The role of the railway under Eastern Resurgence

B. B. Perera

Under the Negenahira Udanaya (Eastern Resurgence) the Government has proposed a mega development programme covering all aspects to bring relief to the people of all ethnic groups in the East. Improvements to the road network is a vital factor in the development programme.

A-11 road from Maradankadawala to Valachchenai with a 300 by 10.4 mtr new bridge spanning Mahaweli at Manampitiya. A-6 road from Habarana to Trincomalee. A-15 road from Trincomalee to Batticaloa through Kinniya, Upperu, Gangai, Killiveddy, Verugal and Vakarai with four bridges replacing the ferries are some major projects in the pipeline. I failed to locate any mention of the development of the Trincomalee-Batticaloa railway.

Before the Railway was constructed to Batticaloa and Trincomalee Eastern District was an isolated area. Batticaloa was linked with Badulla through Mahaoya by A-5 road and Trincomalee was linked up with Anuradhapura by the A-12 road through Kebethigollewa and Kahatagasdigiliya. Railway was laid to Anuradhapura in 1904 and hill country railway reached Bandarawela in 1894. Ceylon Government Railway imported the first batch of Motor Vehicles in 1910.

They were called Royal Mail Coaches with solid tyres and carbide lamps. There had been two long seats for passengers. The upper one was reserved for higher State officers.

These vehicles were deployed to transport Mails and passengers from Trincomalee to Anuradhapura and Bandarawela to Batticaloa via Bibile. Though a Railway was mooted to the East as far back as 1860 it was in 1920 a decision was made to build a light Railway to Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

This was called a light Railway (BTLR) as the rails used were the 46 1/4 lb section (wt; of 3 ft of Rail) Hardwood timber was available and the contractors have supplied the sleepers. Hundreds of lives have been sacrificed, stricken with Malaria, Diarohea and attacked by wild animals.

It was a thick jungle interspersed with some villages. The worst encounter the construction gang had to face was when they were laying the track in Punani area. A man eating leopard was a real threat to the workers. Some men had to keep vigil striking at Rail pieces to keep the marauder away.

The leopard had killed the tappal carrier and the Tappal bag and his clothes were found by the Railway Inspector who was in charge of the construction. He has informed the Government Agent Batticaloa of the incident who in return got the services of a renouned hunter Mr. Agal to shoot the leopard. Mr. Agal has spent number of days following the movements of the leopard and finally shot him on August 17, 1924.

This gave a sigh of relief not only to the construction gang but also to the people of Manampitiya and Batticaloa who got about by foot and carts. The leopard is stuffed and preserved in the Colombo Museum.

The 900 ft long bridge with thirteen flood openings, rail level 18 ft above the river bed making a total of 2870 ft for flood waters to pass through without causing any damage to the embankment was a great Engineering feat accomplished with the laying of the Batticaloa line.

The construction of this bridge has been done in 1922. Colonisation schemes of Polonnaruwa, Minneriya, Kantalai commenced in the thirties and transport of machinery, building material and colonists were done by the railway.

After the World War II with the development of Polonnaruwa and Hingurakgoda as provincial towns the necessity arose to upgrade the Railway. Lowering the Morakanda bank between Galoya and Habarana by nine feet to ease off the grade, the deviation of the track from Galoya to Minneriya to eliminate curves were two major projects carried out under the direction of Mr. Vaithiyalingam, Chief Engineer.

Replacing the light rail with heavy section rail (80 lbs) commenced in 1954 and reached Batticaloa in 1960 and Trincomalee in 1968. With these improvements long trains hauled by Diesel Locomotives with 16 ton axle load were put on service.

There was no road access from Polonnaruwa to Manampitiya and in 1950 the rail bridge was converted to a Rail cum road bridge. With the proposed development in the east the upgrading of the Batticaloa-Trincomalee railway is a Sine-qua- non. 281 km of Rail track needs upgrading. The Batticaloa-Trincomalee Railway is more of straight tracks and curves are flat.

Most of the Rails are above the condemning limit, Welding Rails introduction of concrete sleepers with a ballast cushion of 200mm will make this line fit for a higher speed.

With the commissioning of the new road bridge at Manampitiya repairs to the rail bridge also can be scheduled as it had been neglected for a long time due to heavy road traffic on the Rail-cum-road bridge. With the increase of trains on the Trincomalee line, a crossing station at Habarana will be a necessity.

With these improvements freight transport can be taken over by the Railway, for bulk transport of cement, flour and petroleum products. Not only the people of Trincomalee and Batticaloa but even the Tourists who are expected at the beach resorts at Kalkuda and Nilaweli with normality returning to the east will patronise the Railway for a faster and hazzle free journey.

The Railway can come back to the era when the bigger percentage of the earnings came from the North and East. Sometime back IRCON and Rites, two companies affiliated to the Government of India made some feasibility studies for relaying Northern and Talaimannar lines, but the project could not come off the ground due to unsettled conditions in the North.

The planning section of the Ministry of Transport could explore the possibilities of getting some funding under the Indian line of Credit for upgrading the Batticaloa-Trincomalee lines which will boost the Negenahira Udanaya.