Kelani Valley Narrow Gauge Railway

Kelani Valley Narrow Gauge Railway
P1 class diesel locomotive in the Deyata Kirula exhibition
Gauge :	762 mm ( narrow gauge )
Maximum slope :	370  ‰
Legend Opanayaka Katawatta Watapota Dela Thiruwanaketiya Ratnapura Kuruwaita Parakaduwa Ehaliyagoda Getaheththa Yatiyanthota Avissawella Puwakpitiya Kosgama Kadugoda Waga Morakele Gammana Pinnawala Uggalla Angampitiya Arukwathupura Padukka Watareka Meegoda Godagama Panagoda Homagama Homagama Hospital Malapalla Kottawa Pannipitiya Maharagama Nawinna Udahamulla Pengiri cotton Nugegoda Kirillapone Narahenpita Cotta Road Baseline Road Colombo – Badulla railway line Maradana to Colombo

The Kelani Valley Narrow Gauge Railway ( Sinhala : කැළණි වැලි දුම්රිය මාර්ගය; Tamil : களனிப் பள்ளத்தாக்குத் தொடருந்துப் பாதை) was a narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 762 mm (2 feet 6 inches ) in Sri Lanka .

Museum narrow-gauge railway in the Deyata Kirula exhibition

history

The Kelani Valley narrow-gauge railway was moved 1900–1902 from Colombo via Avissawella to Yatiyanthota . In Avissawella there was a branch to Yatiyanthota and an extension via Ratnapura to Opanayaka , which was completed in 1912. The original narrow gauge line served mainly to rubber tree - plantations . The line from Avissawella to Yatiyanthota was dismantled in 1942 and the line from Homagama to Opanayaka was closed in 1973. In 1978 the line from Colombo to Avissawella was put back into service.

Locomotives and wagons

Narrow-gauge locomotive of the N2 class

The narrow-gauge railway had several locomotives and wagons. Steam locomotives of the K-Class and Sentinel - rail buses of the classes V1 and V2 were also in use:

class	PS	Manufacturer	engine	drive	Coloring	Import year
N1	492	Croup	8 cylinders	Hydraulic	red	1953
N2	600	Kawasaki	General Motors Detroit Diesel V16	Hydraulic	Blue red	1973
P1	132	Hunslet	Ruston & Hornsby 6 cylinder	Mechanically	green	1950

Re-gauging

S8-class diesel multiple units are the main mode of transport on the broad-gauge line, which has now been re-tracked

New Chinese S12 class diesel multiple units were introduced in 2012

In 1992, a project began to re- gauge the single-lane line to the Sri Lankan 1676 mm (5 foot 6 inch) broad gauge . The project was completed in 1996 after reaching Avissawella. The tracks above have now been completely dismantled and there are only station ruins, bridges and embankments.

The route called Kelani Valley Line is owned and operated exclusively by the state-owned Sri Lanka Railways . Urbanization is well advanced along the route to Avissawella. In January 2016, 20 trains per day were used on the route, especially for rush hour traffic to and from Colombo. There is also a daytime rail bus for rush hour traffic from Kosgama to Maharagama . Since 1991 there have been mainly Japanese and Korean diesel-hydraulic railcars of the S8 class from Hitachi ( Japan ) and Hyundai ( South Korea ) in the colors orange, white and gray with 1430 hp, as well as, since 2012, somewhat more powerful, blue-painted Chinese diesel-electric railcars of the S12 -Class used by CSR with 1950 hp.

The line is still single-track and not electrified and the top speed is limited because of the tight radii. Therefore there is only diesel operation. Since the volume of traffic and the number of trains per day have increased, it is becoming more and more difficult to let the many trains run without delay in both directions on the single-track route.

The Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva, announced that the government plans to upgrade the line from Padukka to Colombo Fort to two lanes. A budget of 1 billion rupees has been allocated to build new train stations and to source and install new, high quality sleepers.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.infolanka.com/org/mrail/slrails.html
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Island . In: Rampala regime in the local Railway History , July 19, 2010. 
3. ↑ More trains to operate on the Kelani Valley line. Daily News, June 1, 2017.