Expert Group Meeting

on Planning and Assessment

of Urban Transportation Systems

Eng./Plnr. Nihal Somaweera

Secretary
Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation
Sri Lanka

22nd – 23rd September 2016, Kathmandu, Nepal

About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

2
3
• Total area of the country -
65,610 km2
• Two climate Zones - wet and dry
• Mean temperature - 26 – 28 0C
• Total population - 21 million
• 25 Administrative districts are
under 9 provinces
• Road network of the country
consists of 112,997 km
• Rail network of the country
consists approximately 1,450 km
• Per capita GDP – US $ 3,818

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 Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation
Key role : Establishment and maintenance of an efficient
National Public Transport System.

Institutions under the purview of the Ministry

 Department of Sri Lanka Railway
 Sri Lanka Transport Board
 Department of Motor Traffic
 National Transport Commission
 National Transport Medical Institute
 Civil Aviation Authority
 Airport and Airport Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.
 Lakdiva Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
 National Council for Road Safety
5
Background and Status of National Transport System
• Main passenger transport modes: Bus transport & Rail transport
Three wheelers, Private taxies, cars, vans etc

• Travel demand by all modes of motorized transport around 80 billions

passenger km annually

• Passenger transport : undertaken by both Public and Private buses.

• Bus transport share : 61% of the country’s total passenger transport.

Total number of buses (approximately) : 30,000

Average number of private buses operated daily : 24,000
Average number of government owned buses : 6,000

• Percentage of road transport method for freight : 98%

(vans, Lorries, Larger trucks, containers etc ) 6
 Existing Road Network System

• Roads are the backbone of the

transport sector in the country.
• About 90 percent of passengers and
98 percent of freight are carried by
the road.
• The road network of the country
consists of 116,000 km. Roads are
divided into National, Provincial, Rural
and other roads in terms of the
responsibility.
• Sri Lanka has experienced in
expressways lines
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Road Network 116,000 km
Type of roads km
National Highways 12,334
Provincial Roads 15,975
Rural Roads 83,765
Other roads 4,000
Road density 1.76 km/sq. km

National Highways
Type of roads km
Expressways 161
A Class Highways 4,215
B Class Highways 7,958
Bridges 4200

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 Expressway Network

 Southern Expressway (126.1km)

 Colombo – Katunayaka Expressway (25.8km)
 Outer Circular Expressway (29.2km)

Outer Circular Expressway

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 Existing Rail Network System
• The total route length of Sri Lanka
Railway is 1,450km, consisting 172
major stations and 161 sub
stations that covers most of the
country except the southeast.
• Except for 126km double –track
lines around Colombo, rest of the
network is single track line.
• The present railway system
provides the suburban railway
service from suburbs to the city
centre.
• Policy Perspectives and Strategic
Investment programme 2016 – 2021
was prepared for Railway sector in
2015 covering all parts of the
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country.
 Background and status of Urban Transport System

• Colombo is the Capital of the Sri

Lanka
• Colombo and its metropolitan area —
referred as the Colombo Metropolitan
Region (CMR) — fall within the
Western Province
• Total area of the western province is
3593 square kilometers.
• The Colombo Metropolitan Region
(CMR) is defined as 80% of the land
area of the Western Province where
total population approximately 5.8
million. 11
• Colombo attracts around 1.7 million Map of Colombo
Metropolitan Region
people enter and leave the city for
daily work, business, education,
shopping, entertainment and
recreation, of these people,
approximately 55 % arrive by buses,
while 12 % arrives by trains.

• Colombo Metropolitan Region has

experienced 5% of annual increase
in the number of persons arriving to
the city on a daily basis.
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13
The travel demand in urban No. of Vehicles* in the Western
Province
transportation is rapidly (in 1,000)
increasing due to; 1,400
AAGR = 8.0%
1,200
 Increased mobility of the
people with the dawn of 1,000
peace after the civil war in the Others
800 Truck
country Bus
Car/Van/
600 Pickup
 Ongoing massive urban 3 Wheelers
development projects 400

200 Motor Cycles

 Increased number of privately
owned vehicles with economic 0

2003

2005

2007

2010

2012
2000
2001
2002

2004

2006

2008
2009

2011
growth The number of vehicles
increased a factor of 2.5 in 12 years.
*The number of motor vehicles with valid revenue licenses.

