Railways to resume Galle, Matara service
Irangika RANGE
The Sri Lanka Railways is making arrangements to commence train
operations on the newly layed express railway line from Galle to Matara
at the end of this month.
Train services between Galle and Matara were terminated temporarily
from last August to upgrade the coastal railway line.
The high-speed Southern Railway line project, from Matara to
Maradana, was launched by Transport Minister Kumara Welgama by laying a
new rail track at Pelana in Weligama.
Under the first phase of the project, the work of the railway track
from Galle to Matara was carried out with Indian assistance. Around 90
percent of the construction of the Galle to Matara segment has already
been completed," a Transport Ministry Spokesman told the Daily News.
Once the new railway line is completed between Galle and Matara, trains
plying on the track could travel at speeds upto 100 kilometers per hour
reducing travel time.
He said that the Southern railway renovation project, funded by a
long-term Indian soft loan scheme, is being handled by IRCON, an Indian
company. The project will be completed in four stages; Matara to Galle,
Galle to Hikkaduwa, Hikkaduwa to Kalutara South and Kalutara South to
Maradana, he said.
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