Govt. plans high-speed railway linking Colombo and Kankasanthurai in 2024

Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena yesterday revealed that plans are underway to launch a high-speed rail network linking Colombo and Kankasanthurai by next year.

“With trains capable of reaching speeds of up to 100 km per hour, the line will cut the journey between Kankasanthurai and the capital Colombo from over seven hours to just five hours and 30 minutes,” he said on the sidelines of the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday. 

He anticipates that the high-speed train would be in high demand once it is operational in 2024 because the introduction of luxury trains — Jaffna Night Rider and Ella Odyssey, has been quite successful, with both trains being full.

The Minister also said the renovation work of the Mahawa - Omanthai stretch of the Northern Railway line commenced in January will be completed during the five months, adding that the maintenance work of the rail tracks is in line with the schedule despite the adverse weather.  

On 8 January, track rehabilitation work was launched at Medawachchiya to upgrade the Railway Line including ancillary works from Maho to Omanthai (128Km) being undertaken by an Indian Public Sector company, IRCON, under an existing Indian Line of Credit (LOC) of $ 318 million at a cost of $ 91.27 million.