Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) will appreciate and honour the service of 1,500 employees who are due to retire from service.

A ceremony to appreciate the hard work and hours of dedication of the railway employees will be conducted under the patronage of Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma today at the Youth Council in Maharagama at 4.00pm. “It is commendable that SLR provided a noble social service to the country upholding the public trust during this period,” a spokesman from the Transport Ministry told Daily News.

This event will be conducted after 25 years in the railway’s history,” he said.

The SLR provides a 24-hour service being in direct contact with the people. Its employees must be commended for their commitment which has vastly contributed to expand the service across the country.

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Foreign tourists and Tamil speaking people who travel by train on the coastal lines face many difficulties when announcements at the railway stations were made only in the Sinhala language.

The passengers stressed the need to deliver announcements at all Railway Stations in all the three languages for the convenience of travellers from the North-East who visit the South as well as foreign tourists who are presently compelled to make constant inquiries from fellow passengers or from employees of the railways dept.

A foreign tourist Peter Harvey, who boarded a wrong train and was stranded at Panadura, said that a man at the Aluthgama Railway Station misled him when he was waiting for the Galle train and that he boarded the Kandy train. He said he got down at Panadura when the fellow travelers told him that he was traveling in the wrong train. However, he excused the man who was not probably conversant in English.

Source: Dailymirror

The Following Special Train Arrangements Will Be Made To Meet The Extra Traffic Expected During Christmas & Long Week End.

NO:01 SPL FORT / BANDARAWELA FROM 24.12.2009 TO 02.01.2010 FORT DEPATURE 19:20 HOURS.

NO:02 SPL BANDARAWELA / FORT FROM 25.12.2009 TO 03.01.2010 BANDARAWELA DEPATURE 06:30 HOURS.

Source: Sri Lanka Railways

A new mechanism will be formulated for a train commuter who is unable to complete the journey by train alone to use the same ticket to travel by bus, Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

The Minister was speaking after the inaugurating the second railbus service between Trincomalee and Gal Oya at the Trincomalee railway station. Minister Alahapperuma said this will be a good opportunity for train commuters to travel by bus using the same train ticket to reach their destinations.

The railbus service between Trincomalee and Gal Oya was launched to strengthen public transport, he said.

A railbus comprising 80 seats costs about Rs 6 million. The Indian Government had granted 10 buses to Sri Lanka. The first bus service between Batticaloa and Trincomalee is operating successfully.

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Station Masters were scheduled to launch a 48-hour strike from midnight yesterday as a protest against their salary anomalies.

Their trade union action will badly affect students sitting the GCE O/Level examination, holiday makers and festive season shoppers.

A spokesman for the Station Masters’ Union said yesterday that over 900 of their members would participate in the strike as their salary anomalies had not been rectified despite numerous requests made to the Ministry of Transport.

Superintendent of the Colombo Fort Railway Station M.L. Chandrasoma said a skeleton service would operate in areas where train traffic was controlled by colour lights.

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India will provide $425 million as assistance to Sri Lanka to undertake railway projects in its war ravaged Northern region and help speedy reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts there.

“Indian government has conveyed to the government of Sri Lanka its decision to extend a Line of Credit of $425 million to Sri Lanka for three projects,” an Indian High Commission release said here.

This includes assistance for laying of railway line by the Indian Railway Construction Company (IRCON). The assistance is for Track laying by IRCON International. On the Omanthai-Pallai sector of the Northern railway line; IRCON is involved in construction of Railway Projects in India and abroad.

Besides, the line of credit would also cover track laying by IRCON (I) Ltd. On the Madhu-Tallaimannar sector; and supply of rolling stock by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES ) for Northern Sri Lanka.

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The Railway Department will launch its second rail bus service today between Trincomalee and Gal Oya in the Eastern Province under the Negenahira Navodaya project.

The inauguration will take place at the Trincomalee railway station under the patronage of Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma at 3.00pm.

A Sri Lanka Railways Spokesman told the Daily News the first rail bus launched under the Negenahira Navodaya between Baticaloa and Gal Oya is being operated successfully.

The rail-bus service operating between Gal Oya and Trincomalee will commence from the Gal Oya station once the Meenagaya train (Colombo-Batticaloa) arrives.

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