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| Thursday, 4 November 2004 |
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Reliable public transport, vital for progress by Chandra Edirisuriya
Ever since the railway train and the motor bus revolutionised public transport in this country, replacing the palanquin, the horse-drawn carriage, the bullock cart, buggy cart etc. they began to bring about political, economic, social, cultural and religious progress. These two modes of transport were introduced to this country no sooner they were put to use in Britain. The earliest railways in the world, the English, Stockton-Darlington Railway and the Liverpool-Manchester Railway, had been established in 1825 and 1830 respectively. The Ceylon government undertook the construction of the railway and unlike in India and England, railways in Ceylon became a government concern. The construction of the railway was begun in 1858 but the work had to be interrupted after three years. Work was resumed in 1863 and in 1865 the railway reached Ambepussa. The line to Kandy was completed in 1867. The railway was extended to Badulla via Peradeniya Junction, to Matale via Kandy, to Kankesanthurai, Talaimannar, Trincomalee and Batticaloa via Polgahawela. Broad gauge railway lines were also laid from Colombo to Matara and to Puttalam. The narrow gauge railway was laid from Colombo to Opanaike via Avissawella and Ratnapura and from Nanu Oya to Ragala via Nuwara Eliya. The British also completed an extensive program of road construction which enabled the introduction of the motor bus no sooner began to be used in Britain. At first the steam railway locomotives of the basic type ranging from the smallest shunting engines to powerful Garat engines meant for the hilly terrain were in use. Steam engines of Class A Load A type named after British Governors were used for long distance trains. Engines with lesser power from Class B downwards were named after leading schools such as Ananda College, S. Thomas' College, Royal College, St. Joseph's College et al. The last Class A Load A steam locomotive was painted red and named after King George VI. The dieselisation of the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) was largely implemented by the legendary B. D. Rampala as General Manager of Railways (GMR). The first diesel engine to pull passenger trains on our tracks was the M 1 type brick red Brush Bagnall engine and the inaugural run was from Colombo to Kandy taking Queen Elizabeth II on her first visit to this country in 1954. Next came the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) built M 2 type Canadian diesel engines given to us under Colombo Plan aid and named after provinces and cities of Canada, such as, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Vancouver and also Galle and Kankesanthurai. The M4 type MLW Canadian engines that followed are named Point Pedro, Mahaweli, Kelani, Walawe, Piduruthalagala, Namunukula, Samanala, Laxapana, Diyaluma and Dunhinda. M6 type Henschel engines of West German-make came next followed by M7 General Electric engines to mark the second visit of Queen Elizabeth II. M 8 type Indian engines to be brought thereafter were followed by M 9 type Alstom French engines, the most powerful diesel locomotives to be brought to this country. Unlike the M 6 Henschel engine that does the Colombo Fort-Veyangoda-Polgahawela-Rambukkana-Kadugannawa-Gampola run, pulling the Udarata Menike express train, in 2 hours and 47 minutes with only 6 or 7 compartments, the Alstom M 9 engine reaches Peradeniya in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes pulling the Senkadagala Menike express train with almost double the number of bogeys and running slow from Polgahawela. This locomotive will do the Colombo-KKS run in around 5 hours in the event of resumption of train services on the Northern line. In addition W 1 Class East German engines and W 2 Class West German engines, American, Swiss - Schindler, Hitachi, Korean and Chinese power sets, Chinese and Romanian passenger bogeys were imported to upgrade the train services. The fact that trains were run to schedule in this country during British times is common knowledge. The saying goes that during those times if a train was late even by two minutes explanation was called for from the train crew. Thereafter, it has been the practice to run trains late for no rhyme or reason. For instance, on a Saturday a few weeks ago the Udarata Menike express up train was halted at Kadigamuwa for over 20 minutes for the slow down train to pass although that time was sufficient for the express train to reach Ihala Kotte. On the following Saturday, the same train was stopped at Kadugannawa for about 20 minutes but no train from the opposite direction passed. As a result, this train reached Gampola, late by almost one hour. This area beyond Rambukkana is controlled from Nawalapitiya. It may be that sadists and saboteurs are doing this. Passengers grin and bear but unknown to them they suffer both mentally and physically, missing their meals and their daily routine getting upset. In the final analysis, it tells on the economy for it leads to loss of productivity. The authorities cannot shirk the responsibility to run trains on time. Again, ventilating fans have been removed from most compartments in upcountry trains. About 7 years ago I made investigations and found that coils of these fans get burnt easily because of a fraud. The quantity of wire used in the coils by contractors is not sufficient. This was corrected by the then Minister of Transport on my informing him but it seems that there is a recurrence of the earlier situation now. The seats, especially the head rests, began to be washed to remove the dust and grime on my apprising the minister, of it. The Ceylon Transport Board was set up in 1958 with good intentions. It operated well under the Chairmanship of Vere de Mel of the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) and of Quickshaws fame. Thereafter, except during the time of Anil Moonesinghe, both as Chairman and Minister, it deteriorated to such an extent that the General Treasury had to write off millions of rupees of loans given to it, to prop it up. Thousands of millions of rupees of the common man's money has been virtually buried under the soil to keep it going under various names. It was once broken up into 93 depots and again 11 cluster bus companies were formed. The whole organisation has become over-staffed and unwieldily with a large number of highly paid officials, vast buildings to maintain, paying big telephone, electricity, water, fuel bills, and a large fleet of vehicles other than buses. The CTB, if at all it can be called such now, does everything under the sun, including having a driving school but running buses. About 7 years ago I was travelling in a private bus from Kandy to Colombo and the driver, a former CTB driver, said that pilferage of new spare parts from buses is rampant and a new bus won't last 3 months. If there is such a situation, pumping of money to the tune of thousands of millions of rupees, to repair buses, is a futile exercise unless that situation is put right. Some time back it was reported in the press that the engine of a new CTB bus on a private hire was removed and fixed to a private bus and the old engine of the private bus was fixed to the CTB bus. Investigator later found the new engine buried in a field. In another instance, a new bus was sold by some officials of a CTB depot in Gampaha district and a top official lost his job and died prematurely exerting himself too much to make a living. So the thousands of millions of rupees allocated for repairs to buses will go waste if the rogue path is not closed. It is with nostalgia that I reminisce the days when the CTB was operating well. In addition to the fleet of buses acquired from the nationalised bus companies, buses and bus chassis were imported from Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Britain of Mercedes Benz, Magirus Deutz, Fiat, OM, Skoda, Leyland, AEC, Albion makes. Services were operated to every nook and corner of the island. Double deckers of Leyland and AEC makes used in Britain for 5 years were imported. Drivers and conductors wore khaki uniforms. Even graduates worked as conductors of CTB buses. It is hoped that the CTB will be restored to its pristine glory once more. Good public transport is very vital for the country's progress in all spheres. It will also greatly reduce the country's fuel bill as more and more people will use public conveyances instead of their private vehicles. |
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