Over USD 300 million needed to rebuild railway tracks in cyclone-hit Sri Lanka

Colombo, Jan 6 (PTI) Around USD 320 million will be required to fully restore Sri Lanka's railway tracks destroyed by Cyclone Ditwah, the island nation's deputy transport minister said on Tuesday.

Widespread flooding and landslides triggered by the cyclone in November caused over 600 deaths in Sri Lanka.

Train services in the island nation were also severely disrupted as landslides buried large chunks of the track.

Deputy Minister of Transport Prasanna Gunasena said that Sri Lanka will have to spend more than USD 320 million to rebuild the railway tracks in the Central Province and Hill Country.

“This is a colossal amount of money,” he said.

On the resumption of services to the central town of Kandy, Gunasena said that in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, trains were operating only up to Polgahawela, 73 km from Colombo, instead of the full distance of over 120 kms.

“Now with difficulty we managed to run the train upto Rambukkana, USD 76 million would be required to repair the full track to Kandy,” Gunasena said.

Repairing a major bridge on the central line would require USD 18 million, with a further USD 230 million needed to repair the entire track up to Nanuoya -- the gateway to Nuwara Eliya, the Hill Country resort.

According to railway officials, torrential rains measuring over 300 mm lashed parts of the island during the cyclone, resulting in severe riverbank and soil erosion.

This left parts of the tracks at different points hanging without solid earth support.

Scores of railway bridges were damaged or collapsed as culverts needed for rail track alignment were destroyed.

They said that the flooding and landslides caused severe damage to the railway signal network, which requires a complete overhaul.

Officials say Sri Lanka had appealed to China for funding to restore the rail track network. PTI CORR GRS GRS GRS