Sri Lanka Minister of Transport Kumar Welgama suspended the import of 17 remaining DMUs out of an order for 20 units after defects were reported when the three units India delivered were launched on the rail tracks.
In a letter written to the RITES Ltd, a company run by the Indian government that is supplying the DMUs to Sri Lanka Railways, the Sri Lankan Transport Secretary had said that the import of the 17 DMUs was being suspended until ongoing investigations into the quality of the locomotives was ascertained.
According to a report in The Hindu, a locomotive on the Galle-Matara section stopped on its tracks on March 11, following an electrical short circuit and resumed its journey after 20 minutes. Apart from routine delays, there has been no other problem in the operation of the power sets in the Galle'Matara section, the report said.
The company has sent a team last week to investigate the problem and found that the locomotive had been tinkered and also more coaches had been added to the engine exceeding its hauling capacity leading to snapping of electrical supply in one part of the engine.
Following the assurances given by the RITES team of continued service support Sri Lanka has agreed to revoke the suspension.
The power sets are imported under an Indian credit line. The value of one DMU is US$ 3.5 million. India is to supply the 20 DMUs in a phased manner till March 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment