Modernization of the railway operations has been recognized as the need of the time to cater to the increasing demand of the Railway sector. Accordingly, Railway Master Plan was prepared under the Technical Assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The interest of all stakeholders were focused to Kelani Valley Line development due to the prevailing high passenger demand and existing traffic congestions in Malabe, Horana and Awissawella corridors. Accordingly the feasibility study in kelani valley line was carried out under the ADB funded Transport Project Preparatory Technical Assistance Loan and by studying different options, constructing elevated double track from Maradana upto Malapalla (southern expressway interchange) was decided as the best economical solution which would support the planned urban development in the areas.

In view of that, an inspection visit by the higher officials of the Treasury led be Director General of External Resources Department has been carried out to the proposed kelani valley line development site, which will start implementation under ADB financing by year 2021. During the visit, the officers were able to see the heavily encroached railway reservations in the project area by unauthorized settlers, which are about 4000 families and the progress of the proposed Resettlement Plan for them, entrusted by the United Nations Human Resettlement Program.

During the visit, the project officials explained the plans to elevate the railway section from Maradana to Malapalla, in order to evade the problem of around 54 level crossings and land acquisitions. Further, they demonstrated that how the project has been planned to generate reasonable revenue through land value capturing and transit oriented development using the space under the structure and railway land around the elevated construction.

The visit ended at the Makumbura Multi Model Transport Hub which facilitate the Kelani Valley train passengers with a user friendly convenient multi model transport facilities.