Abandoned rail engines back on track

The Alstom (AD 32 C) M-09 French rail engines imported to the country in 2000 and were found to carry defects are to be fully repaired using modern technology and put into operation, Deputy Transport Minister Rohana Dissanayake said.

Addressing a media briefing at the Government Information Department he said the Arthur C. Clarke Centre will provide the necessary technological advise to the Railways Department to remedy the shortcomings detected in the Microprocessor and Digital Signal control network.

Ten Alstom (AD 32 C) French engines were imported to the country in 2000. However seven engines had to be removed from the tracks since 2003 due to defects. A single engine cost the Government Rs. 200 million.

The present cost of a single engine is over Rs. 400 million. Since no local company came forward to undertake the repair work the Railways Department was forced to call for foreign tenders. But since it would have cost the Government Rs 105 million to make the seven engines fully functional the matter was not pursued all these years.

However, on a proposal made by Transport Minister Kumara Welgama attention has been drawn towards repairing these engines that were lying abandoned and the Arthur C. Clarke Centre which conducted a preliminary study of the engines had agreed to provide its expertise. Already engine No. M09 -864 which was repaired at less than Rs 2.5 million took off on its maiden journey from Colombo to Kandy on September 10. Meanwhile, work on engine Nos. M09-867 and 864 are continuing. They are expected to resume operations in the near future.

In addition repair work is also to commence on four S-09 power sets imported from China where two defects were found in the Micro processor and the Digital signal processor. The possibility is also being explored to have the repairs done by training Railway engineers. A study is also being conducted by the Arthur C. Clarke Centre to look at the possibility of manufacturing these power sets locally.