- Free travel facilities for devotees using the train on June 21, 22 and 23 and every Poya afterwards
- Will be used for goods and passenger transportation including school and university students
The new railway line built from Anuradhapura station to the Mihintale junction, with Indian assistance, was opened under the patronage of Atamasthanadipathi Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Nayaka Thera and Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana yesterday.
The railway line, which was built and abandoned without completion during the time of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, has been completely renovated at a cost of Rs. 650 million to provide ease of travel to the pilgrims coming from Anuradhapura to Mihintale to engage in religious observances.
Accordingly, the Northern Railway Line from Mihintale to Anuradhapura and the new railway line have been constructed as two tracks.
Minister Dr. Gunawardhana said that steps will be taken to provide free travel facilities for devotees using the train, who come for religious observances on June 21, 22 and 23 on the occasion of Poson Poya.
The Minister further emphasised that the devotees will be transported by train from Anuradhapura to Mihintale free of charge on every Poya in the future.
The Minister said that on other days, the trains running on this railway line will be used to transport school students and university students and transport agricultural products.
Speaking at the event the Minister further said, “This is a historic moment for Rajarata. During my tenure as the Trade Minister, a special project called the Greater Anuradhapura City Development Project was started. There we expected to transport goods imported from different countries to Colombo by train through Anuradhapura to Mihintale.
“Its aim was to make Mihintale the main centre for the distribution of goods to 10 districts in the North, North Central and Eastern Provinces from the warehouses in Mihintale. It also includes the transportation of goods to Colombo as a processing centre for the export-oriented goods produced in all these provinces.
“The concept also includes the use of this area as a wholesale centre for exchanging agricultural products. According to a plan jointly prepared by Rajarata University and its academics and public representatives of the area, the required land is currently being released. Through this, we hope that Anuradhapura will become a developed economic centre in the same way that Anuradhapura became the most developed central city in the past.
“As the Minister in charge, I was able to start the renovation of the Northern Railway Line, which had not been renovated for hundreds of years, into a railway line capable of running trains at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour, giving further impetus to that. We had decided to start the renovation of the Northern Railway Line from Anuradhapura to Omanthai. Its second phase has started from Anuradhapura to Mahawa and is in progress. We earlier planned to complete renovations before Poson Poya. But we have been informed this will be delayed for some time due to some unavoidable reasons.
“However, within the next two months, we believe that it will be possible to reduce the time taken to travel to Colombo to five and a half hours. Also, the responsibility of extending this railway line from Mihintale to Trincomalee in the Eastern Province as soon as possible will be handed over to the officials from today.”
Venerable Maha Sangha led by Atamasthanadipathi Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Nayaka Thera, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Highways Ranjith Rubasinghe, Acting General Manager of Railways S. S. Mudalige, former Minister H. B. Semasinghe, former Chief Minister of North Central Province S. M. Ranjith Samarakoon, officials including Deputy General Managers of the Railway Department, government officials of the area were present at the event.
The post New railway service from Anuradhapura to Mihintale appeared first on DailyNews.