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| Sunday, 03 August 2003 |
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The rail transport service in the country has apparently gone to rack and ruin. Its trade unions are threatening to strike following the recent announcement that Sri Lanka Railways was converted into an Authority. What ails the railway and how could it be improved? Elmo Leonard, our staff reporter, spoke to the Railway's General Manager, Priyal de Silva, Operating Superintendent G.R.P. Chandratillake and Director Planning for Uplift of all Projects, S.W. Munasinghe. Once, the pride of the nation, the Sri Lanka railways, has been left to decay and deterioration since 1970. The problem is that successive governments have not listened to professionals in the field of transport, they said. Few Sri Lankans know that the nation has no transport policy. Even in the developed world where travel by vehicle is affordable, railroad travel is given precedence over road transport. Citizens in London and Tokyo say that they live 15 or 25 minutes away from the capital city, as the case may be, being a measure of the efficiency of their railroad systems which is patronised by the worker and the affluent. Railroad expansion entails an expenditure of only Rs. 50 million per kilometre, as against road expansion which requires Rs. 900 million per kilometre. Maintenance of railroad is likewise less costly. Rail travel is far more economical. The `Samuduru Devi' train travelling from Galle, transports 4,000 passengers, and consumes 280 litres of diesel. The same number of people would need 80 buses for transport if 50 people are accommodated in a bus with 280 litres of diesel as energy requirement. The railway transports 125,000 people to Colombo per day, helping to disperse the population outside the city, not to speak of similar services to Kandy, Galle and other principal metropolises. In Germany, for instance, where a transport policy is in place, freight is linked to rail transport. In Sri Lanka, preference is given to people transport and freight is left to the fragile and expensive roadways. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as in Sri Lanka, railroad travel is subsidised whereby poor citizens like those in Sri Lanka would benefit. But, the railways of Lanka's neighbours liquidise losses through lucrative freight transport charges. It is a matter for regret, that from Kalutara, 27 miles south of Colombo, only a single rail-line operates, being similar to other arterial transport ways to Colombo. What has been forgotten by successive governments is that investment on railroad is an investment in the economy, the three interviewees said. The southern highway should not be built; instead, extend railway transport services, as it would have a snowballing investment on the national economy. People speak of losses incurred by the railway, but do not realise that the railway executes a many-pronged and inestimatable economic service to the national economy and the nation's citizens. The railway service needs Rs. 3,000 million annually, as recurrent expenditure for salaries, allowances and overtime payments, personnel emoluments, diesel and lubricants, electricity, water, telephones, maintenance of vehicles, purchase of uniforms etc. The railway has a cadre of 22,000, with a workforce of 17,000 persons; 5,000 vacancies have not been filled. A dearth of ticket inspectors is obvious to the office worker who alights in the suburbs. The Railway also needs Rs. 3,000 million as capital expenditure annually, (excluding the purchase of locomotives) for the purchase of spare parts for rolling stock, material for track, nuts and bolts and signalling material and even repairs to bridges. Ninety-seven per cent of railway requirements is imported. From 1970, the Treasury has pruned down its capital expenditure to the railway. In 1980, the equivalent of a US dollar was Rs. 18 as against today's rate of Rs. 7. The Treasury should give appropriate increases, with the devaluation of the rupee, De Silva said. A locomotive in 1970 cost Rs. 20 million and today it is priced at Rs. 175 million. In 1996, a litre of diesel was Rs. 13 as against Rs 30 per litre today. The Railway uses 30 million litres of diesel per year, incurring a loss of Rs. 510 million per annum. The railway asked for a 50 per cent increase in fares in 1996, but the Ministry of Finance only allowed a fare hike of 20 per cent. But, bus fares have gone up repeatedly during these years. With increases in bus fares, the number of railway commuters increases which necessitates more maintenance and the duration of train stops at stations also increases, resulting in delayed arrivals. From 1996, salaries of government servants have more than doubled and with it, overtime rates as well. During this period, water charges rose by 25 per cent, telephones by 750 per cent; all this adds to a total loss of Rs. 1,800 million per year for the Railway. In 1998, Railway had recommended that 200 coaches be purchased immediately, to accommodate its increasing number of commuters. The reply was practical: repair coaches lying in the Ratmalana workshop because the economy was depressed. (Every two years, railway coaches are sent for overhaul to Ratmalana). When De Silva assumed duties as general manager in October 2001, 283 coaches were due for repairs at Ratmalana. Today, 130 coaches are left for repairs at Ratmalana. These coaches could be repaired, but with no capital expenditure for such work received for the past seven months, the train service has deteriorated to a deplorable level. Of recent extension work undertaken by Railways, Chandratillake pointed out that the rail repairs from Valachchenai to Batticaloa were completed in April this year. In October 2001, its peak hour punctuality was 52 per cent. In 12 months, De Silva had increased the service to 85 per cent punctuality (now deteriorating due to lack of spares), he claimed. The dynamic Railways General Manager of the past, B.D. Rampala carried on the spot checks of railway operations, and Priyal De Silva affirmed, he does the same. In spite, of no money for repairs coming in, special train services are being operated to cater to pilgrims of historic places like Adams Peak and Anuradhapura sacred city etc. Railway has also in the past few years extended rail-lines through its near arteries to Colombo. To cut down expenditure, Railway has handed over the maintenance of the Colombo Fort, Maradana and Kompanna Vidiya railway stations to private sector companies. In turn, these companies are allowed to display their advertisements within the railway station and pay Railway Rs. 100,000 per year. To encourage consumer perishable freight by rail, and a service to low income commuters, vegetable stalls were opened in Colombo Fort and Maradana railway stations. De Silva said that the `Udarata Menike' train, which plies from Colombo to Badulla had a 24-seater observation car converted into a 44-seater. In 2002, six-million more passengers than in the previous year were transported by railway. Revenue in 2002 went up to Rs. 1,362 million, from Rs. 1,200 million in 2001, according to the Central Bank report. Freight was up from 100 million tonne kilometres in 2001 to 130 million tonne kilometres in 2002. Other recent improvements effected to railway, are beyond the scope of this article. But, 200,000 concrete railway sleepers lie idle at Dematagoda, Colombo. "Treasury pays no capital expenditure, there is no money to buy nuts and bolts to fix the concrete sleepers to rail-lines." De Silva said. Why does the Railway not develop the vast amount of land, 20 acres of prime land in Colombo alone, which it owns? The main business of Railway is passenger transport, its GM De Silva said. He would like property developers to take over the land. But, they would not invest on land if their returns are not more than 20 per cent. De Silva advocated air-conditioned coaches, to attract those who travel by car, to be linked to normal trains. This would bring in more money into railway coffers, and supermarkets could be opened in railway stations, to cater to the affluent traveller. But, first, punctuality must improve, he said. "Sri Lanka Railways must improve on the lines of the Indian and Pakistani railways, where per capita income of these citizens are similar to Sri Lanka's," he said. De Silva said that being the president-elect of the Institute of Engineers of Sri Lanka and past chairman of the Institute of Logistics and Transport of Sri Lanka, he had many more suggestions which would be practical for Sri Lanka railways, but funds must be available. |
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