Railway income on the increase

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Chief Government whip Urban Development and Sacred area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardene told parliament yesterday total income of the Sri Lanka Railways has Rs. 3,671.28 million in 2008 recording an increase of 22.4 percent due to increase in train fares.

The income gained by the Sri Lanka Railways in 2007 was Rs. 2,999.15 million and the recurrent expenditure of that year was Rs. 7,296 million the operational loss recorded in 2007 was Rs. 4,297 million.

Meanwhile, the recurrent expenditure of Sri Lanka Railways in 2008 was 8224 million while its operational loss had been increased to Rs. 4553 million.

Even though the Sri Lanka Railways has been able to increase its total income in 2008 due to increase in train fares, its operational loss has gone up in 2008 due to the fuel prices increase.

Steps would be taken to increase fuel use productivity and reduce the recurrent expenditure in order to overcome this situation, the Minister added.

The Minister was responding to an oral question raised by the JVP MP Lakshman Nipunarachchi.