Sri Lanka Railway
- About
- Popular Routes
- Stations
- Reviews
- Schedule and Timetable
About Sri Lanka Railway
Sri Lanka Railway offers straightforward and hassle-free online booking of train tickets with 12Gо. Other travellers’ reviews will help you plan the route and choose the ticket class that suits you best. Take a train to give your journey an old-school flavour with an overnight long-haul sleeper or add a super modern twist by jumping on a highspeed express that will reach your destination in a whisk. Railway travel is always full of character and emotions. Mingle with fellow passengers or opt for a private high-end compartment. Sri Lanka Railway offers a bunch of choices to make your experience unforgettable and enjoyable. Be sure to double-check the date of your travel, fare, type of your ticket, and other conditions and restrictions before you confirm your booking.
Sri Lanka Railway Popular Stations
Sri Lanka Railway’s route map features the following stations:
- Maho Junction
- Kekirawa
- Kankesanthurai
- Hikkaduwa
- Peradeniya
- Kilinochchi
- Nanu Oya
- Talaimannar Pier
- Ragama
- Medawachchiya
- Jaffna Train Station
- Vavuniya
- Hingurakgoda
- Gal Oya
- Wellawatte
- Chunnakam
- Maradana
- Valaichchenai
- Polgahawela
- Ella
- Matara
- Mannar
- Galgamuwa
- Kalutara South
- Nawalapitiya
- Ambalangoda
- Kurunegala
- Mount Lavinia
- Batticaloa
- Kantale
- Bandarawela
- Gampola
- Kandy
- Rambukkana
- Palai
- Trincomalee
- Anuradhapura
- Tambalagamuwa
- Veyangoda
- Habarana
- Demodara
- Hatton
- China Bay
- Beliatta
- Colombo Fort
- Polonnaruwa
- Badulla Ella
- Galle
- Aluthgama
- Gampaha
- Kodikamam
- Welikanda
- Eravur
Sri Lanka Railway Top Destinations
Here is the list of routes covered by Sri Lanka Railway which are always in high demand with the travellers:
- Kandy - Ella
- Kandy - Nuwara Eliya
- Colombo - Kandy
- Ella - Kandy
- Nuwara Eliya - Ella
- Colombo - Trincomalee
- Ella - Nuwara Eliya
- Nuwara Eliya - Badulla
- Nuwara Eliya - Kandy
- Kandy - Colombo
- Colombo - Galle
- Badulla - Kandy
- Trincomalee - Colombo
- Kandy - Badulla
- Galle - Colombo
- Colombo - Matara
- Colombo - Habarana
- Badulla - Nuwara Eliya
- Colombo - Batticaloa
- Colombo - Hikkaduwa
- Batticaloa - Colombo
- Matara - Colombo
- Colombo - Peradeniya
- Ella - Colombo
- Nuwara Eliya - Colombo
- Badulla - Colombo
- Colombo - Kekirawa
- Hikkaduwa - Colombo
- Colombo - Nuwara Eliya
- Colombo - Badulla
- Ella - Badulla
- Peradeniya - Nuwara Eliya
- Badulla - Ella
- Colombo - Ella
- Habarana - Colombo
- Anuradhapura - Jaffna
- Colombo - Polonnaruwa
- Peradeniya - Badulla
- Colombo - Beliatta
- Colombo - Aluthgama
- Kandy - Hatton
- Kekirawa - Colombo
- Badulla - Peradeniya
- Peradeniya - Colombo
- Galle - Matara
- Trincomalee - Habarana
- Aluthgama - Colombo
- Nuwara Eliya - Peradeniya
- Jaffna - Anuradhapura
- Hatton - Kandy
- Habarana - Trincomalee
- Hikkaduwa - Matara
- Beliatta - Colombo
- Colombo - Pasikudah
- Aluthgama - Galle
- Colombo - Kurunegala
- Hikkaduwa - Galle
- Nuwara Eliya - Hatton
- Ella - Peradeniya
- Kalutara - Galle
- Aluthgama - Matara
- Trincomalee - Kekirawa
- Matara - Beliatta
- Colombo - Ambalangoda
- Galle - Beliatta
- Polonnaruwa - Colombo
- Colombo - Kalutara
- Veyangoda - Kandy
- Ambalangoda - Colombo
- Hatton - Ella
- Hatton - Nuwara Eliya
- Galle - Aluthgama
- Kandy - Gampaha
- Hatton - Colombo
- Kurunegala - Colombo
- Kekirawa - Trincomalee
- Ella - Hatton
- Kalutara - Colombo
- Matara - Galle
- Galle - Kalutara
- Matara - Aluthgama
- Jaffna - Vavuniya
- Habarana - Batticaloa
- Galle - Hikkaduwa
- Matara - Hikkaduwa
- Habarana - Pasikudah
- Colombo - Hatton
- Pasikudah - Colombo
- Aluthgama - Hikkaduwa
- Maho - Colombo
- Kurunegala - Kandy
- Trincomalee - Kurunegala
