Three more locomotives from IRCON arrive for Northern railway projects

Thursday, 15 August 2013 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Three more locomotives were handed over to augment the progress of the Northern railway projects. The locomotives, which arrived in Sri Lanka end-July, will be commissioned shortly and work is currently progressing at Sri Lanka Railways’ Ratmalana yard under the skilled supervision of a special technical team from Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi. The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi, India is the production unit owned by Indian Railways that manufactures diesel-electric

locomotives along with its spare parts. It is the largest diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer in India. These locomotives have been supplied by Ircon International Ltd., the construction agency for the Northern railway projects. As part of their contractual commitments, IRCON has imported three locomotives to Sri Lanka in the month of March 2013 which were commissioned and are currently in use. These three new diesel locomotives under the Northern railway contract reached Sri Lanka at the end of July 2013. DLW, India has sent a special technical team comprising nine technicians, headed by Atul Kanaujia, Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, to overlook the commissioning and handing over of the locomotives to the Sri Lanka Railways. The commissioning and trial run is expected to be completed by 17 August 2013. IRCON International, an Indian state owned construction firm under Indian Railways, is executing the 252 kilometre Northern railway project in Sri Lanka. IRCON International started its Sri Lanka charter with the project of upgrading the Matara-Galle-Kalutara railway line in March 2009. The project involved the rehabilitation and improvement of the existing track to a modern railway track with a speed potential of 100 kmph. The coastal line project was completed ahead of schedule in two phases. The Medawachchiya-Madhu Road section of the Northern railway project has also been completed and has been taken over by SLR, while work on the other sections is progressing as per schedule. All these projects are funded through Indian lines of credit. The addition of three more locomotives to SLR’s kitty is expected to ease the additional operational requirements of train traffic in the north of Sri Lanka. S.L. Gupta, General Manager of IRCON, expressed his satisfaction of the timely arrival of these locomotives to Sri Lanka and was confident that they will be put to use latest by 17 August. Kanaujia, the team leader of the DLW commissioning team presently in Sri Lanka, was all praise for the cooperation extended by the Sri Lanka Railways’ officials and expressed his profound happiness in being associated with such a historic project.