Kelani Valley Railway Improvement Program Phase 1 / Colombo Suburban Railway Efficiency Improvement Project / Colombo Suburban Railway (Electrification) Project
In January 2018, Ministry of Transport & Civil Aviation(MoT&CA) has engaged an International consultancy firm to carry out Feasibility Study and Detailed Design for the Colombo railway system in Colombo Suburban Region(CSR) of Sri Lanka Railways (SLR). Under this consultancy services, Railway Development in the CSR such as construction of additional tracks, rehabilitation of existing track, new signalling system, station buildings, telecommunication system, railway deports and maintenance centres, training of Railway staff, ICT systems, railway rules and regulations will be studied and will be designed. It has been planned to immediately commence the bidding process to implement the designs, Line by Line.
Asian Development Bank(ADB)’s future assistance is expected to support the electrification and double tracking of the Kelani Valley Line in 2020. In addition, ADB will assist in developing Main Line and Coastal Line too. The Kelani Valley Line serves a densely urbanized area in southeast Colombo and is currently a single-track railway line with few passing loops and frequent level crossings. Construction of an elevated dual track on a viaduct structure is proposed as part of the Kelani Valley Railway Improvement Program Phase 1. The proposed elevated section of the Kelani Valley Line is approximately 20.8 kilometres long and runs between Maradana and Malapalla.
By considering the development concept, MoT&CA intends to engage a firm of international and national consultants (the Consultant) to study land value capture (LVC) and transit-oriented development (TOD) opportunities along the Kelani Valley Line. The Consultant will identify and develop urban development and land value capture opportunities and recommendations for the proposed elevated section of the Kelani Valley Line.
Above development involve Land Acquisition and Relocation of Project Affected People. The Kelani Velley Line corridor is heavily encroached and the availability of Right of Way is limited to 10 to 12 meters. The Double Line Design including the Service Road for construction involves Land Acquisition.
ADB, through its Transport Project Preparatory Technical Assistance extended a grant for consultancy for development of Enterprise Resource Planning System for Sri Lanka Railways and to implement an ERP pilot project covering a selected section of Sri Lanka Railways. This consultancy consisting of International and National Consultants will be mobilised in the next few months. A Team of
SLR officials will also be joined with this consultancy in order to extend domain knowledge, obtain training and to organise extending knowhow within SLR.
In Addition, MoTCA engaged International and National Consultants for studying and designing (including Bid Documents) of Railway Islandwide Telecommunication System. The bids have now been called and the Bid Evaluation is being done by Colombo Suburban Railway Project (In fact, by the TEC supported by Consultants). It is expected that the implementation will begin from June 2019.
Pic: An Electric Multiple Unit of Chennai Metro.
Elevated electrified lines danawanam thiyana track aluthwadiya karanne mokatada
