intercity service is popular among local travellers as well.

The demand for intercity service between Colombo-Kandy and Colombo-Anuradhapura increased after the introduction of the seat booking facility via mobile phones, launched with Mobitel.

An online booking system will be launched shortly making the service more convenient enabling travellers to pay by credit cards.

Ticket sales for second class compartments have also increased with the introduction of new office trains.

The demand is increasing for better service and passengers are willing to pay more for a better service.

Our objective is to add first and second class compartments and attract new passengers while maintaining the service we provide commuters. We have the potential to add new services, Sisira Kumara said.

He stressed that this is not a move to privatise the Railway and since the CGR does not have capital to invest and the ability to maintain services under the present operational structure, the best option is private-public partnerships. The CGR expects to add more first class compartments to the Kandy, Anuradhapura and Badulla trains. Private sector interest in investing in the train service will improve with the success of this luxury service, he said.