December 27 is a red letter day for the railway in Sri Lanka. On this day in 1964, Sri Lanka Railway celebrated its centenary. Now the railway is 144 years old. It was on this day in 1864 that the first train steamed out from Colombo to Ambepussa.
The railway has come a long way since. [...]
This article about the Jaffna Railway was first published by the Lines Magazine in 2004.
On August the 1st 1905 a train trundled its way into the newly built Jaffna railway station to be greeted by an expectant crowd. It was the first train travelling the through route from Colombo to Jaffna on tracks which had [...]
One hundred Chinese made stainless steel carriages
Sri Lanka Railways purchased 100 stainless steel carriages from China at a total cost of 3570 million rupees. The carriages have been shipped to Sri Lanka in four batches of 25 each. Of these four batches, three batches totalling 75 carriages have already arrived on the island. The last [...]
“Look at these new coaches. They are made of stainless steel. A proud announcement was made that it was to avoid corrosion on the coastline. If that is the case, all the railway bridges along that line must be made of stainless steel. Have you ever seen stainless steel ships? Why couldn’t they use aluminium [...]
A railway for Sri Lanka was first mooted in 1842. Since the British occupation of the island in 1815, the Europeans, looking for suitable investments were much attracted by the mild climate and rich soil found in the upland country.
Cutting the first sod of the Ceylon Railways on 3rd August, 1858 by Sir Henry Ward, [...]
