Alawwa Railway Station is a railway station in the town of Alawwa, which is located in the Kurunegala District of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The station is owned by

Sri Lanka Railways The Sri Lanka Railway Department (more commonly known as Sri Lanka Railways (SLR)) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා දුම්රිය සේවය ''Śrī Laṃkā Dumriya Sēvaya''; Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Tamil: ...

, the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

railway operator, the station is part of the Main line which links Badulla with the country's capital

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The station is the 32nd station and is from Colombo Fort, from Polgahawela and situated above sea level. The station opened in 1866 when the Main line was extended from Ambepussa to Polgahawela. The Alawwa rail bridge, which crosses the Maha Oya, consists of three spans on masonry

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s and

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

s anchored into the bedrock. In August 2001 thirteen people died in a train

derailment In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway sys ...

near Alawwa. In September 2011 five people were killed and over thirty injured when a passenger train collided with a stationary train at the station.

Continuity

References

{{reflist Railway stations on the Main Line (Sri Lanka) Railway stations in Kurunegala District Railway stations in Sri Lanka opened in 1866