Jaffna -Colombo travel to be shorten to five hours

The Railway Department has decided to improve the Northern railway track to complete the journey in between Jaffna and Colombo Fort in 5 hours.

According to information received by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport who visited Jaffna recently , have advised railway officials to study about the improvement.

Though the distance between Colombo and Jaffna is about 399 kilometers, speed of 120 kilometers per hour is required to run between these two cities, the Engineering Unit of the Department of Railways said.

However, according to the current situation in the Northern Railway line, it is not a problem to run at such speed in between Omanthai to Kankasanthurai.

The Indian government has set up the railway track meet the speed requirements in the North, but the railway line in between Polgahawela and Colombo can be upgraded to meet the standard after a slight modification.

However, the railway line from Polgahawela to Omanthai has to be completely reconstructed and the government will have to spend a large amount of money for that. At least two high speed trains will need to ply on the track after modifications.

Five years ago, the Railway Department had studied the possibility of running a train in between Anuradhapura and Colombo in three hours and the plan had not been materialized due to not fulfilling the requirements mentioned above.