Lanka to get speed train by 2016

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

For the first time in Sri Lanka a Metropolitan speed train system would be set up from Katunayake airport to Fort and back. Airport Express and Rail Company limited (AEARC) a Malaysian based company is looking at investing US $ 600 million for this landmark investment heralding a new era in the Sri Lankan transport sector.

AEARC Chairman, Dr. Parimalan Rajo and other senior officials of KMPG after the signing agreement. Picture by Shirajiv Sirimane

AEARC Chairman, Dr. Parimalan Rajo Isa Michael speaking to ‘Daily News Business’ said that they hope to raise capital through investors from Malaysia, USA and Denmark.

He disclosed that foreign investors are bullish on Sri Lanka and raising capital for the project would not be an issue. He said that KPMG has been entrusted to carry out the feasibility study in this regard and when it is completed they would start on the project. “We

hope the project to be ready by 2016,” he disclosed.

He said that when the project is completed they hope to operate 18 trains per day from the airport to Fort and are mainly targeting tourists. “We are looking at a one way fare of US $ 50 from tourists and Rs. 500 from Sri Lankans.” The project would generate over 1,000 direct employment opportunities,” he said.

The proposed project is a Metropolitan Railway System comprising two terminus, the first at the Katunayake Airport and the other at Fort, Colombo, close to the Fort main railway station with two parallel railway lines running to and from these two destinations.

The commuters from the airport or even tourists around the vicinity of the airport building, will now be given the opportunity to travel to Colombo, on an un-interrupted railway passage within just a matter of a few minutes. The new railway terminal can be accessed directly from the arrivals and departures lounges of the airport.

The proposed railway route would go along the airport road, then cross the Negombo main highway and the Negombo lagoon and connect to the new Katunayake expressway. It will then be constructed parallel to the main expressway along its 30 metre reservation area for an approximate distance of 30 kilometers till it reaches the town of Wattala.

Then it crosses the Negombo main road yet again and from the Hunupitiya railway station, travels alongside the existing railway line until the cross-over at the Kelaniya river.

At this boundary to the Colombo city limits, the new railway track would be taken across the river on a modern bridge and will reach its final destination, the ‘Fort Lotus terminal’ in 15 minutes travel time.

The Lotus terminal is situated at a site with amazing potential for urban integration.

The Lotus terminal site will comprise an architecturally modern and versatile 32-storey tower, which would function as a city-centre for the local or foreign businessmen, who would be spending a few days in the capital city. The terminal tower would comprise a Hyper-mall, multiplex cinema, casino, a spiral viewing tower, city hotel, a conference and convention center, food courts, bowling alley, game arcades and a health centre which consists of all types of spas, salons, saunas, and massage centers and its very own Ayurvedic garden. Sky bridges or under-water tunnels will link the terminal tower to the Fort railway station, main bus terminals and the two main roadways leading to Fort.

To give the short-stay tourists an overall taste Colombo City a shuttle bus service will commence from the new railway terminal which would link all the main hotels, popular up-market shopping centers and other places of interest within the city.