Development News from Sri Lanka: One of nine Chinese-made S14 power sets that were explicitly designed to function in the hill nation arrived from China last morning, Transport Ministry said today. It said the nine power sets were built at an estimated price of Rs.1839.5 million.
Each train consists of two S14 power sets, two air-conditioned compartments, three third-class compartments, two-second class compartments and a comparison.
Railway General Manager Dilantha Fernando said the power sets would be used for the hill country railway services after a test run in the next few days. “The Railway Department faced a shortage of trains for the upcountry services and because of the hills and bends, it was hard to operate trains that were longer with many compartments,” he said.
Fernando said it was for this purpose that the Ministry of Transport decided to import nine power sets specifically intended for upcountry use.
