Saturday, 25 August 2007

Government will be taking steps to upgrade the railway sector in Sri Lanka with the treasury agreeing to allocate funds for the projects.

According to the Minister of Transport Dullas Alahapperuma the Ministry proposals for a better public passenger transport service was accepted by the Treasury Secretary and thereupon the Ministry will be working towards a qualitative change in the service within the next few months.

Accordingly, 15 power sets will be on track before mid next year and another 10 to 15 Locomotive Engines are also expected.

The railway network will be repaired and all casuals, substitutes and daily wage earners recruited to the Department from time-to-time will be absorbed to the permanent cadre.

Minister Alahapperuma pointing out that there are no political appointments to the Railway Department and the conversion of the present railway passenger service was not simple but said it could be done with the assistance of clever and efficient workers

He added that the contribution of the passenger railway service to the National Transport System was confirmed in the National Transport Policy of the Government as emphasised by the Mahinda Chintanaya.

Already steps have been taken to purchase 100 railway compartments from China and the first batch of 25 will arrive shortly.