It’s been 67 years since the Yal Devi Train made its first trip to the North. The date is April 23, 1956. Yal Devi began her maiden voyage under the Colombo system, using M2 diesel locomotives imported from Canada. Yal Devi, united the North and South.
The Northern Line railroads were completely destroyed during the thirty-year battle against terrorism. As a result, the main mode of transportation connecting the North and South was suspended for decades. Because there was no telephone connection at the time, the relationship between Thangamma in the northern corner and Sumanasiri in the southern corner was completely broken.
Eight daily passenger train services provided a large passenger service between Yapa Patuna and the South before the connection between Yapa Patuna and the South was severed. But with the terrorist attack on the Yal Devi Train, the Northern Railway came to a standstill, and then in 1989, with the JR-Rajiv peace agreement, the train ran for about a year and a half before stopping again because of the rise of the battle. After that, no train ran to Yapa Patuna for 25 years. On that critical night of June 26, 1989, the night mail train that ran from Colombo to Kankasanthurai did not return. That train driven by S. Rajagopalanya went to ruin for 25 years.
A train started its voyage again to the north on October 13, 2014. That was after the Ircon Company reconstructed the railway line to Yapa Patuna under an Indian loan subsidy. A group of people, including B.A.P. Ariyaratne, who held the post of Railway General Manager at that time, Y.K. Singa, who was the Indian High Commissioner, with the representatives of Ircon Company in Sri Lanka, as well as the Chief Executive Officer of India, participated in that historic journey.
But only the stretch from Omanthai to Kankasanthurai had been completely renovated by the Ircon. Therefore, the train had to run very slowly on the northern railway line from Mahawa Junction to Omanthai, which caused an intercity express train to take more than 7 hours to go from Colombo to Jaffna. In some places, the train had to run at a speed of less than 20 km per hour. Further, many train derailments have been reported in the last two or three years.
Timetable
According to the timetable of the Railway Department, a train should be able to run from Colombo to Jaffna in almost 6 hours. Because of this, it was proposed to completely reconstruct the railway line from Mahawa to Omanthai in two phases with Indian loan assistance.
Under its first phase, which was initiated on January 8 (the week before last week), the railway line from Anuradhapura to Vavuniya will be removed entirely, and a new railway line will be established.
It was with the participation of Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Transport, Highways, and Mass Media, and Gopal Baglay, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. The renovation works of the 128 km long railway line from Mahawa to Omanthai were ceremonially started near the Medavachchiya Railway Station, where Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe, State Minister of Highways Siripala Gamlath, General Manager of Railways W.A.D.S. Gunasinghe, and many senior officials of the Ministry of Transport also participated. Before starting these activities, the Minister of Transport and the Indian High Commissioner participated in religious ceremonies in Anuradhapura.
Twelve railway stations and seven sub-stations will be reconstructed under the complete project of the railway line from Mahawa to Omanthai. Meanwhile, a colour signaling system will be established from Mahava to Anuradhapura, after which the old signaling system, which has existed for more than a century and a half since the British rule today, will be removed.
Under Phase 1, from Anuradhapura to Omanthai, where work has already started, it will take more than 5 months to complete the road section from Anuradhapura to Omanthai. There, too, the line will be completely removed, the earth will be excavated for several feet, and the ground will be paved with granite to prepare the railway line for a high-speed train.
This project will be implemented under the US$ 318 million credit facility of the existing Indian credit assistance system, and this project alone will cost US$ 91.27 million.
Addressing the brief ceremony held in Medavachchi, Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that he is grateful for India’s support to boost Sri Lanka’s transport sector. Appreciating the projects carried out by Ircon in Sri Lanka in the last few years, the Minister said that the railway cooperation between the two countries should be further increased.
Better relations
He also said that it is because of the support provided by India that we have been able to make a remarkable change in the transport sector in this country. The Minister also said out that, in the future, many projects will be started to create better relations between India and Sri Lanka.
Addressing the occasion, the Indian High Commissioner said that under five Indian credit facilities, India has implemented over US$ 1 billion in projects in the railway sector of Sri Lanka. In addition, he also pointed out that projects worth about US$ 180 million are currently being implemented under the existing credit facilities.
