Consultancy Assignments

Pre-Feasibility Study Consulting for Colombo Suburban Railway Project

Colombo Suburban Railway Project was originated through continued and combined endeavor of Asian Development Bank, Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, National Planning Department and External Recourses Department.

After signing Agreements for ADB Grant of USD 1.0 Million between GOSL & ADB, the Pre-Feasibility Consultants were mobilized on 07.07.2016.

The scope of the consultancy was to carry out Demand analysis, Transport Modelling, Identify development inventions, Financial, Social, Environmental analysis etc. The spread of study was from Colombo to Veyangoda and from Colombo to Panadura.

The demand analysis was carried out based on ComTRANS study carried out by Ministry of transport under JICA financing and the Western Region Transport Master Plan developed by Ministry of Megapolis & Western Development.

During this time, the interest of all sectors was focused to Kelani Valley Line because this would ease off traffic congestions in Malabe, Horana and Awissawella corridors.

Consequently, additional studies were entrusted to the Consultancy Team of M/s. Egis International. Those were,

• Kelani Valley Line alternatives study
• Long distance services of Railway

In addition, it was decided to carry out four or five of small scale projects and the consultancy Team prepared evaluation reports for those.

The Consultancy was completed and Draft Final Report was issued in November 2017 and the Stakeholder Workshop was also held in November 2017.

At present, the following reports have been submitted

1. The Final Report of the Pre-Feasibility consultancy
2. KV Line Alternative study
3. Evaluation of Train Control Center
4. Long Distance Railway Service Evaluation
5. Ticketing System Evaluation

Intercity rail services development study

Feasibility Study and Detailed Design Consultancy for Colombo Suburban Railway Project

The detailed design consultancy for the Development Initiatives identified by Pre- Feasibility study was initiated in February 2017 and the procurement was completed and the Detailed Design consultants were mobilized on 10.01.2018.

This was initiated through ADB loan of USD 10.0 million. The Scope of the consultancy was to carry out Feasibility study and Detailed Designs for,

1. Kelani Valley Line:
   Double Line construction from Maradana to Padukka and single Line Rehabilitation from Padukka to Avissawella.
2. Main Line:
   Four Lines from Maradana to Ragama, Three Lines from Ragama to Veyangoda and Double Line Rehabilitation from Veyangoda to Rambukkana.
3. Coastal Line:
   Three Lines from Colombo Fort to Panadura and double line rehabilitation from Panadura to Kaluthara South.
4. Puttalam Line:
   Two Railway Lines from Katunayaka to Negambo and Airport. Rehabilitation of existing two lines from Ragama to Katunayake.
5. Development of Railway stations to cater multi–model operation, park and ride and other facilities for public.
6. Replacing signaling system of the entire project area, Colombo to Rambukkana, Colombo to Kaluthara, Maradana to Awissawella and Ragama to Negambo.
7. New Colombo Train control center (CTCC) with power control center for Electrification.
8. Electric multiple units with 6 cars having passenger capacity of 1200.
9. Electrification Network consisting of Grid Sub Stations, Catenary & Electric Feeders.
10. Development of existing maintenance (heavy and light) facilities including Maintenance Sheds at Dematagoda and Maligawatte and workshops at Rathmalana. In addition, construction of Level–1 and Level–2 maintenance sheds at Ratmalana, Maradana etc.

In addition to above, Detailed Design Consultants are to attend to,

1. Surveys needed for engineering designs such as Land Surveys, Topographic, Hydrological, Geological surveys etc.
2. Social Surveys and Resettlement Plans.
3. Financial Analysis of each Development Intervention.
4. Training of Railway Engineers/official (this has been explained separately)

The Time Line given for consultants for developing of Detailed Designs and Bid Documents is as follows.

Report	Submission Deadline (no. of months after commencement)
1. Inception Report	1
2. Draft Feasibility Study Report for KV line	6
3. Final Feasibility Study Report for KV line	8
4. Draft Final Report and Bidding Documents for Maradana to Padukka (Kelani valley  line (including the detailed design)	12
5. Draft Feasibility Study Report for other three projects	18
6. Final Feasibility Study Report forother three projects	20
7. Draft Final Report and Bidding Documents for Colombo to Rambukkana (Main Line) (including the detailed design)	23
8. Draft Final Report and Bidding Documents for Colombo to Kaluthara (Coastal Line) (including the detailed design	28
9. Draft Final Report and Bidding Documents for Ragama to Negambo (Puttam Line)  (including the detailed design	33
10. Final Report	36

Pre-Feasibility, Feasibility and Detailed Design for Kandy Suburban Railway Project

The Government of Sri Lanka intends to improve the railway system in the Central Province of Sri Lanka which is the province having the second highest population of 2.6 Million (12.6% of the country’s population), including the Kandy District with a population of 1.4 million (6.8% of Central Provincial population). The Central Province generates 11% of the country’s GDP with a growth rate of 7%. Kandy Metropolitan Region (KMR) has 150,000 living within its boundaries and about 350,000 people enter in to the city daily during day time of week day and hence, KMR is facing growing traffic congestion. The railway system carries about 2% of the passenger transport within KMR while 64% is carried by other public modes. The government aims to substantially increase the share of railway in Central Province in the overall passenger and freight traffic.

