The Northern railway of Sri Lanka
The Northern railway line branches
northward from the main line at Polgahawela,
passing Kurunegala, the
capital of Wayamba Province, before
continuing to the historic cultural and
religious centre of Anuradhapura.
This city was established in the 4th
century B.C. and contains many sites
of religious and archaeological interest.
The service which is now curtailed
by the Ceylon Government Railway,
was considered the most important
transport facility for travellers to and
from Colombo. The major factor that
contributed to the increasing number
of train travellers, with the increase
of population, was the non-availability
of other modes of transport other
than carts to compete the railway
transport during this period.
The Northern line was built by the
British to serve several purposes.
While they wanted to end the isolation
of the Jaffna peninsular and link
it with the rest of the country, they
also wanted to minimise the high
death toll among the immigrant Indian
labourers, because of the arduous
journey from Mannar to the Kandyan
province. Another reason was that the
Indian labourers were responsible for
spreading diseases like cholera and
small pox to adjoining villages in the
North and North-Central province of
Sri Lanka.
The British appointed a Commission
in 1877 to look into the feasibility
of the Jaffna railway line. The Commission
proposed extending the rail
track from Polgahawela to Jaffna.
Work began to extend the track to
Kurunegala, in 1891.The track was
opened on February 14, 1893. In 1903
work began on the extension of the
track to Anuradhapura.
A rail track
between Kankesanthurai and Chavakachcheri
was laid on March 10,
1902 and it was extended to Palaly by
September of that year. Work then
commenced to link the track to Anuradhapura.
The Talaimannar line extended towards
the North West from Madawachchiya.
By 1912 the bridge that
linked Mannar to the main land was
completed. On February 24, 1914 the
Indo- Lanka Railway Service commenced.
The transport facilities provided
by the Northern railway not only enabled
the majority of Indian labourers
to migrate en masse with their
families, but also saved the lives of
both labourers and villagers in the
North Central Province, since the
spread of infectious diseases could be
prevented as the immigrants no longer
had contact with the population
in the North Central Province.
The creation of the Northern line
acted as a catalyst for social change.
It linked communities, ended the
isolation of Jaffna, broke down social
tradition, caste prejudices, and
also spread new ideas and customs.
For the first time newspapers from
Colombo were available to all, which
helped to increase the reading habits
of the people and broaden their
outlook.. This also led to the growth
of education since people in Jaffna
could send their children to Colombo
or vice versa.
Canadian M2 locomotives
The Canadian government originally planned to donate only five of these engines in 1954 under the Colombo plan. These engines were manufactured by General Motors Canada. The Sri Lankan government named these locomotives after several Canadian provinces. Painted in blue and silver 14 of these were imported in batches from 1954 onwards.
It is said that some Canadians were not too happy by the fact that names of only five provinces were used. Learning about this, B.D. Rampala, the Chief Mechanical Engineer asked Sir John Kotelawela, who was the Minister of Transport to ask the Canadian Government to increase the number of engines from five M2 or G12 locomotives to 14 locomotives so that the names of all Canadian provinces could be used . The ploy worked and the Canadians gave us 14 locomotives.
Regarded as the most reliable locomotives even after 50 years, almost all the engines are still running.
Names of the Canadian M2 locomotives are: No 569 Ontario No 570 Alberta No 571 Saskatchewan No 572 British Columbia No 573 Quebec No 591 Manitoba No 592 Nova Scotia No 593 New Brunswick No 594 Prince Edwards Island No 595 New foundland
Of these, Diesel Electric Saskatchewan was destroyed by a bomb explosion and No 591 Manitoba was destroyed by the 2004 tsunami.
Yal Devi - Queen of express trains
By Rathindra Kuruwita @ The Nation , 02 March, 2008
Yal Devi made her maiden journey on April 23, 1956, with two other trains, Udarata Menike and Ruhunu Kumari and because of this many, Sri Lankans considered them as three sisters.
