Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-12-16

Use of Indian Line of Credit for uplifting infrastructure facilities for Railway and to develop train-bus integrated service for a more efficient and comfortable public transport service

- It has become difficult to provide a comfortable, safe and efficient service for the passengers, due to having aged locomotives and passenger compartments in the railway, which is one of the major modes of public transport. At present, more than 50% of the locomotives have exceeded a span of 30 years and 550 passenger compartments have exceeded a span of 25 years. Considering the above facts, the proposal made by Hon. Nimal Siripala De Silva, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, to take necessary steps to purchase locomotives and passenger compartments and to renovate the railway signaling system, utilizing the remaining funds of US$ 40 million of the Indian Line of Credit under the Northern Railway Development Project, was approved by the Cabinet.