Sri Lanka: Chinese carriages to improve rail services

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka - Geneva - Switzerland

09th September 2007

The first shipment of Rail compartments ordered by the Railway Department from China arrived at the Colombo Port on Friday. These passenger carriages will be put into operation shortly, a spokesman for the Railway Department said.

He said the Railway Department ordered 100 carriages from China and 25 have already arrived at the Colombo Port and the remaining 75 carriages will also arrive at the Colombo Port within the next three months.

The Sri Lanka Railway which caters to over 300,000 passengers faced a severe shortage of passenger carriages due to non importation of rail carriages for the past 15 years.

With the mobilisation of these new carriages the Sri Lanka Railway will provide a better service to rail commuters, he said. He said apart from the carriages, the Railway Department has also ordered five powersets from China for short distance operations. These powersets will also reach the Colombo Port shortly.

© 2007 The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva - Switzerland. All Rights Reserved  

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