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Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 05.15 GMT |
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Indian support
to upgrade SL railway |
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A Line of Credit Agreement for US$ 67.4 million was signed between Sri Lanka and Export-Import Bank of India yesterday (10 Mar) to upgrade the Colombo-Matara Railway Line.
The Agreement was signed by Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning and Mr. Prabhakar Dalal, Executive Director, Export-Import Bank of India in the presence of the High Commissioner of India in Colombo, Ashok K. Kantha, a press release from the Indian High Commission stated.
The Line of Credit will fund the Second Phase of the upgrade of Southern Railway Line from Colombo to Matara. The Government of India, through the Export-Import Bank of India, had earlier provided a Line of Credit of US $ 100 million under an Agreement signed in July 2008. The implementation of the First Phase of the upgrade of the Southern Railway Line is currently ongoing.
The upgrading project includes supply of materials for rail track rehabilitation from Colombo to Matara and execution of work for rail track rehabilitation from Kalutara to Matara which is being implemented by IRCON (I) Limited. In addition, the Line of Credit is also being used for supply of 20 sets of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs), three units of locomotives, spare parts for the existing M8 class locomotives, supply of plant and machinery for maintenance of existing DMUs and construction of maintenance sheds at Aluthgama, Galle and Colombo by RITES India Limited.
The project would allow the trains to travel on the Colombo Matara sector at speeds up to 100 kmph. It will increase the average operating speed from 40 kmph to 80 kmph allowing a passenger express train to cover the Colombo-Galle distance approximately within 2 hours. The supply of DMUs and locomotives would also increase the train capacity and the frequency of trains, alleviating the existing constraints in this regard on the Colombo-Matara sector, the Indian High Commission further stated.
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