- Hikkaduwa - Beliatta
- Kurunegala - Trincomalee
- Colombo - Maho
- Habarana - Polgahawela
- Colombo - Polgahawela
- Peradeniya - Ella
- Polgahawela - Kandy
- Aluthgama - Beliatta
Sri Lanka Railway Ticket Prices & Train Classes
To get most of your train ride to choose the class of your ticket wisely. Consider the length of your trip, the time of the day, and your own preferences. For longer travels by night, first or second-class tickets in a sleeper coach might be the best solution. Both options allow you to sleep your night away as comfortably as it gets on a train and save the precious daytime of your vacation. Note that sometimes first-class tickets cannot be booked for short couple-of-hours trips on a longer itinerary. They are often reserved for travellers who cover the whole route from departure to the terminal station. Yet second-class sleepers of sometimes soft seats are a decent alternative if 4-5 hours bring you to your point B. Check what is included in the price. Linen and towels may or may not be provided for overnight trips as water, snacks, or toiletries. It is always a good idea to bring some layers on board as air-conditioning or heating may fail to meet your standards.
Travel by Train: Pros & Cons
Pros of Train Travel
- Railway travel is an ideal solution to beat traffic. While delays are sometimes possible for various reasons, in general, neither rush-hour, long weekends nor high season fever will ruin your timing with railways.
- Online booking of railway tickets saves you a lot of time. For many destinations, tickets can be booked as long as 90 days before your travel date which brings planning to a new level. Yet last-minute deals are often available, too. There is no need to go to the train station to book either – do it wherever you want.
- In many cases, train tickets are much more affordable than air tickets. On certain routes, the length of travel by high-speed trains equals or even beats air travel if you consider the time you spend in the airport for check-in and going through security and/or customs formalities.
- Very often, railway stations are located in the center of the city. It saves you a lot of time to reach your accommodation. Older railway stations often have the added bonus of being super atmospheric occupying historical buildings. Travelling to/from such stations can be considered a worthy point of your whole travel plan.
- Besides saving you daytime for other more enjoyable things, a night on a train is a good way to cut your hotel expenses. If it is a sleeper you opt for, you may expect to sleep quite well, too. Well, better than on a sleeper bus for sure!
- There are luxury trains serving some routes, and it is definitely an experience to try at least once in your life.
Cons of Train Travel
- The longer the distance – the longer the train ride, and if you have to cover a considerable mileage, it will be very time-consuming. So sometimes air travel is a better alternative even if costlier.
- Connections with your onward transport should be planned with extra care. Though the timetables are normally set, delays and cancellations are always possible due to a variety of reasons. Another thing to consider is the location of the station where your train arrives or departs from. There is more than one train station in certain cities and locations, which sometimes causes confusion.
- One of the most common complaints about trains on certain routes is cleanliness. It mostly concerns the cheapest class coaches and toilets.
- Stops are not always clearly announced or marked during some train trips. Electronic screens do solve this issue easily but are not present everywhere. So ensure you track your stop with GPS or just ask a conductor if any.
