Light railway system to begin soon to ease road traffic in Colombo: Ravi K

Priority has been given in Budget 2017 to ease road traffic congestion in Colombo, according to Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. 

The Minister pointed out that an alternative system should be introduced soon as an additional number of vehicles use public roads on a daily basis. The Minister said this during a recent meeting held with ministry officials to discuss the implementation of 2017 Budget proposals.

Plans are already afoot to launch the construction of two new roads, one between the New Kelani Bridge and Athurugiriya and a second road between Kelani Bridge and Colombo Port next year. One of the main concerns of the plan is to identify seven entry points to the city and start a light railway system from each point. This new light railway system will cover the main suburbs including Borella, Kottawa, Battaramulla, Kaduwela, Maradana, Mattakkuliya, Peliyagoda, Dematagoda, Kadawatha, Bambalapitiya and Kirulapone.

In addition, Budget 2017 has proposed a mechanism to streamline the public bus service within city limits. Under this mechanism, the Colombo Municipal Council, in collaboration with the Road Development Authority, will introduce separate lanes for public buses.

Another project will be launched to upgrade existing railway lines in order to reduce the number of buses entering the city daily. Accordingly, the Kelani Valley Railway Line will be extended up to Ratnapura and an additional line will be constructed between Polgahawela and Kurunegala. The vehicle speed limit within Colombo was between 40 and 60 kilometres per hour in 1980 but it has currently been reduced to 8 kilometres per hour. It is predicted that this speed limit will be further reduced to 6 kilometres by 2020. The main reason for this is the increasing number of vehicles on public roads.

The total vehicle population in Sri Lanka was 3,390,993 in 2008. It rose up to 6,302,141 in 2015. The length of A and B grade roads in the country is 12,173 kilometres. Roughly 250,000 vehicles enter Colombo daily and this number increases annually by 25,000.