… USD 5 mn out of USD 450 mn allocated for repairs to Northern Railway Line

IRCON International Limited, an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, has launched a major project to restore the Northern Railway Line (NRL) that suffered quite significant damage due to Cyclone Ditwah in late November, 2025.

The Indian High Commission said that under the project launched on January 11, restoration work would cover three severely affected sections of the NRL, namely Maho–Omanthai, Omanthai–Jaffna, and Medawachchiya–Mannar which led to major disruptions in rail connectivity across the Northern and North Central regions.

The Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha, and Transport, Highways and Urban Development Minister Bimal Rathnayake jointly launched the restoration work under an Indian grant of USD 5 million. The project forms part of the Indian reconstruction and rehabilitation package of USD 450 million announced during the visit of External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to Sri Lanka.

The Indian HC spokesperson said: ” The scale and severity of the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah necessitated urgent restoration of critical connectivity infrastructure, particularly railways, which remain vital for passenger movement, essential services, and logistics in the affected regions. In this context, the Government of India announced grant assistance for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Northern Railway Line, which was earlier upgraded with Indian assistance.

The commencement of restoration works, within less than three weeks of the announcement of assistance, reflects the priority accorded by India to time-bound delivery of development cooperation. It is planned to restore regular train services to pre-Ditwah frequencies within three months, by April 2026, ahead of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, with the remaining works targeted for completion by May 2026. The accelerated timeline will involve large-scale deployment of manpower and specialised machinery. IRCON International Limited will also complete pending ancillary works on the Maho–Omanthai railway line, for which India has recently continued its existing Line of Credit.

Railways remain a cornerstone of India–Sri Lanka development cooperation. India’s cumulative financial assistance to Sri Lanka’s railway sector stands at approximately USD 1.2 billion. This includes construction and rehabilitation of nearly 500 kilometres of railway track, provision of signalling systems across around 400 kilometres, and supply of rolling stock, significantly strengthening the operational capacity of Sri Lanka Railways and enhancing seamless rail connectivity.”