acetophenol
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COLOMBO: A nearly
400-km long Jaffna-
Colombo railway
line, reconstructed
with Indian
assistance in Sri Lanka's former war
zone, was today
inaugurated by
President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, 24 years
after it was shut down during the
civil war. The government hopes that the reopening of the rail
link will help alleviate shortage of
supplies in the north which was cut
off during the conflict. The "Queen of Jaffna", a once-famous
train linking the Tamil-majority north
to the rest of the nation, stopped
operation in 1990 after being
attacked by the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels who fought with the Island government to create
an independent state for Tamil
people. Rajapaksa travelled in the special train
from Pallai town which arrived at
Jaffna shortly after 11 AM local time.
He declared open the newly
refurbished stations in Kodikamam
and Navatkuli and the main Jaffna railway station. Following a meeting
between Rajapaksa and Dr
Manmohan Singh, the then Prime
Minister of India in 2010, the
Northern railway reconstruction
project began taking shape. It was built under the concessionary credit
line of about $ 800 million provided
by India. India has helped provide the state of
the art tracks and bridges that can
accommodate train speeds of up to
120 kilometres per hour as part of the
technical support. Indian assisted
other projects worth $ 1.63 billions are currently underway in the island
country. The railway tracks and Jaffna
station were damaged during the war
between the LTTE and the
government forces. It was said that
the members of both the LTTE and the army used the abandoned railway
coaches as bunkers. The government began the
rebuilding work nearly two years
after the conflict ended in 2009. More
than a million Tamils are currently
living in Jaffna, which was first
connected to the rest of the Sinhalese- majority island through a rail link in
1905 under British colonial rule. It took nearly four years to rebuild
the tracks. Local residents were
employed in the reconstruction of
Jaffna station after getting trainings
from the Indian technical team during
the project. Under this project, the segments
previously completed were the
Medawachchiya-Madhu Road
segment, inaugurated in May and the
Omanthai- Kilinochchi segment,
inaugurated in September last year. Termination of the rail services had
made it difficult for the older
generation from Jaffna to travel to the
iconic Yaal Devi or the "Queen of
Jaffna".
Indian-assisted railway line opened in Sri Lanka's former war zone - The Economic Times on Mobile
400-km long Jaffna-
Colombo railway
line, reconstructed
with Indian
assistance in Sri Lanka's former war
zone, was today
inaugurated by
President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, 24 years
after it was shut down during the
civil war. The government hopes that the reopening of the rail
link will help alleviate shortage of
supplies in the north which was cut
off during the conflict. The "Queen of Jaffna", a once-famous
train linking the Tamil-majority north
to the rest of the nation, stopped
operation in 1990 after being
attacked by the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels who fought with the Island government to create
an independent state for Tamil
people. Rajapaksa travelled in the special train
from Pallai town which arrived at
Jaffna shortly after 11 AM local time.
He declared open the newly
refurbished stations in Kodikamam
and Navatkuli and the main Jaffna railway station. Following a meeting
between Rajapaksa and Dr
Manmohan Singh, the then Prime
Minister of India in 2010, the
Northern railway reconstruction
project began taking shape. It was built under the concessionary credit
line of about $ 800 million provided
by India. India has helped provide the state of
the art tracks and bridges that can
accommodate train speeds of up to
120 kilometres per hour as part of the
technical support. Indian assisted
other projects worth $ 1.63 billions are currently underway in the island
country. The railway tracks and Jaffna
station were damaged during the war
between the LTTE and the
government forces. It was said that
the members of both the LTTE and the army used the abandoned railway
coaches as bunkers. The government began the
rebuilding work nearly two years
after the conflict ended in 2009. More
than a million Tamils are currently
living in Jaffna, which was first
connected to the rest of the Sinhalese- majority island through a rail link in
1905 under British colonial rule. It took nearly four years to rebuild
the tracks. Local residents were
employed in the reconstruction of
Jaffna station after getting trainings
from the Indian technical team during
the project. Under this project, the segments
previously completed were the
Medawachchiya-Madhu Road
segment, inaugurated in May and the
Omanthai- Kilinochchi segment,
inaugurated in September last year. Termination of the rail services had
made it difficult for the older
generation from Jaffna to travel to the
iconic Yaal Devi or the "Queen of
Jaffna".
Indian-assisted railway line opened in Sri Lanka's former war zone - The Economic Times on Mobile
