Kuwait aid puts Japan railway lines in service
TOKYO, Feb 27, (KUNA): Top officials from tsunami-hit city and its railway lines in northeastern Japan have shown their utmost gratitude for Kuwait’s massive donation after a magnitude 9.0-quake and ensuring tsunami in March 2011, and declared that train services will be resumed soon, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Japan Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi said Wednesday.
In their recent meeting in Tokyo with Al-Otabi, Ofunato City Mayor Kimiaki Toda and Sanriku Railway Company President Masahiko Mochizuki expressed appreciation and briefed the ambassador on the latest developments of the railway lines, of which rails and railroad bridges were wrecked by the devastating tsunami.
According to the Japanese officials, three new train cars manufactured with Kuwait’s aid will start serving the local people in the disaster-struck coastal area in Iwate Prefecture in April.
At a side of the new cars, the messages showing gratitude to the support from Kuwait are written in Japanese, English and Arabic languages, while the national emblem of Kuwait is drawn at the head and the back of the car, they said.
Equipped with bigger windows and more comfortable seats than the old carriages as well as barrier free measures, each car costs about $1.63 million.
Sanriku Railway’s South Rias Line, which runs along the Pacific coast, was completely destroyed by the twin natural disasters and remains out of service. The new train cars replacing the damaged ones have arrived at Ofunato City before the railway company will partially resume operations after a two-year hiatus.
The Ambassador appreciated their sincere devotions to the restoration of the daily lives of local people in the disasterstruck region and wished for further progress of the reconstruction works.
Following the catastrophe that left about 19,000 people dead or missing, Kuwait offered the donation of 5 million barrels of crude oil, equivalent to some $500 million, of which value was distributed to the three hardest-hit prefectures including Iwate.