NaN Passengers
Sri Lanka Railway Stations
Maho JunctionKekirawaKankesanthuraiHikkaduwaPeradeniyaKilinochchiNanu OyaTalaimannar PierRagamaMedawachchiyaJaffna Train StationVavuniyaHingurakgodaGal OyaWellawatteChunnakamMaradanaValaichchenaiPolgahawelaEllaMataraMannarGalgamuwaKalutara SouthNawalapitiyaAmbalangodaKurunegalaMount LaviniaBatticaloaKantaleBandarawelaGampolaKandyRambukkanaPalaiTrincomaleeAnuradhapuraTambalagamuwaVeyangodaHabaranaDemodaraHattonChina BayBeliattaColombo FortPolonnaruwaBadulla EllaGalleAluthgamaGampahaKodikamamWelikandaEravur
Sri Lanka Railway Company Reviews
J S
Jakob SVery convient, both the booking process and the train ride
Train#4441 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 22, 2024
J B
Jessica BWe caught the train Colombo to Galle and enjoyed it so much we then did Galle to Colombo!
Buying ticket and collecting the physical ticket at station was easy. Train station staff were more than helpful to ensure we knew where to go.
The train was comfortable and the ac was delightful.
Loved it 10/10
Train#8057 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 27, 2024
A S
Aliia SThe train was delayed for 3 hours.
Train#1126 Observation class, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 11, 2024
L W
Lucia WIt was a nice Experience, as a Backpacker it was Really neccesery to Book The 2nd/ 1st class, cause of the place trouble in the 3rd. But you have to inform yourself, where to wait and enter the Train, so you dont have time trouble to run to the side of the First class
Train#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 1, 2024
L Z
Leonid ZAmazing, the morning trains were almost empty. Sunrise happened 20 minutes after departure, which was very beautiful.
Train#1024 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Feb 27, 2024
L Z
Leonid ZFast and convenient. Even can sleep if you want.
Train#1016 Third Class Reserved Seats, Sri Lanka Railway, Feb 27, 2024
S M
Samindi MDidn't receive any snacks or meals even though it was mentioned when booking and had to collect the ticket from the station even though it said eticket is valid.
Train#11041 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Feb 25, 2024
N V
Nada VIt was all Ok
Train#11041 Second Class, Sri Lanka Railway, Jan 21, 2024
N G
Nagabhushan GTrain was on time. It was clean not crowded.
Train#7077 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jan 18, 2024
S M
Stewart MThe train broke down and was already late. It's very unfortunate online agencies like yourselves book up all the reserved settled cheaply a month in advance leaving locals and travellers having pay vastly inflated fares to you
Train#1023 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jan 17, 2024
S S
SUBRAMANIAM SSlow train but very comfortable , too much shaking in the train
Train#1023 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Nov 20, 2023
V Z
Vlastimil ZFirst class is similar to second class in EU.
Air conditioning working, though set needlessly to low temperature
Train#1024 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Nov 11, 2023
N H
Nicola HThe trip itself was good I was a little miffed because I got insurance by accident but that’s probably my fault for not checking properly
Train#1023 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 28, 2023
S A
Saman ANot a comfortable train trip. It’s jumping up and down many times, may be due to poor railway quality.
Train#1031 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 24, 2023
D C
Dominika CIT WAS REALLY UNEXPECTED.
Train#1019 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 12, 2023
S S
Simon SGood online service, showed the booking number at the train station in Colombo and they gave us the ticket.
Train#1023 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 11, 2023
T R
Teresa RIt was a bit delayed. That is why it is not excellent.
Train#8057 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Aug 17, 2023
A H
Alain HFull informations about train but not for buses. Unfortunatly…
Train#7084 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Aug 10, 2023
D P
Diego PIt takes more than 3h the travel when I booked a train trip for 2h35
Train#8058 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Aug 7, 2023
T M
Tamer MWas the best choice to travel
Train#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jul 29, 2023
K L
Kylie LTrain was running hour and half late so had to buy ticket in earlier train so paid twice
Train#1007 Observation class, Sri Lanka Railway, Jul 5, 2023
R E
Robin ESeats need some cleaning, people were sitting on our reserved spots and looked strange at us when we asked them to move. 1st class is too messy for being called a 1st class
Train#1005 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jun 24, 2023
M P
Michael PMy seat was traveling backwards while I only had 25% of a window. 🤣
Train#1005 Second Class, Sri Lanka Railway, May 9, 2023
G C
George CFirst class. Stunning trip running along the coast.
Train#8057 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, May 3, 2023
A H
Alyssa HFor first class, l feel what is offered is anything but that, no food provided, no water, the aircon was freezing, the chairs were old & falling apart, the bathroom was absolutely disgusting. I would say for the amount of tourists using and paying for this service they need major improvements.
