Sri Lanka Railways S12 is a class of diesel-electric trainset with locomotive-like power cars built for Sri Lanka Railways by China's CSR Corporation. The first batch arrived in Sri Lanka in August 2012. They were built to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains. Seven of the S12 DMUs were ordered to strengthen long-distance travel on the Main line from Colombo to Badulla. Four of S12s were built to serve the Kelani Valley Line. The remaining two sets were designed as a luxury train.
History The S12 diesel trainsets were meant to improve services on the Main Line and the Kelani Valley Line. The steep hills and tight curves on the mountainous section of the Main Line is difficult to operate. Prior to the S12, only a few classes of locomotives were capable of operating this line. As these trains started to replace locomotive-operated trains on other lines, the up-country Main Line could not be operated by diesel train. The S12 is the first diesel train to handle these conditions.
The locomotives were purchased under a US$101 million credit line agreement with China. The loan was to be settled within 15 years.
In September 2012, the first units had trial runs. The first Main Line train operated by the S12 began on 23 October 2012.
Most of the named services operated by the S12 diesel trains were later taken over by the newer S14 diesel trains. Current fleet details ClassConfigurationLineOperatorNo. locos in fleetNo. of sets in serviceYear builtCars per SetUnit numbers.S12Long DistanceMain LineSri Lanka Railways1572012 - 20138917-939CommuterKV Line447Luxury428
Operations Class S12 train sets are used in three different configurations as mentioned above, for Long distance trains, long distance luxury trains and short distance commuter trains. They are operated mainly on the Main Line (Long distance config) and Kelani Valley Line (Commuter config).
Gallery
References