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15
 Railway Coverage Polgahawela

Railway Network – 230 km

81 Aluwa
24
Kochchikade !( !(
Puttalam Line 24 98
!( Ambepussa
Mirigama

Negambo !(
30 trains/day/both dir.
(Negombo-Ragama) !(
Approx. 30km/h 30
113
Main Line
Veyangoda

116
!( Gampaha 116 trains
Train Operation /day/both dir.
!( (Gampaha-Ragama)
Frequency per Ragama

Approx. 35km/h
day 267 151 8
!( Avissawella
Colombo Fort
!( !( Maradana Kosgama !(
Note: Peak hour frequency will
9
be added later. 92 !( Waga

Homagama 11
Dehivala
!( !( !(
91
Mt.Lavinia !( Padukka
18
16
83
Moratuwa
!( 63
Koralawella !(
Busiest Section 64

[Fort-Maradana]
Panadura !( 53 Kelani Valley Line
287 trains/day/both dir. Wadduwa !( 18 trains /day/both dir.
(Homagama-Maradana)
Only 16km/h 52
!( Approx. 25km/h
Kalutara South

41

Maggona
Coast Line 22
!(
92 trains Hettimulla

Aluthgama !(
/day/both dir.
3km buffer from Railway Lines (Dehiwala-Fort) 26

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Source: CoMTrans
Institutional arrangements and agencies involved in planning, development, assessment
and monitoring of sustainable transport and urban transport systems/ projects.
Institutions
Ministry / Provincial or Municipal Government
under purview of the ministry
Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Department of Sri Lanka Railways
Sri Lanka Transport Board
Department of Motor Traffic
National Transport Medical Institute
National Transport Commission
National Council for Road Safety
Civil Aviation Authority
Airport and Airport Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.

Ministry of Higher Education and Highways Road Development Authority

Sri Lanka Police Traffic Police

Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development Urban Development Authority

Megapolis Project

Provincial Councils Provincial Passenger Transport Authorities

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Municipal Government Colombo Municipal Council
 National Urban Transport Policies and Plans
• The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation with the technical
assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
completed a Master Plan for Urban Transport System Development
for Colombo Metropolitan Region and the Suburbs in 2014.

• Same Technical Assistance a feasibility study for the implementation

of a monorail system was completed.

• A prominent University of Sri Lanka a study was undertaken to study

the Implementation of Bus Rapid Transit system in a congested
transport corridor

• Recently established Ministry of Megapolis and Western

Development was used the above two comprehensive studies data
and developed Western Region Transport plans with collaborating
all the transport sector involvement agencies 18
 Ongoing and Planned Major Urban
Transportation Projects
• A feasibility study to construct a Multimodal Transport Hub in
Colombo Fort so as to integrate all transport modes for the
convenience of both rail and bus passengers

Existing Railway Station at Fort and Bus Conceptual Image of the Multimodal Transport

Stands/stops Hub in Colombo

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Cont.. Ongoing and Planned Major Urban Transportation Projects
• Ministry of Transport and Civil
Aviation conduct feasibility study
for identifying the issues and
projects to modernize urban
railway system under the Technical
Assistant from Asian Development
Bank.

• The Ministry of Transport and Civil

Aviation with the Ministry of
Megapolis and Western
Development, has initiated project
preliminary works for several
transport projects; such as Urban
Rapid Transit system (LRT)
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Cont.. Ongoing and Planned Major Urban Transportation Projects
• With the commissioning of Kottawa-Matara and Kottawa-
Kadawatha express highways Kottawa has become as a
major transport hub. Therefore upgrading of KV line at least
up to Kottawa is a basic requirement to attract private car
passengers to the public transport.

• Upgrading of KV line will also helps to ease the traffic

problem on High level road.

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Cont.. Ongoing and Planned Major Urban Transportation Projects
Multi modal centers
development as traffic
Nodes

Detailed locations of
proposed transport
facilities and network
alignments will be
examined and identified
in the pre-feasibility or
feasibility study stage.

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Cont.. Ongoing and Planned Major Urban Transportation Projects
Kandy City Development
• Kandy City records 40,000 registered vehicles, a high vehicle
ownership rate of 255 vehicles per 1,000 persons.
• Around 325,000 people enter the Kandy City during the 12 hour
day time of a weekday
 around 90,000 arrive for employment
 60,000 for education.
• share of public transport is around 64% of motorized trips of
which the railway share is only 2%; well below that of Colombo
and also the national modal share.
• Around 19% continue their travel through the city.
• Buses entering the city are estimated to make 5,000 trips
carrying 200,000 passengers. 23
Cont.. Ongoing and Planned Major Urban Transportation Projects
• around 1,000 school vans entering the city on school days
carrying over 16,000 passengers. The balance made up of nearly
45,000 private vehicles that dominate the traffic flow, carry
around 100,000 passengers in to the city.
To improve mobility within the Kandy
City (Kandy Municipal Council area)
and its environs initially included the
following subcomponents:
 Public transport
improvements
 Traffic and parking
management
 Enhanced and safe pedestrian
movements
 Strategic road improvements 24
 Issues and challenges faced by the Urban
Transport System
Issues relating to Road Transport
• The conditions of the balance roads are unsatisfactory contributing
to unnecessary delays and accidents.
• New roads cannot be built in urban areas and roads, cannot be
widened due to old settlements closer to the roads.
• There is a dis-connectivity in the cross-sectional configuration of the
road.
• Unsustainable increase in other modes of transport such as three
wheelers, Motor bikes, Lorries, Vans containers aggravated the
situation.
• Due to traffic congestion in recent years on the roads bus-operating
speeds in peak periods have been decreasing. It has led to a lower
level of bus service. 25
Cont.. Issues and challenges faced by the Urban Transport System
Issues relating to the Railway Transport

