What happens if metro trains arrives in Sri Lanka ?

Traffic congestion is one of the problems facing our country.  Such problems are more common in urban areas.  When travelers can not get to work quickly and efficiently, the whole city becomes congested.  There are various strategies to make urban transport effective.  Unfortunately, it is always harder to control traffic congestion than it is to talk about urban transport in Sri Lanka.  However, in recent times a light rail service has been introduced to improve this urban transport.  But it ended right where it started.

Why was the Colombo Metro Rail project stopped?

The construction cost of the Colombo Metro Rail is about US $ 2200 million.  This is a huge amount.  The Beliatta-Matara railway line, which includes 18 crossroads, 12 bridges, 49 tunnels and 6 railway stations, is estimated to cost only US $ 278.2 million.  It is estimated that the construction of 605 km of expressway around Sri Lanka has cost only US $ 4350 million.  Accordingly, the cost of $ 2200 million from Malabe to the fort area is truly enormous.  According to international data, the cost of traveling on this metro train, which costs $ 143 million per kilometer, is also high.  The recent construction of a metro rail network in Dhaka, Bangladesh, cost $ 140 million per kilometer.  Surprisingly, the costs were borne by Japan.  Half of Sri Lanka\"s credit for light rail is concessional loans.

Successful metro in Asia

There are successful metro rail services in Guangzhou, Shanghai in China and Beijing in China.  There is a metro rail service to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  After 2000, India now has metro trains in many cities like Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Cochin and Bangalore.  With the advent of Delhi Metro in India, transport in Delhi has become a much easier experience for the public.  Due to heavy traffic congestion in Bangkok, several metro rail services, both underground and by air, were launched.  The train became very popular with tourists, and new lodges and tourist sites were developed along the new metro stations.

Benefit to the environment

A metro train can carry three or four hundred passengers at a time.  At the metro train, which arrives once every three minutes, it can carry six to seven thousand passengers.  If these passengers travel in private cars and bikes, the roads will get stuck and diesel and petrol smoke will mix in the air.  These metro trains run on electricity.  Therefore, the metro train can be described as a smoke-free, petroleum-free medium.  Cities like Delhi and Shanghai are already severely affected by air pollution, although there is currently no bad news about air pollution in Colombo.  Accordingly, Metro Rail is a wise choice when it comes to environmental protection

New business environment

Separate flats have been set up adjacent to the Sri Lanka Railway stations.  Those who come to Colombo for work temporarily reside at the railway stations from Gampaha to Colombo and around the railway stations from Colombo to Panadura.  And if you take a city like Gampaha or Panadura, most people in those cities use the train to go to the capital Colombo.  With the advent of the metro rail, economic activity along those stations will improve.  This will lead to a revival of economic activity in every region and at every stop.

Comfort for travelers

Although train travel in general is cheap and fast, it is not a pleasant experience for those traveling by train from other districts to Colombo.  Metro trains are mostly air-conditioned trains.  Most of the time there is no need to wait as the train arrives every three to four minutes.  Although the seats on metro trains are not usually comfortable to sit on, the air-conditioning system for standing passengers will make the trip a much more pleasant experience in a city with hot weather like ours.

Will the ticket be cheap?

The cheapest way to travel in developed countries is by metro rail.  But in Asian countries, metro rail travel is often expensive.  It costs more for people to travel by metro or light train than by regular bus trains.  In cities like Bangkok and Delhi, there is no shortage of metro commuters.  This is not a solution to make travel easier for the poor.  But for those who can buy and rate it, it would be a great solution.  Spending such a large sum on the now defunct light train, which was supposed to have been operated under the Japanese loan scheme, may have been a problem for the government.