From The Hindu, July 29, 1975: Cargo booking by Railways to Sri Lanka likely
Mr. V.T. Navaratne, General Manager, Mr. G.P.S. Weera Suriya, Operating Superintendent, and Mr. C. Nadarajan, Chief Commercial Superintendent of the Sri Lanka Railways, Mr. B. Natarajan, Chief Commercial Superintendent representing the General Manager of the Southern Railway and his colleagues participated in the discussions. The Emigration and Immigration Officers, Customs officials, Mr. Narayanaswamy of the Shipping Corporation of India, Mr. M.N. Balasubramanian, Divisional Superintendent, Southern Railway, Madurai Division also took part in the discussions.
Following the cyclone in 1965 which blew off the Danushkodi pier, goods booking between the Indian and Sri Lanka Railways was suspended. While the booking of passenger traffic at Talaimannar and Rameswaram continued the Railways have not been booking cargo bound for Sri Lanka which are being routed through ships.
At the conclusion of the discussions, Mr. Navaratne said that before 1965 Sri Lanka used to receive over 73,000 tonnes cargo every year by Railway booking. With just three hours for the streamer to cross the sea — a distance of 27 miles — there was very good booking from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. The General Manager said, the pattern of cargo has now been completely changed and the Sri Lanka Railways was anxious to provide quick service for the movement of engineering and industrial goods from India to Sri Lanka through Railway booking.
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