Sri Lanka’s new light rail transit system expected by 2025

The Sri Lankan government has announced their plans to establish a light rail transit system (LRT) in Colombo, that will be operational by 2025.

This project is expected to increase the transport system’s efficiency and effectiveness in the Colombo Megapolis area.

MENAFN reported how Dimantha De Silva, a senior lecturer at the University of Moratuwa and a Megapolis transport planner, commented: “We need to provide a sustainable solution for transport for the next 20 years, not for five.” He continued, claiming an LRT system was needed to cater for the anticipated transport demand in the planned Western Province Megapolis region.

De Silva said how by 2035, Sri Lanka’s forecast is 30,000 passengers per hour per direction in some transport corridors within the Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR). Planners have estimated that in 2035, the number of passengers using the main corridors of CMR would have risen from 1.9 million to 4.5 million.

Construction has been proposed for seven lines, with priority given to the line running within Colombo and the LRT line extending towards Malabe.

In accordance with the agreement with the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), who are providing the funds for the construction, the regulatory framework must be completed and approved before construction can commence. In 2017, the cabinet approved a consultancy service contract to the South Korean firm M/s Seoyoung Engineering Co. Ltd., (SYE) and Saman Corporation for a cost of Rs.202 million to carry out the Pre-Feasibility studies prior to construction.