The train service from Colombo to Kankesanthurai resumed yesterday (September 14) with the opening of the railway track between Mahawa Junction and Anuradhapura after renovation.
Train No. 4021, the air-conditioned inter-city express train from Colombo to Kankesanthurai was the first train.
It will leave Colombo Fort at 5.35 am and leave Kankesanthurai for Colombo at 1.20 pm on the same day.
For over nine months, trains did not run between Mahawa Junction and Anuradhapura on the Northern railway, and following the renovation, the number of trains will be gradually increased and the Yal Devi Express train will also be added in the coming week.
The train that ran first when the two tracks were switched was taken back to the Loop Line (which does not have a platform at major stations) was discontinued under the modernisation of the 66.4 km long Mahawa-Anuradhapura railway track, Ambanpola, Galgamuwa, Senarathgama, Thambuththegama, Thalawa and Shravasthripura railway stations and the two sub-stations of Randenigama and Anuradhapura New Town. A second platform was constructed at Ambanpola, Thambuththegama and the Thalawa stations, where there was only one platform earlier. As a result rain delays have been curtailed to a great extent.
Both railway platforms at the main stations have been increased in length so that even a train with 20 carriages can be accommodated.
The railway track from Mahawa to Anuradhapura is being completed with signals and it is technologically superior to all the signalling systems in the rest of the country.
