Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said a twenty year development plan has been set for train services that would cost US$ 611.5 million.
He said that this was targeting the increase of train commuters by 2025 that is estimated at 1.2 million from the present 300,000 travelling to Colombo and back.
The Minister said this during the launch of the Railway Development main plan that was held at the Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry auditorium at Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla yesterday (11).
The Minister said “due to the heavy road traffic, most passengers choose to travel by train. They are also used to travelling on train due to cheaper fares. We need to embrace this reality.
“We need to provide a proper service based on these passengers’ needs.We need to plan to provide improved and increased train services in the next five years based on the statistics revealed from the survey conducted.
We need to improve the rail road system. New signal systems need to be developed. New communication techniques need to be used.Technological know how need to be followed to book passenger seats and issue tickets etc for their convenience. Therefore, through this plan, we will achieve all these by 2025.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be providing aid amounting to US$ 1.5 million for us to implement this development project. The ADB will be providing a loan upto USD 10 million for research and creation of Railway structure and its architecture work and another loan upto USD 600 million towards building railroads and railway tracks within Colombo and other traffic congested areas.
The Colombo - Rambukkana, Colombo-Kalutara, Colombo - Avissawella and Ragama - Negombo railway tracks are to be improved under the project.
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