By Dasun Edirisinghe reporting from Madhu

The reconstruction of northern railway track up to Kankesanthurai and Thalaimannar would be completed by December, connecting the north to the South after 25 years, Indian Government Company, IRCON International, said yesterday.

Addressing local and foreign journalists during a visit to northern railway lines, IRCON Additional General Manager V. K. Jayasankar said that his company had commenced the reconstruction of rail track from Medawachchiya to Thalaimannar and from Omanthai to Kankesanthurai as part of India’s commitment to assisting Sri Lanka in its rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. A concessionary Line of Credit (LOC) amounting to about USD 800 million had been provided by the Indian government to carry out the railway reconstruction.

He said cost of one kilometre of the rail track was USD 2 to 2.5 million. According to him, they had not acquired any lands to lay the track out of concern for the war affected people struggling to rebuild their lives. The task entrusted to them was the reconstruction of tracks over 42 km from Medawachchiya to Madhu Road and 117 km from Omanthai to Palai, the IRCON Additional GM said.

Jayasankar said that they had now completed the Pallai-Jaffna segment and a test run had been successfully carried out on Sept. 22 and the track was ready for inauguration, but the operation had been delayed due to construction of the Jaffna Railway Station undertaken by Sri Lanka Railways.

IRCON has been focussed on completing the Northern railway line according to schedule and work had been in progress simultaneously along the Madhu Road-Thalaimannar section and Jaffna-Kankesanthurai section together with signaling and communication work, he said.

Jayasankar said the majority of the workers had been locally recruited and trained by the IRCON and only the categories of workers not available locally had been brought from abroad.

He said even after the completion of the project at the end of the year, IRCON would continue to assist in the maintenance work of the track for one more year while training Sri Lankan workers for the task.
Courtesy:The Island