100th fully refurbished railway compartment completed at Dematagoda Yard

The project launched in 2017 for the refurbishment of 200 abandoned railway compartments by the Railway Department in collaboration with Tantri Trailers, took pride recently with the completion of the one hundredth fully refurbished compartment.

The event marking this achievement, held at the Dematagoda Yard of Tantri, was attended by the General Manager of Railways, Dilantha Fernando, Director of Tantri Trailers Company, Athula Haputhanthri, Project Director Chief Engineer Keerthi Hewavitharana, Deputy Project Director Chief Engineer K.G.S. Bandara and Engineer Power Sets J. Kularathne.

At the yard, compartments of the S8 Type and Rumanian types have been refurbished and 80 of them had been added to the railways train fleet.

Railways General Manager Dilantha Fernando said the project was initiated under the 2015 Budget proposals with the aim of motivating and uplifting the local industrialists to refurbish 500 compartments.

“During the first phase of this project, it is envisaged to complete 200 compartments and it is planned to complete 5 compartments every month,” he said.

The wheels of the compartment and the braking system and also the technicalities that provide the safety of the commuters are all designed and crafted by the Engineers of the Railway Department.

The internal refurbishment that relates to the provision of comforts to the commuters are all made by Tantri Trailers Company. It is also noted that the toilets provided in these refurbished compartments are also of a higher standard.

“With the launch of this project, a large amount of money had been saved as foreign exchange used for the importation of compartments from abroad. All the compartments have been built under the guidance of the Railways Department,” Mr. Fernando said.