The Ministry of Transport and Highways has launched a dedicated Colombo–Kandy bus service to help travellers reach the hill country during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period, Deputy Minister Dr. Prasanna Gunasena said on Thursday.
The buses will begin running from Friday, April 10, and will operate from the Bastian Mawatha bus station in Colombo. The service is positioned as a direct response to continued disruption on the Colombo–Kandy rail line, which has not fully recovered from damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah in late 2025.
Dr. Gunasena said the Ministry intends to continue the service on weekends after the New Year period under a revised timetable, turning what began as a holiday measure into a longer-term patch while rail repairs progress.
The Kandy route is one of the highest-demand travel corridors in the country, and the loss of reliable train service has pushed intercity pressure onto the road network ahead of Avurudu (April 13–14) — traditionally the country’s biggest domestic travel event.
The announcement adds to a broader Avurudu mobility package. The Sri Lanka Transport Board is already deploying 1,500 extra buses between April 9 and April 21, while northern line rail services resumed earlier this week after their own Cyclone Ditwah outage. The Colombo–Kandy stretch remains the most visible gap in the post-cyclone rail recovery.
