A ceremony to transform the Megammana and Pahalathalawinna railway halts into substations will be held today in Pahalathalawinna in the Matale district with Railways General Manager Lalithasiri Gunaruwan in attendance.
The passengers have requested the department to upgrade these halts into substations for several years.
The Geli Oya substation in the Kandy district will also be upgraded [...]
Sri Lanka’s long-neglected railway system can be a more useful complement to roads and could take up much of the bulk freight transport, reducing traffic jams significantly. In a recent BIG Issue interview the Colombo Mayor stated that every effort will be taken to reduce the traffic problem in curtailing the inflow and outflow of [...]
A transit shelter to house stranded passengers in the city of Colombo at night is a timely act of the Government. A Colombo University survey has revealed that over 100 passengers get stranded daily in Colombo at night.
Transport Minister Dallas Alahapperuma who laid the foundation stone for the first transit centre, named Colombagedera, quite rightly [...]
It was the late evening of Saturday the 14th, December. I was a passenger in the Colombo bound intercity train from Nanu Oya. When it reached Ihalakotte, a small station situated between Kadugannawa and Kadigamuwa, the train was stopped by the control room to give way to a Kandy bound train, which should have reached [...]
The Transport Ministry is developing the Kandy-Gampola-Kadugannawa railway line triangle to reduce travel time from Colombo to Kandy by 15-20 minutes.
A Ministry spokesman told the Daily News that arrangements had been made to remove operational barriers on the mainline at Peradeniya while work has commenced to double line of the Kandy-Peradeniya (six Km) line.
It has [...]
I wanted to take my family by train to Kandy last year in December, but was told when I arrived at the station that all tickets had been sold out.
So, this year, I asked a travel agent to get me the tickets and was informed by them that they would have to send a person [...]
At long last, the proposed third platform at the Peradeniya station has become a reality. The newly constructed platform was commissioned for use on 1st December. The opening of this long proposed third platform will cut train travel by as much as 20 minutes and enable all upcountry trains to stop at Peradeniya.
Previously all upcountry [...]
I love trains. I find them infinitely preferable to buses, especially in the Third World. Unfortunately, in many countries, notably much of India, train travel, while more comfortable than buses, is something to be endured rather than enjoyed. When I came to Sri Lanka, with its short distances and cheap first-class travel, I was agreeably [...]
