The ‘Yal Devi’ Train arrived in Jaffna today after a period of 24 years while President Mahinda Rajapaksa ceremonially declared open the Jaffna Railway Station.
Earlier, the President arrived at the Pallai Railway Station and climbed aboard the train which began the landmark journey. The four crossing stations between Palai and Jaffna located in Kodikamam, Chavakachcheri and Navatkuli were also opened by the President.
Yal Devi, which is currently running between Colombo and Palai, will be extended to Jaffna from today.
Four trains will be deployed from Jaffna to Colombo and Colombo Fort to Jaffna. Accordingly a completely air conditioned train and another Intercity train will be deploy in addition to the Yal Devi.
This air conditioned train and the Yal Devi train will commence journeys from the Mount Lavinia station from tomorrow. It will take only 8 hours from Colombo to Jaffna.
The intercity train ticket will cost 1,500 rupees from Colombo to Jaffna. The Yal Devi will cost 360 rupees for the 3rd class and 600 rupees for the 2nd class.
The Jaffna railway station features many modern facilities including novel communication electronic signal system.
The India Railway Construction International (IRCON), an Indian railway subsidiary, has now completed the restoration of the railway lines from Palai to Jaffna and the government will be run the train from Jaffna to Kankasanthurai soon.
Minister of Transportation Kumara Welgama, officials of railway department and government officials will be participated to this event.
President Rajapaksa formally reopened the Jaffna station today after inaugurating the new Kilinochchi station on the northern mainland in September last year.
Trains to the northern peninsula of Jaffna ground to a halt 24 years ago after dozens of passengers were killed in attacks by guerrillas seeking an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils.
The railway was ripped up to make bunkers after a truce between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces collapsed and fighting erupted in June 1990.
Five years after the government declared victory in May 2009, the scars of the conflict remain, with bombed-out homes and buildings still visible.
Reopening the railway was a priority to allow reconstruction materials to be brought into the area devastated by years of war and restore a key lifeline to Jaffna which is also the political capital of the northern province. But it has not been easy.
The work took a full three years, with workers on the 146-km (91-mile) single track having to down tools at night for fear wild animals would attack.
More than a million Tamils live in Jaffna, which was first connected to the rest of the Sinhalese-majority island through a rail link in 1905 under British colonial rule.
The Jaffna railway station, site of many battles between troops and Tamil Tigers, was also a key lifeline for security forces before the guerrilla war for a separate Tamil homeland escalated three decades ago.
In the 1980s the main rail service, known as Yaal Devi Express or Queen of Jaffna Express, was often ambushed by gunmen despite military escorts.
The rebuilding of the track began in March 2011 and was carried out in stages, with trains to the southern part of the peninsula operating from March this year.
