TRAIN GUARDS IN ‘CIVIES’ TO MONITOR DESTRUCTION IN RAILWAY COMPARTMENTS

Civil Aviation and Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said yesterday that in order to prevent the destructive activities being carried out in railway compartments, train guards in civil attire would be deployed in long distance train services.

He said, legal action would be taken against anyone found involved in these destructive activities, under the destruction of Public Property Act and that the loss incurred would also be recovered. The Minister revealed this while attending an event organized to launch a special train service from Colombo Fort to Matara. The ten-compartment train has been renovated by local engineers.

“In order to encourage and uplift local industrialists, the Railway Department commenced a project in January last year to modernize 200 dilapidated train compartments. By now, 25 compartments have been modernized and used for the operation,” the minister said.

Minister De Silva said that about 14 million rupees have been spent on the refurbishment of one compartment. “About 60 million rupees is needed to import such a compartment and by modernizing these compartments locally, the government would be able to save about 45 million for one compartment,” he said.

He said the government has already taken measures to purchase 25 new engines and 15 power sets to uplift the railway service. Deputy Minister Ashok Abeysinghe, Ministry Secretary G.S. Vithanage and Railway General Manager Mahanama Abeywickreme attended the event.