Cabinet Spokesman Minister Vijitha Herath said that train services on the Northern railway line from Maho to Anuradhapura are being delayed after the projects not being completed properly.

Speaking during the Cabinet press briefing today (Oct. 22), he said that the Tender procedures for the construction of the Northern railway line and the completion of the signals system were granted separately to the same Indian company – Ircon, rather than being Tendered as a single project.

The minister alleged the previous government had not issued these tenders properly. “If the railway line construction and the installation of the signals system had been handled as a single project by the same company, delays would have been minimized,” Minister Herath added.

He has also said that the Indian company has sought an additional year to complete the signals system.

If we wait another year for the signal systems to be restored, services cannot be operated, so the Railways Department has taken measures to do repairs to the prevailing signals system and to resume railway services.

Also, the construction of railway stations is still going on, with slight delays, he further said.