The Matale Line leading to city of Matale in central highlands, deviates from Main Line at Peradeniya Junction Station (which is within KMR), runs through Kandy City. In the Western Province, railway provides an important service during the Morning an Evening peak periods as it acts as a commuter service from the outer suburbs to Central Colombo. The same scenario exists in Kandy Metropolitan Region (KMR) too.

As per the surveys, over 55,000 vehicles enter into Kandy city every day. Over 150,000 live in KMR. The Urban sprawl, especially along main road corridors, is causing a range of urban issues and the highest concentration is from Peradeniya to Katugastota. Daily, over 6000 pilgrims visit the Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the Buddhist temple situated at the center of the Kandy city. Traffic into and out of city flows through three corridors which are extremely insufficient and the expansions to cater current and future demands are not possible to be implemented, mainly due to very high level of urbanization.

The government has decided to expand the city by developing five economic and administrative centers, Peradeniya, Kandy, Katugastota, Digana and Kundasale. Road developments too are in progress to support this concept. The Matale Railway Line runs through Peradeniya, Kandy and Katugastota economic centers.

Kadugannawa is a small city, 15 km towards Colombo from Kandy and is the only city that can function as the multi-modal center between Colombo – Kandy Road and the Main Line of SLR. There are 15,000 inhabitants in Kadugannawa. Twenty thousand (20,000) vehicles enter into KMC from Colombo direction and about 35,000 from Katugastota direction, daily.

The Matale line get terminated at Matale city which is 28 km away from Kandy. The Matale District is a rapidly developing area in Sri Lanka where population is 600,000, out of which 100,000 live in Matale City area.

The average speed on the Matale Line in KMR during peak traffic periods is around 25 kilometers per hour (kph). The poor condition of the tracks also contribute to long delays. Sri Lanka Railway implemented a project to install Block Signalling in the section from Peradeniya to Kandy to reduce capacity limitations that were experiencing during peak traffic and then launched a project to double track the section from Peradeniya to Kandy and the preliminary work is now in progress. SLR’s plan is to improve the triangle section from Kadugannawa to Peradeniya, Peradeniya to Kandy and Peradeniya to Gampola. The objectives of the Kandy Suburban Railway Project are, to avoid the bottlenecks in the section from Kadugannawa to Katugastota, (possibly by double tracking), rehabilitate the section from Katugastota to Matale and to explore the possibility of increasing traffic capacity in the gradient section from Rambukkana to Kadugannawa.

The project will improve the capacity and operating speed of the railway network in the KMR by modernizing and upgrading track, signaling, communication and potentially electrifying the suburban railway lines to operate suburban train with electric traction. The project will also support, procurement of fast and modern commuter trains, modernization of maintenance facilities, constructing new railway tracks, upgrading railway stations to improve intermodal connectivity, park-and-ride facilities at selected stations etc. The project will increase the capacity and attractiveness of the railway system, thus increasing its market share and reducing road congestion by shifting passenger preference to rail transport. The project will be designed on a modular basis to allow future expansions. The project will include three sub projects for,

1. Double tracking the section from Kadugannawa to Katugastota,
2. Rehabilitate the section from Katugastota to Matale and
3. Pre-Feasibility study to explore the possibility of increasing traffic capacity in the gradient section from Rambukkana to Kadugannawa.

Present Status :

The Procurement for consultancy commences in October 2017 and the EOI has been called. Twenty one consultancy forms submitted their interests. The evaluation has now been completed and six shortlisted organizations will be issued with “Request for Proposal” documents. It is expected to mobilize consultants in June 2018.

Consultancy for Independent Design Verification Consultancy

The Detailed Design consultants have been mobilized and the designs and Bid Documents will be released as per the given schedule (Ex – Designs of Kelani Valley Line in December 2018)

The documents are to be checked against

1. Sri Lanka Railway Requirements
2. Engineering Standards
3. Cost effectiveness and Practicality

Therefore, it has been intended to employ Independent Design Verification Consultancy to check all designs two Bid Documents before calling for Tender using them.