Assisting Sri Lanka in the development of its railway infrastructure, Indian Railways supplied a consignment of 20 passenger coaches to Sri Lanka Railways recently. According to a statement issued by the High Commission of India in Colombo, the state-of-the-art coaches have been transported to the neighbouring country by Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES). On 17 September 2021, these 20 passenger coaches reached Colombo Port. This consignment is a part of USD 82.6 million contract, to supply as many as 160 passenger coaches to the island nation of Sri Lanka, funded under an Indian Line of Credit of USD 318 million, it further said. So far, 60 out of 160 passenger coaches have been supplied to Sri Lanka Railways while 20 more passenger coaches are ready to be shipped from India.
These ‘India-made’ coaches have been custom made and manufactured as per the requirements of Sri Lanka Railways by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. The PSU- RITES Limited is also scheduled to supply two air-conditioned DMUs to Sri Lanka under the Indian Line of Credit of USD 318 million. The first air-conditioned DMU set consisting of 13 coaches is ready to be shipped from India and is waiting for nomination of ship by Sri Lanka. Some of the other projects under this line includes railway line’s upgradation from Maho to Omanthai (128 kilometres long), Signalling project from Maho to Anuradhapura, Double Tracking of rail line from Polgahawela to Kurunegala, etc.
Previously, RITES Limited has supplied six DMUs (contract was completed in October 2019) and ten Diesel Locomotives (contract was completed in June 2020) to Sri Lanka Railways, funded under a separate Line of Credit, the High Commission of India in Colombo said. India’s overall assistance to the island nation for development is close to USD 3.5 billion. Railway infrastructure’s development in Sri Lanka is a sector of special focus. In this connection, installation of signal and telecommunication system (330 Kilometres), reconstruction of railway lines (268 Kilometres), up gradation of coastal railway line (118 Kilometres) have been completed already. Currently, multiple projects are at different stages of implementation.
