Fuel transport on Eastern line resumes

The first train carrying 100,000 gallons of fuel to Batticaloa left Thursday after 22 years on the Eastern railway line.

The train had 10 fuel tank carriages each carrying 10,000 fuel gallons. The new fuel transporting service was started after talks between the Transport Minister Kumara Welgama and Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha, a Transport Ministry release said. In the past, railway services carried 70 percent goods from different regions but later it had com down to 30 percent.

During the British rule, the plantation produce was transported mainly by train. Increasing the transport of goods by train will not only increase the income of Sri Lanka Railways but also be a solution to the acute traffic congestion, Minister Welgama had said when the new proposals to improve the railways was made, the release said.