The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to respond briefly to the Hon. Pathmanathan’s concerns about unprotected level crossings. We obtained data yesterday from the Railway Control Authority. Currently, Sri Lanka has 60 such locations on the Trincomalee Line, 80 on Batticaloa, 3 on Badulla, 65 on Northern, 35 on Mannar, 17 on the Main Line, 3 on Puttalam, 32 on the Kelani Valley Line, and 20 on the Coastal Line—totalling 429. As I stated at the outset, we have an ambitious programme to convert all 429 to protected crossings within this year, with artists and the private sector ready to contribute.

¶ 02 Deploying gatekeepers is not ideal, though they have rendered great service on minimal pay. But even with gatekeepers, accidents have sometimes increased, because they cannot remain at the spot continuously on meagre pay like Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000; people then assume safety and cross without caution. Therefore, as decided by the Railway Department, we will install electronic control systems and traffic light control systems, and complete this within the year to the maximum extent.