The Yal Devi Express train service between Colombo Fort and Kankesanthurai will resume from tomorrow Monday (May 11), the Department of Railways has announced.
The train will run from Colombo Fort to Kankesanthurai on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with the return service from Kankesanthurai to Colombo Fort operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, Ada Derana reported.
Four first-class compartments of the train have been fitted with air conditioning and are available for advance reservations, NewsFirst said. Passengers can reserve seats through the Sri Lanka Railways online seat-reservation system at seatreservation.railway.gov.lk or at participating railway stations.
The Yal Devi is the flagship long-distance service connecting Colombo with Jaffna and the northernmost rail terminus at Kankesanthurai. The line, fully restored after the 2009 end of the war, has been a key link for both passenger travel and tourism to the Northern Province. Neither outlet specified the reason for the suspension that the relaunch follows.
The northern transport corridor has seen recent disruption on the maritime side as well: the Sri Lanka–India Kankesanthurai–Nagapattinam ferry suffered an engine failure off the Indian coast on Saturday, with all 144 passengers safely returned to port.
Sources: Ada Derana, NewsFirst.
