Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Thandikulam railway station

Security Forces Commander Major General Jagath Jayasuriya inspected the newly reconstructed Thandikulam railway station on the Colombo-Jaffna line, which is to be opened on Saturday commencing railway services beyond Vavuniya.

The construction work was initiated under the ‘Uthuru-Mithuru’ reconstruction programme on the Yal Devi line on a concept of Minister Dulles Alahapperuma. Reconstruction work is actively supported by troops, now serving the area in Vavuniya. Thandikulam railway station is situated several kilometres away from the northern edge of the Vavuniya town.

Source: Dailymirror

The “Railways of Sri Lanka” book written by Dr. David Hyatt (published by COMRAC) in 2000, which is considered as an encyclopedia about Sri Lanka Railways,  has more then 400 pages of data on all aspects on SLR, which covers the history of the various lines from inception to the present day(2000) in great detail. Numerous maps, diagrams, station layouts and tables suppliment the text and there are sections on signalling, timetables, operating methods, locomotives etc, all incorporating a wealth of information. Locomotive history is covered with details of all steam and diesel power used between 1864 & 1998, together with engineering drawings of all the main steam locos and railcars. and a lot more.

The book is now available for purchase in Sri Lanka, which is sold at a special price for Sri Lankans, only a very limited number of copies were imported to Sri Lanka. those are interested in purchasing the book can contact us on the following telephone number: 0712882646,

The book is also available for sale in foreign countries, please follow the link here to: Amazon website to purchase online(expensive).

Sri Lanka Railways Forum

The train services on Southern coastal line were halted today for a few hours as a stone attack on the “Rajarata Rajina” train injured the head driver.

According to the main control room of the Railway Department an unidentified person had pelted stones at the train which was to heading to Vavuniya from Matara at Paraliya in Meetiyagoda, Hikkaduwa this morning.

S. Wijerama, the head driver of the train has been admitted to the Balapitiya Hospital with head injuries, the main control room said.

Earlier also several trains have been attacked with stones in this area by unidentified persons.

Meetiyagoda police are conducting investigations to arrest the suspects.

Source: Colombopage.com

The Railway Controls room said yesterday that train services between the Bambalapitiya and the Maradana would be suspended from midnight tomorrow (2) till 4pm on Wednesday (3) due to security arrangements put in place for the National War Victory celebration at Galle Face on Wednesday.

The military victory celebration would include parades by the three armed forces as well as the Police and the Civil Defence Force.

All trains along the Southern Coastal line would stop at Bambalapitiya during this period. Trains on the Puttalam and Kelani Valley lines will be stopped at the Maradana Railway Station. The Railway Department said CTB buses would be deployed to transport railway passengers between the Bambalapitiya and Maradana stations during this period.

Source: Dailymirror

Under the guidance of Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma the CTB will launch an affiliated office bus from Dematagoda and Bambalapitiya Railway Stations simultaneously today at 7.30 am parallel to the train service for the benefit of public and private sector employees.

Twenty buses will be deployed from Dematagoda to various parts of Colombo while 13 buses will be utilised from the precincts of Bambalapitiya Railway Station. CTB Chairman Dammika Hewapathirana will officially inaugurate the bus service from the Dematagoda Railway Station today.

The Transport Ministry is launching this service considering the large number of employees and officers who wait at halts for hours, Ministry sources said.

The first bus will leave Dematagoda to Mt. Lavinia at around 7.30 am through Torrington.

According to the schedule the bus to Homagama will ply through the Narehenpita – Nawala road at around 7.35 am.

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It is with regret that we report Colombo – Nanu-Oya Intercity Express, on of the fastest trains in Sri Lanka has been suspended from last week due to lack of passenger interest. It was reported that there were only 7 passengers were on the train when the train had a locomotive failure at  Ihala Kotte few weeks back. So the new GMR has decided to cancel this train as it is making heavy loses to the Railway Department. 

Nanu-Oya Intercity was started on December 1, 2008 when the Department was under Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan. In her early days the train attracted heavy crowd and oftenly got overbooked.  But after the holiday season only a few number of people were on the train daily.

Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Photos : SLRF trip to Nanu-Oya by the ICE on December 2, 2008.

Operations of the Yal Devi train will be extended upto Thandikulam railway station, the next station from Vavuniya railway station towards the North from June 6 morning, with the completion of the restoration of rail track, railway station and the signal system, a press release issued by the Transport Ministry said yesterday.

The construction work of the Omanthai railway station was started with funding from the people from Galle under the leadership of Deputy Minister Lionel Premasiri, on the same date.

Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said the balance 159 Km rail track of the Northern Line will also be completed in 2010 under the Uthuru Mithuru program launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to fulfill the long-felt need of the people to travel to the North by train.

Minister Alahapperuma also expects contributions for the Uthuru Mithuru fund.

Source: Daily News