Train#1006 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 27, 2023
S S
Selina SWe bought the ticket from Colombo to Kandy. First we wanted to take the train at 11 am but when I was looking 5 minutes later, the option was gone. So we booked the train at 7 am. So far so good. We got the receipt and I payed via PayPal. The official price was around 3.000 LKR, when I paid with PayPal they booked Singapore Dollars which was way more expensive. In total we payed 15EUR /20 USD… which is not the price that was originally shown.
We received the E-Tickets right away and the rest was totally fine. Next time I would prefer asking the ticket counter instead of booking online as it’s a lot cheaper.
Train#1009 Second Class, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 18, 2023
G G
Gursel GBought ticket for Nuwara Elliya to Ella very easy and fast. Many thanks.
Train#1015 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 18, 2023
O N
Oliver NDuring Booking procedure the insurance option was selected by default. This should be changed! Don’t try to get as much money from your customers, rather be more transparent!
Train#1016 Third Class Reserved Seats, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 5, 2023
G H
Georgina HA lovely ride, staff friendly - super comfortable and food was good
Train#11042 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Feb 19, 2023
A V
Amy VVery nice ride in the observation class with plenty of space and plenty of locals! Beware the observation coupe is the last coupé with the big windows at the back, so you'll drive backwards the whole way (I get carsick but with one tablet I was fine when whole train ride, the train is pretty slow making me less nauseaus and making the view even better!)
There is only 4 seats by the actual big window, but the other seats provided a good view as well and you can walk to the window and hang out for a little bit
Train#1596 Observation class, Sri Lanka Railway, Feb 2, 2023
K J
Katja JThe views: wauw!
Train#1005 Third Class Reserved Seats, Sri Lanka Railway, Jan 18, 2023
D L
Diandra LThe Climate is even on cold days veeeeeery freezing, they should regulate that. And we didn't have seats, where we could both sit in one row.
Train#1019 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jan 17, 2023
L A
Leila AReservation was easy
Train#1015 Second Class, Sri Lanka Railway, Dec 22, 2022
C M
Christine MThe views were amazing. I loved sharing the experience with such friendly Sri Lankans. Will be forever in my memories.
Train#1015 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 18, 2022
R S
Raja SGood journey but very unsteady train, swaying to and fro too much, making walking down the aisle difficult.
Train#4022 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 16, 2022
R S
Raja STrain shakes too much. Difficult to walk down the aisle when it is running. It was was also running late by 90 minutes.
Train#4021 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 15, 2022
F M
Fabio MAt the Hikaduwa station no information in English. Locked door to board the train. Got on the train my seat was taken (26A). No information about the train. All the televisions weren't working. People standing between the seats....had they paid to stay there? No tickets control. Apart from that.... Everything else was fine!!
Train#8057 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Oct 10, 2022
A N
Ashad NIt was an excellent experience for me to buy online ticket of SL and I could easily get the physical ticket in the station. Thanks to make our journey comfortable... Best of luck.... Buddy..
Train#1019 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Sep 30, 2022
D R
Daniella RThe train arrived about 1 hour late to our station but arrived to Ella in only 2 hours so we got in 30 minutes before we should have originally. Very comfortable and fun train
Train#1005 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Sep 27, 2022
S K
Sahan KTrain ride was easy with good AC and lots of legroom. The only issue is that there are no workers on the platform to answer questions about the platform or trains.
Train#8056 Express Train First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Jul 22, 2022
E J
Elias JTrain#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 11, 2024
M F
Matthew FTrain#1016 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 8, 2024
L M
Liam MTrain#1015 Third Class Reserved Seats, Sri Lanka Railway, Apr 6, 2024
C T
Christian TTrain#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 28, 2024
Y Y
yigitan YTrain#1023 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 26, 2024
G P
Gobinath PTrain#7077 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 19, 2024
M F
Michael FTrain#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 15, 2024
A M
Adrian MTrain#8056 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 14, 2024
J W
Jeannine WTrain#8059 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 5, 2024
M S
Maarten STrain#1029 First Class Seat, Sri Lanka Railway, Mar 1, 2024