The High Commissioner also said that it is critical to modernising the railways in order to improve the transportation of goods and passengers in Sri Lanka and thus boost the country’s economic process.
He also said the importance of strengthening the relationship between the two countries to improve their bilateral relations with India in terms of pilgrimage, tourism, trade, and economic activities.
The High Commissioner expressed confidence that India will work with Sri Lanka to introduce more sustainable transport solutions.
The largest project undertaken by the Indian Government to improve the railway service in the country is the modernisation of the coastal railway, which was destroyed by the tsunami.
After that, the new construction of the Northern Railway from Omanthai to Kankasanturaya provided further support to unite the North and the South. Accordingly, as a long-term development partner of India and Sri Lanka, various projects were implemented on the island under concessional loans and grants, among which the Sri Lanka Railways occupied a leading position among the various cooperative sectors operating under this financial facility.
India’s Ircon, which started railway renovation operations in Sri Lanka in March 2009, has contributed to the modernisation of Sri Lanka’s railways by rebuilding the entire destroyed railway network (253 km) in the Northern Province and completely rehabilitating the southern railway line (115 km).
Also, the company has contributed to ensuring the safety of train travel through a modern signaling and telecommunications system for the 330-kilometer railway line.
Railway General Manager W.A.D.S. Gunasinghe said that for the construction of the railway line, the land had to be strengthened to a great extent, so the railway had to be completely stopped and these modernisation works had to be carried out.
He also said that looking at the trains that are currently running and will be running in the future, a double track is not necessary, and if dual roads are to be built, separate bridges should be built for that, and it will be very expensive.
He also said that because the train travels at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour, the time it takes to go from one station to another is less than half of what it is now and that it is possible to transfer two trains at stations through colour signals.
He also said that under the new reforms, efforts will be made to establish the Thambuttegama and Talawa Railway Stations near highways. Accordingly, the Talawa Railway Station will be installed near the Eppawala Road, and the Thambuttegama Railway Station will be established near Galnewa Road.
He said that the northern route from Mahawa will be completely under the control of colour signals, and it will be possible to run passenger trains to Jaffna in 5 hours after the modernisation. He also said that passenger trains and freight transportation will be prioritised.
Road section
The road section from Anuradhapura to Vavuniya, where work has started, is 49.4 km long, and the second section, the railway from Mahawa to Anuradhapura, which will be started after the completion of the work, is 66.4 km long.
Within 5 months before the upcoming Poson Festival, most of the work on the first section is expected to be completed, while the work on the second section, from Mahawa to Anuradhapura, will be started. The railway will also be completely closed for at least 6 months.
Under this project, the length of the train loop line (the train stopping line without a platform at major stations, the “Loop Line”) will be extended so that even a train with a length of about 20 carriages can be parked on that line. The General Manager pointed out that the railway stations are not mainly being modernised under this, but even so, he said that the railway stations will also be modernised as much as possible to match the new colour signal system.
Accordingly, at the beginning of 2024, it will be possible to travel by train from Colombo to Jaffna in 5 hours, the General Manager said. He also said that it will be a great convenience for the people of the North as well as the South.
The Indian Ircon Company has used a wonderful method in the renovation of railways by using the local technology of our country for this modernisation work, which has created thousands of direct and indirect jobs for locals.
Yal Devi’s return with Indian support will be done early next year. There, not only Yal Devi but also the devotees who are going to worship in Anuradhapura have the ability to go to Anuradhapura in 3 hours. Accordingly, it will be possible to worship not only the Jaya Sri Mahabodhi but also the Atamasthana as desired and come back to Colombo by train on the same day able to go to Anuradhapura in a period of 3 hours.
Accordingly, it will be possible to worship not only the Jaya Sri Mahabodhi but also the Atamasthana as desired and come back to Colombo by train on the same day. Hopefully, the Yal Devi will be a major transportation route that enables the people of the South to perform their pilgrimages, not just those in the North and South.