Foreign financial assistance sought to electrify Kelani Valley railway line

Amid the growing demand for public transport, Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Bandula Gunawardane is planning to seek foreign funds to electrify the Kelani Valley (KV) railway line.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet decision media briefing on Tuesday, he revealed that the government plans to approach multilateral donor agencies to secure funding for the project.

A feasibility study and the detailed engineering design have been completed for the electrification of the Maradana-Padukka section of the KV railway line.

The KV railway line was inaugurated from Colombo to Avissawella in 1902 and to Opanayake in 1919. However, its services were cut down to Avissawella as a dedicated passenger service in 1974.  Gunawardena noted that several initiatives are already underway to increase the frequencies of trains operated on the line within this year.   Meanwhile, he stressed that it’s unfair to pass down the losses incurred by Sri Lanka Railways to all taxpayers.

According to him, Sri Lanka Railways is incurring massive losses up to Rs.40 billion per annum while the revenue is not even sufficient to cover the wages of the Railway employees.