INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
For the first time in the history of Sri Lankan Railways, development of electrically-powered railways will begin with financial aid from
the Asian Development Bank, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said yesterday
He told news media that the Asian Development Bank had approved a loan worth 160 million US dollars (about Rs
28.4 billion) to modernize the operations and improve the efficiency of the greater Colombo suburban railway service.
This will include
installing a modern multi-channel electronic ticketing system, including a smart card, to replace the current cumbersome printed ticketing
system, which requires tickets to be printed on custom-made paper for over 60,000 ticket combinations
The Railways will also build a new operations headquarters and a control centre to replace the existing one which was originally built in
