Indian rail maker IRCON completes 5 years in Sri Lanka
View(s):IRCON International Ltd, a business under the Ministry of Indian Railways, has completed five years in Sri Lanka, in which the company paid the Northern railway track.
Speaking on the occasion of IRCON’s 5th anniversary, Project Director Shyam Lal Gupta said that Ircon started its Sri Lanka charter with the mandate to upgrade the Kalutara – Galle-Matara coastal railway line in March 2009. “The coastal railway line was devastated during the Tsunami in December 2004. The project involved the rehabilitation and improvement of the existing track to a modern railway track with a speed potential of 100 kmph. This 114 km long project was funded through an Indian line of credit and was completed ahead of schedule in two phases,” he said.
Phase-I, Galle – Matara (42 km) was completed and handed over to Sri Lanka Railways on 16th February 2011, while Phase-II, Galle – Kalutara (72 km) was put to commercial operations on 19th April 2012.
IRCON then handled the reconstruction of 265 km of the Northern railway lines in Sri Lanka, funded by the Government of India Lines of Credit in stages. That process was completed on 14th March 2015 with the visiting Indian Prime Minister inaugurating the Madhu Road to Talai Mannar Pier line.
Mr. Gupta also expressed his appreciation to the Government of Sri Lanka for giving IRCON the opportunity to work in Sri Lanka. He said that the Government of Sri Lanka should make all efforts to ensure that the trains can cover the distance from Colombo to Jaffna and Colombo to Trincomalee in 4 to 4.5 hours.