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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hancok" data-source="post: 25775364" data-attributes="member: 119642">[ATTACH=full]97814[/ATTACH] Dr. Dimantha De Silva By P.K. BalachandranThere is a video in circulation in which Colombo University Economist Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan is seen reporting to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that the travel time saved, once upgraded on a 23 km section between Homagama and Maradana on the proposed Kelani Valley (KV) line, is only five minutes.“This is a complete misrepresentation misleading the President,” said Dr. Dimantha De Silva, Senior Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa and a consultant to the CSRP Project, in an interview.In a note on misconceptions in relation to the KV line project, Dr. De Silva pointed out that the current travel time on the line between Homagama and Maradana is 68 min, but this will be reduced to 42 min once the line is upgraded to a modern one.“We know how he (Dr. Gunaruwan) got the numbers mixed up which was pointed out to him by officials in the Treasury who had done a cross check. But the question is why he is hanging on to his mistake as seen in his latest video released on ‘A5 Channel Sri Lanka’?” Dr. De Silva said.30 second stop criticismWith regard to the criticism that a 30 second stop has been assumed at stations in the travel time calculation, Dr. De Silva said that it is done with train simulation software.“It is very common in modern metro rails to operate with 30 second stop time, enabled with same level platform and train floors, wide doors and with around three to four doors in each compartment allowing many people to get in and out at the same time. Even at Shinjuku station in Japan, which is the world’s busiest station with more than 3.65 million passenger using it daily, the stop time is 30 seconds and only goes to one minute during peak times. All in other stations around the world that have similar passenger demands, 30 seconds is considered more than enough,” Dr. De Silva pointed out.He went on to say that it is understandable that some people are using the current train system to question the 30 second stop time it, but people who have travelled abroad and used modern trains would not question it.Addition by hancok - [MEDIA=youtube]SBFFcYssUvI:36[/MEDIA]here is the singapore MRT. watch closely from 0:39 to 1:13 . doors open and close within 35 seconds. [MEDIA=youtube]4jXV3UP0aCU:192[/MEDIA]here is the Delhi metro. watch from 3:16 to 3:37. PSD s are opened and closed within 22 seconds.[MEDIA=youtube]vUx_h8WTc6M:214[/MEDIA]Here is the Hong Kong Metro. watch from 3:35 to 4:00 . PSDs are opened and closed exactly within 25 seconds[MEDIA=youtube]0lulChXSbgM:846[/MEDIA]Here is the Calgary Blue line. watch from 14:11 to 14:26. (green light around PSD). PSD opened and closed within 15 seconds[MEDIA=youtube]oFLx7w9a8xE:20[/MEDIA]Here is the Bangkok BTS metro. watch from 0:21 to 0:37 exactly 15 seconds.“It is true that there are only 30,000 passengers using the KV line currently as it is the most neglected railway line with constant breakdowns and therefore very unreliable. But going by train is faster than by car or bus even now. The reason why people don’t use rail is because they can’t, even if they want to. The trains are already full. Its single track and outdated signal system do not allow more trains to be added. The trains in the current KV line are also very unreliable, as the delay data shows that they have a delay close to 15-30 minutes,” the expert explained.The KV line now caters for eight trains in the morning (three in the peak hour running at 20 min frequency) and eight trains in the evening (three in the peak hour). Therefore, all the trips are taken during this six-hour peak period.“But with the number of daily trains increasing by more than three times to 60 trains and peak time headway of seven minutes, running throughout the day, there is enough supply to attract demand. Reliability, the station upgrade, better connectivity to stations and comfort with AC, will attract the passengers to the train,” he assures.Computer simulation and modelling undertaken based on scientific methods estimate that the demand between Kirilapone and Nugegoda, which is the section with maximum demand, will have 176,000 passenger trips in 2025 and 202,000 passenger trips by 2035, De Silva said.The total passenger demand on the KV line will be 273,566 per day in 2025 and 365,731 in year 2035 as per the final feasibility report released on 11 April 2019, he added. The question on variable demands as alleged by Dr. Gunaruwan in his video released recently, could be because he had mixed up the numbers defined as sectional volumes and the number of total passenger trips which was used technically to calculate the number of trains required, De Silva explained.“These are clear to an experienced transport planner but can be sometimes confusing to a person not engaged frequently in such projects,” he added.  [ATTACH=full]97822[/ATTACH]Issue of costOnce the detail design was completed, the final project cost was reported in the final feasibility report, released on April 2019, as $ 1.424 billion. It is alleged that the project cost of $ 2.52 billion was reported in September 2018 and that it went down without any reason just because the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) reported it. In reply Dr. De Silva said: “It is confusing as to why this comes up over and over again when it had been explained and detailed well enough to members of IESL since late 2018.”He further said: “The issue of cost being high was first raised by the ADB and the PMU of the project on 18 September 2018 on the day of the progress presentation and along with the initial report submission, which was later highlighted by the IESL as well. It is common to have multiple submissions of project reports during the study period which allows the clients to provide feedback as we progress in the study. The reasons were explained. The $ 2.5 billion cost was an initial estimate and the price was estimated in LKR at an exchange rate of 150 LKR/USD. Once the detail cost estimations were completed and the exchange rate was corrected at 179 LKR/USD, the cost came down to $ 1.4 billion.”“It is childish for the IESL group to keep on claiming credit, and repeating a matter that was resolved at the end of 2018 after having been accepted by the ADB and the client. The committee headed by Dr. Gunaruwan appointed in May 2020 had, in its Terms of Reference, the evaluation of the final report submitted in April 2019. But it is surprising that a matter that had been resolved is being raised again.”parcel movement happening right now and also there is no restriction even to container freight trains to run in the elevated track as assumed by some as the design has been done to accommodate the loads and size of container cars. In case freight movement is to be considered, that option is available,” he added.</blockquote>

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