Sri Lanka Railways expects to complete the Peradeniya bridge within the next four to five months and finish all related work before the end of 2026, with services to Kandy on the Upcountry line resuming “soon,” Chief Engineer Priyantha Deegala said on Thursday.
The statement, reported by NewsFirst, is the first time Railways has put specific dates on milestones in the post-Cyclone Ditwah rebuild of the upcountry network.
Deegala said the most difficult work remaining was on the Matale line and the stretch from Gampola to Nawalapitiya, where damage sites are difficult to access and not connected to the main road network. Progress on those sections is being made piece by piece, slowing the overall timeline.
The Chief Engineer set a longer horizon for the full route: “We hope to restore the full line up to Badulla by mid-2027. Constructing a new railway line from scratch would have been easier, but now we are dealing with rebuilding an old line.”
A roughly three-to-four kilometre stretch between Wattegama and Ukuwela is being redesigned to modern engineering standards. “Previously, these areas were built without proper earth-retaining structures. Now, we are redesigning them using modern engineering methods to ensure the line remains stable for the next 100 years, minimising the risk of landslides,” Deegala said.
The latest timelines come on top of earlier progress on the main Maradana–Peradeniya line, where 92 of 97 damaged sites had been restored by May 6. A service train has been running from Rambukkana to Kadigamuwa since early May to carry repair materials into the worst-hit sections.
Cyclone Ditwah, which struck in late 2025, caused the longest sustained outage of the upcountry railway in its modern history. Mid-2027 would place the full restoration of the iconic Colombo–Badulla route roughly 18 months from now.
