Cyclone damage: Sri Lanka needs $300M for rail tracks

Around $320 million will be required to fully restore Sri Lanka’s railway tracks destroyed by Cyclone Ditwah, the island nation’s deputy transport minister said on Tuesday. Widespread flooding and landslides triggered by the cyclone in November caused over 600 deaths in Sri Lanka.  Train services in the island nation were also severely disrupted as landslides buried large chunks of the track. Deputy Minister of Transport Prasanna Gunasena said that Sri Lanka will have to spend more than USD 320 million to rebuild the railway tracks in the Central Province and Hill Country. “This is a colossal amount of money,” he said. On the resumption of services to the central town of Kandy, Gunasena said that in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, trains were operating only up to Polgahawela.