Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Sri Lanka Railway’s Ruhunu Kumari express train that leaves for Matara from Colombo, Maradana railway station at 3.40 PM, tomorrow will be coupled with nine of the newly imported 25 railway carriages from China, announced the Railway Department.

Three of these third class carriages will be put for the second class temporarily since the ordered second class carriages have not arrived yet. The existing second class compartments are far lower in quality than the new third class carriages.

Each of these 96-seat carriages was priced at Rs. 30 million.

Update: SLR Forum Team was present at the Maradana railway station on 21/10/2007 to check on the new carriages but as we expected there were no new carriages on the Ruhunu Kumari express train. We expect the new carriages to be added tomorrow.

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The new railway carriages purchased for the Sri Lanka Railways from China will make their first journey next week from Colombo to Matara.

According to the Railways Department, 10 out of the 25 Chinese railway carriages which arrived in the country last month will be attached to the Ruhunu Kumari express train operating from Colombo to Matara from next week. It is after a lapse of 15 years that the new carriages will be added to Sri Lanka’s train service.

“We have taken steps to modify the locomotive of Ruhunu Kumari to suit the air-break system found in the newly-purchased carriages. Accordingly, the carriages could be operated with the engine without any trouble,” a Department spokesman said.

The 25 new carriages, first fleet of the 100 carriages ordered from China, have been purchased at a cost of Rs. 22 million each.The second fleet of carriages already shipped from China is expected to arrive here before the end of this month.

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The ten railway engines imported from France during the administration of President Chandrika Kumaratunge appears to have ended up as a white elephant. According to reliable sources, nine out of the ten engines are said to be beyond repair due to crankshaft defects and are lying at a railway grave- yard at Ratmalana, covered with overgrown shrubs. Only one engine is said to be in operation according to well informed sources.

However, General Manager of Railways Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said that the storage description of the unused engines is an exaggeration and according to his knowledge around three engines are in service, but it is necessary to have the exact number confirmed.

The order of 100 coaches from China has also attracted criticism. A part shipment of 25 units was received about six weeks ago has yet to be put into use for transport of passengers. The length of each is 65 feet long, twenty feet more than some of coaches and ten feet in excess of others in use at present. The coaches currently in use are 45 feet and 55 feet in length.

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Rail services in Sri Lanka were commenced by British in 1864 with the inauguration of the first train to Ambepussa. Thereafter Railway tracks were extended to Kandy and to the central hills mainly to transport tea and other agricultural produce for export to the Port of Colombo, on which the country’s entire economy depended on.

Although in early stages the Railways catered mainly for freight, and with gradual establishment of townships and the necessity to develop other principal towns, the Railway soon catered for passenger operations as well.

From the commencement of the Railways, it was managed by the Government as a service oriented organisation. However since operational costs were relatively low, Railway was able to make a reasonable profit on the operations up to World War II.

Things changed very unfavourably for the railway in the post war era, with the expansion of the road network and the operations cost ever rising, the Railway’s share both in the freight and the passenger started to decline. Yet then, the services offered by the Railway were commendable as it was financed by the Government.

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The addition of 25 new railway carriages imported from China will now help augment the train services to provide a successful service to commuters.

We, as train travellers must be thankful to the Transport Minister for having redeemed us from the ordeal of travelling in packed carriages for ages. We await eagerly to enter these beautiful and luxury looking compartments to enjoy the comforts of travelling.

It is also important to note that the present condition of the carriages that are now on the track. Fifteen years ago, they too had the same look. Unfortunately, most of the fittings in these carriages gradually began to disappear.

There was a large number of hand supports mounted on horizontal railings for standing passengers. This do not exist now.

Missing fluorescent light fittings are replaced with loosely hanging bulbs.

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The Sri Lanka Railway Department hopes to begin work on the Matara-Kataragama railway line in the deep-south next year but stated that the estimated cost of Rs.30 billion needed for this project depends on the availability of government funding.

Speaking to The Morning Leader Railway Department General Manager T. L. Gunaruwan said that the Railway Department would be focusing on the coastline making it their top priority.

Meanwhile Director, Planning and Project Implementation, Ministry of Transport, Jayantha Gunatileke said that the Matara-Kataragama railway line project will be split in two stages and will begin as soon as the government decides on a donor country.

Stage One, which is expected to take one and a half years to complete will be from Matara to Beliatta and the second stage from Beliatta to Kataragama will take another three years.

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“Look at these new coaches. They are made of stainless steel. A proud announce­ment was made that it was to avoid corrosion on the coastline. If that is the case, all the railway bridges along that line must be made of stainless steel. Have you ever seen stainless steel ships? Why couldn’t they use aluminium or fibreglass, if there was such a problem? Now they are new. A thousand eyes will protect them. In about five or six years, nobody would be worried about them. Then slowly and surely sly hands will be at work.

This is Sri Lanka and not China!…”

When I was in service, a railway driver spent his holiday in Japan. I asked him upon his return about the Japanese railways. He snapped that Sri Lanka couldn’t achieve that kind of advancement even in another hundred years.

When I saw the newly imported Chinese coaches, I remembered that conversation. No doubt they are superior in every respect. It is right, as Sri Lankans, to be proud of these technical and artistic masterpieces. But, the question remains whether we can afford them.

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