President Maithripala Sirisena flagged off a new train, supplied by India yesterday.
Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka Hon. Arjuna Ranatunga and High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu were also present.
The train (self-propelled Diesel Multiple Unit-DMU) was procured under Indian concessional financing by Sri Lanka Railways. The maiden journey of the train was from Fort Station in Colombo to Kankesanthurai Station in Jaffna.
The ceremony was also attended by Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mr. L.P. Jayampathy, Commander of the Army Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake, General Manager, Sri Lanka Railways, Mr. M.J. D. Fernando, Chairman and Managing Director of M/s RITES Ltd., Mr. Rajeev Mehrotra. H.E. the President and High Commissioner travelled on board the train for sometime, while Hon. Minister continued till Jaffna.
DMU manufactured by M/s RITES Ltd. is a thirteen-coach train set. The train set has best-in-class passenger amenities with fully rotating seats in the Air-Conditioned Chair Cars, on-board Infotainment system, GPS-based passenger information system and modular interiors. It can travel at a maximum speed of 120 kmph. It will offer both comfort and speed to passengers, as a next level of the travel experience.