Sri Lanka Railways S11 is a class of Diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) train set built for

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: ...

Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indian manufacturer of rolling stock, and electrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and imported through

RITES Ltd RITES Ltd, formerly known as Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, is an Indian public sector undertaking and engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure. Established in 1974 by the In ...

, an Indian state infrastructure corporation on a line of credit extended by the Indian Government. They were built to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains. Twenty S11 DEMUs were ordered to strengthen long-distance travel on the Coastal Line from Colombo to Matara.

History

Conception

The railway decided to add the DMUs to its service as part of its Coastal line's upgrade project, where track was upgraded to improve speed. The DMUs were built by

, to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains.

Inauguration into service

The trains were inaugurated into the railway service on 11 March 2011 with a ceremony at Matara Railway Station. According to a press release from the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, twenty DEMUs would be supplied to Sri Lanka Railways in phases till March 2012. One of the DEMUs faced technical problems on the Galle–Matara section; during the journey, the train came to an abrupt halt due to an electrical short-circuit and resumed its journey after 20 minutes when the fault was set right. Sri Lanka Railways suspended further importation of the DEMUs. In April 2011, the suspension was revoked after a team from RITES inspected them and declared that the faults were due to an electrical failure caused by tinkering and the DEMU running with more coaches than it was designed for.

Operations

The S11 DMUs are primarily operated on the Coastal line, connecting

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 ...

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

, and Matara. The sets are used on the

Ruhunu Kumari ''Ruhunu Kumari '' (, Princess of "Ruhuna" - southern province) (Tamil: உருகுண இளவரசி) is a daytime passenger train that runs between Colombo and Matara in Sri Lanka. The train runs from matara to Maradana in the morni ...

, Vavniya ICE and several other suburban trains. Apart from the single instance of a 20-minute failure on the Galle – Matara section, there has been no other failure of the DMUs. Other than on Coastal Line, one DMU is running express on Puttalam Line where it only stops at Negombo and seven other stations up to Chilaw after Dematagoda.

Current fleet specifications

Crashes & incidents

Alawwa Crash

* 2011 Alawwa rail accident – On 17 September 2011, near Alawwa, two trains (a locomotive-hauled train and an S11 DMU No. 899) collided, killing 3 people and injuring 20. The S11 ran into the rear observation car of the train ahead. Train Collision Sri Lanka

Pothuhera Crash

On 31 May 2014 a north bound ''Deyata Kirula'' intercity express train hauled by S11 No. 902 and the Colombo bound '' Rajarata Rejini'' train hauled by Class M2 - 570 collided together in the

Pothuhera Pothuhera is a town located in Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. Transport Pothuhera is located on the A6 road (Sri Lanka), A6 (Ambepussa-Trincomallee) road. Pothuhera is situated on the Northern line (Sri Lanka), Northern Line and has a railway s ...

railway station near

Kurunegala Kurunegala (, ; , ) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of the North Western Province, Sri Lanka, North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, from the end of the 13th ...

injuring 68 people and causing serious damages to the both trains and the track. This has been considered as the most damage valued accident for

Gallery

File:Sri Lanka Railways - Colombo - 4 Feb 2018 (3).jpg, alt= File:SRI LANKAN RAILWAYS CLASS S11 AT GALLE SRI LANKA JAN 2013 (8492287492).jpg, S11 No. 900 File:SRI LANKAN RAILWAYS CLASS S11 TRAIN BOUND FOR MATARA AT GALLE STATION SRI LANKA JAN 2013 (8520226243).jpg, alt= File:Class S11 Inside.jpg, Second class seats File:Class S11 Inside Accomadation.jpg, Interior ceiling and baggage racks File:Class S11 Turnover.jpg, alt= File:Class S11 Accomodation.jpg, alt=

References

{{Locomotives of Sri Lanka S11 Train-related introductions in 2011