New carriages idling at railway yard
The Railway Ministry’s failure to purchase power sets instead of carriages to streamline the railway service in the country has cost the Railway Department dearly, Organisation for Protection of Property and Rights of Railway Employees (OPPRRE) sources said.
Despite numerous appeals made by railway employees to obtain power sets to fortify the country’s railway service, the Railway Ministry last year purchased 100 railway carriages, each at a cost of Rs.25 million according to Convener, OPPRRE, Sumathipala Manawadu.
“At a time when the Railway Department needed power sets to strengthen the country’s railway service, the Ministry purchased 100 railway carriages from China last year. Although these were bought to provide a better service to the Railway Department, the new carriages couldn’t be used in the hill country due to a lack of good engines to pull them. Due to this 36 railway carriages are now idling unutilised at the railway yard in Dematagoda,” claimed Manawadu.
According to Manawadu if the government heeded requests of the railway employees the country could have saved billions and provided a better service to the commuters.
“Whose money is now idling at the Dematagoda yard? It is the tax payers’ money. Since top officials allegedly get their ‘share’ from these deals, they do not mind wasting public money,” claimed Manawadu.
Meanwhile Manawadu further said that the Railway Department’s latest decision to purchase 15 power sets from China is laudable but alleged that he has proof that ‘high government officials’ have benefited from these purchases.
“We have proof as to how the Railway Ministry’s top officials have gone to China and spent US$ 6000. This is wastage of the country’s money. A complete halt to such deals should be implemented if the country is to develop as promised in the Mahinda Chinthanaya,” Manawadu stated.
By Nirmala Kannangara
Source: The Morningleader
September 25th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
It is useless now to blame the authorities for purchasing those carriages. If you thinks positively the carriages are mandatory because you can’t use power sets for long distance Express trains. Its all about managing them. If the carriages are unusable in the hill country, they can replace old and in good condition Romanian carriages in flat land trains with new ones and the old carriages can replace the ones used in hill country. Its all about using your brains. Both the authorities and unions lack them and thats why SLR never gets better. Only they both know is to blame at each other.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I think Manawadu showed his foolishness and he showed he is a opportunist. As GMR said on an interview with ITN these 14 carriages to be used in Kandy Intercity are under some modification to fit for up-country rides. Others are reserved coaches so if there is any problem with any currently used coaches they replace them with these.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Now that these Chinese carriages have been received its best to ensure all are put to good use. In view of their length (65 feet) I believe they cannot proceed beyond Rambukkana on the Main Line due to clearance restrictions placed by lineside structures and tunnels on curves. However they could be used elsewhere. Of course locomotives with provision for train air braking are needed. I think some locos have been converted. Maybe some reader might be able to enlighten me as to what classes of locos have been converted this way. This conversion is not so simple, space has to be found in the engine compartment for the additional compressors, air tanks, etc. The extra load on the engine too needs to be considered.
Power sets are a better option for long distance passenger trains. In many countries of the world, express passenger trains are hauled by diesel or electric multiple units. The trailer cars of the power sets (which are a form of multiple unit) need to be suitably fitted out for long distance use and be equipped with corridor or vestibule connections. The powered coaches at either end will have to be sufficiently heavy and have drive to both bogies to provide the necessary tractive effort for incline use. In this respect diesel electric drive is preferable to hydraulic drive (as are all the current power sets). One remembers the failure of the S2 power sets on the Kadugannawa incline when Mr Rampala tried them out nearly fifty years ago. Express passenger long distance power sets are a cheaper option than locomotive hauled stock and would have better acceleration and immediate turn around at destinations.
The Railway Department’s efforts to keep the trains running are laudable in the face of serious financial hardship and external interference. What is needed is some serious collective thought on all sides to map out the way forward.
October 25th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
First of all, congrats for the great site !
According to my knowledge, the carriages can’t be used on trains beyond Rambukkana. However, Yal Devi is an exception. I read a letter in a Sunday newspaper, by a retired railway employee, and according to him, the new powersets are also 65ft. in length each. Might be the reason why the trains have not yet been put into service.
October 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
intercity train had run with new coaches for few weeks upto kandy.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
The chinese carriages are too long to be put to good use on the Main Line. SLR found this out the hard way when they tried to run the Intercity Express with these new chinese carriages. Another factor it that these chinese carriages require special air brake enabled engines which are currently not available.
SLRFC Team.