Sri Lanka resumes train service on Colombo-Kandy line after 10 months
COLOMBO, Oct 2: Sri Lanka on Friday resumed train service on the Colombo-Kandy railway line, nearly 10 months after its suspension due to damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah, officials said. Service was resumed on 113 km of the railway line's...
03:37 PM Oct 02, 2026 IST
COLOMBO, Oct 2: Sri Lanka on Friday resumed train service on the Colombo-Kandy railway line, nearly 10 months after its suspension due to damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah, officials said.
Service was resumed on 113 km of the railway line's full distance of more than 118 km, with trains terminating at Peradeniya, the university town, before Kandy.
Service to the hill capital Kandy still remains blocked.
Cyclone Ditwah struck the island nation in November last year, leaving a trail of devastation across the country.
"This was an effort of a team of 70 people from several state agencies. It is remarkable that we were able to resume services within 10 months," Prasanna Gunasena, the deputy minister of transport, told reporters.
Railway officials said 95 per cent of the Colombo-Kandy rail line is functional while only six kilometres remains blocked.
The six-kilometre stretch is inaccessible due to the damaged Peradeniya Railway bridge, which is yet to be restored.
Officials added that the devastation from Cyclone Ditwah meant that portions of the Colombo–Kandy railway became more than a track-repair problem - but a major reconstruction project.
Persistent landslides and floods uprooted not only the rails but the underlying earthworks, bridges and drainage structures, they said. (PTI)
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