• The existing railway network in Colombo and other cities cannot cater to
the needs of the growing population. Sri Lanka does not have electric
trains/Metros or Monorails to reduce urban traffic congestion.
• The present railway system provides the suburban railway service from
suburbs to the city Centre.
• Outdated rolling stock, weak rail tracks and outdated signaling system
caused frequent delays to railway passengers.
• Absence of close connections on railway, road and air.
• New technological changes in the industry have not been appropriately
adopted in to the Sri Lanka Railway activities
• Absence of inner circular railway track in Colombo Metropolitan Region
to cater for the traffic congestion.
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Cont.. Issues and challenges faced by the Urban Transport System

Other issues relating to the Transport sector

• Inadequate attention of Multimodal Transport - Lorries, Constrainers

and other modes of freight transport is conducted through roads
causing traffic congestion in Colombo and other areas.
• Rapid motorization and Frequent Road Traffic Accidents
• Insufficient para transport infrastructure facilities
• Lack of comfort, efficiency and safety in public transport services
• Issues in accessibility and mobility of transport for all
• Depending on national budget for Transport Services
• Scare space for infrastructure development in the city areas (eg:-
shortage of parking facilities, lack of bus stop facilities, absence of
walking space for pedestrian)
• Unavailability of land use plan
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 Way Forward
• Suggestion on selection of key indicators for evaluation and assessment
of urban transport systems and improve data collection

 Promotion of Public Transport Use

 Alleviation of Traffic Congestion
 Reduction of Air Pollutants/Traffic Noise and Promotion of Health
 Reduction of Transport Accidents and Improvement of Security

• Suggestions to improve planning and evaluation of urban transportation

systems
 Strengthening the coordination mechanism among the related
stakeholder Institutions.
 Promote Public Private Partnership (PPP) Implementation for
mobility financial resources.
 Capacity development of officers in the transport sector. 28
Cont.. Way Forward
• Suggestions on policies and strategies to improve urban transportation
systems

 Extensive Development of Quality Public Transport Networks

 Enhancement of Inter-modality (Development of Multi-modal
Transport Hubs, Multi Modal, Centers and Park and Ride Facilities)
 Modernization of Sri Lanka Railway Main Line, Coast Line and
Puttalam Line(Electrification, Direct Operation, Improvement of
Existing Railway Facilities)
 Development of New Transit Systems
 Introducing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System
 Transit Oriented Development(TOD) in the Areas Surrounding
Railway Stations
 Construction of Arterial Roads to accommodate BRT
 Reformation of the Bus Operation Regime
 Improvement of Management of Railway Operation 29
Cont.. Way Forward
• Suggestions on tackling issues and challenges to enhance sustainability
of urban transportation systems in your country/ cities

 Road Widening to increase Road Traffic Capacity

 Construction of Flyovers and Underpasses at Bottleneck
Intersections
 Arterial Road Development in Suburban Areas
 Urban Expressway Network Development
 Transport Demand Management (TDM)
 Traffic Control Improvement
 Secure Lands for Road Development (Road Network Master Plan)
 Separation of Heavy Vehicles from General Traffic (Port Access
Road)
 Enhancement of Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Programs
 Low Sulphur Diesel Program
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Cont.. Way Forward

 Promotion of Hybrid Cars and Electric Vehicles

 Promotion of Natural Gas Vehicles
 Promotion of Walking and Bicycles for Health
 Education on Traffic Safety
 Rehabilitation and Installation of Traffic Signals
 Rehabilitation of Railway Signal System
 Analysis on Causes of Traffic Accidents
 Provision of Sidewalks and Pedestrian Crossings
 Establishment of Urban Road Design Standard including
Sidewalks
 Improvement of the Security of Women and Children in Public
Transport

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Thank You..!
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