Trains no longer arrive at the Jaffna railway station. The familiar ‘kuchu kuchu’ of locomotive engines and the ‘hoooooo’ of their whistles, no longer rent the air. Porters are extinct. Taxis are conspicuous by their absence. Because, the Yal Devi goes no further than Vavuniya.
Times have changed. The Yal Devi was not destined to terminate its journey at this tiny railway station in the middle of nowhere. It was to stop at the great Jaffna station. It was meant to link Colombo with the northern most city, Jaffna. To connect two different cultures, Sinhala and Tamil.
To take kalu dodol from the south and bring back thal hakuru and karthakolomban. It is a past that Mailwahanam Vipulaskandha remembers well. This retired station master, who grew up near the Jaffna railway station, reminisced on the hustle and bustle of the once busy Jaffna railway station and the express train to the north, Yal Devi. “Yal Devi commenced its journey in the 1950s. As a boy growing up in Jaffna, I remember all the commotion which took place at the Jaffna station when the Yal Devi arrived,” he said. “In its heyday, Jaffna railway station was the second largest station. The porters rushed to the platform ready to put the luggage on their heads. The tea-boys were ready with their kettles, and the vendors of vadai switched on their kerosene stoves,” he remembers.
Yal Devi made her maiden journey on April 23, 1956, with two other trains, Udarata Menike and Ruhunu Kumari and because of this many, Sri Lankans considered them as three sisters.
Many factors led to the launch of these three ‘express’ trains. Not only did the government want to expand the passenger transport network of the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) but also show the general public of their detachment from the colonial past and their ability to outdo the British. The timetables of the three trains were arranged so that a commuter who boards the Ruhunu Kumari from Matara after breakfast would reach Jaffna for dinner.
Although all three trains were called express trains, Vipulaskandha assures us that, compared with the Yal Devi, the other two were insignificant. “Easily identified by its white and blue colour scheme, with its name boldly painted across the length of the carriages, in all three languages, the Yal Devi was the queen of express trains. That’s why they always gave her platform number 1.
It always left Fort railway station, precisely, at 5:45 each evening, packed. As a kid, I have travelled on that train many times. I remember the train leaving the railway station after giving a mighty holler. I also remember children of my age trying to imitate the noise of the engine,” Vipulaskandha said.
Blazing through Travelling a distance of 409 kms (256 miles) it only stopped at the “big” stations such as Ragama junction, Polgahawela Junction, Kurunegala, Maho Junction, Anuradhapura, Medawachchiya Junction, Vavuniya, Elephant Pass, Jaffna and Kankesanthurai. It made this long journey in express time, often passing regular trains that started long before she did.
“The train raced at speeds in excess of 45mph, past small stations that dotted the northern line, without slowing down. This often reminded me of an arrogant belle who ignores suitors she thought not worthy of her attention,” he said.
Vipulaskandha recalled an idyllic era when the Sinhalese would flock to Jaffna on festive occasions, visit local taverns, imbibe palmyrah toddy, eat masala dosai and prawns, indulge in karthakolomban for dessert and visit Nallur Kanda Swami Kovil and Naga Devale. “When I started working at the CGR, many Sinhala friends visited me. We used our CGR credentials to book the observation carriage, to escape from being sandwiched and squashed by the thousands of passengers,” he said.
End of a journey But now, all that has changed. The Yal Devi does not go beyond Vavuniya. The decades-old civil strife put an end to Yal Devi’s journey to Jaffna in the early 1990s. The once grand Jaffna railway station is now in ruins and the train itself carries only a handful of compartments, and Vipulaskandha told me that even these are almost empty after Anuradhapura. “The train stops at the single-platform Vavuniya station.
The charges for Elephant Pass, Jaffna and Kankesanthurai are still displayed at the station. But everyone knows that this is the end of the line,” he said Even though the Yal Devi stopped going to Jaffna in 1990, Vipulaskandha said that the beginning of the end started much earlier. “Because of the insurgency, people stopped commuting by train. In the mid 1980s, the track was removed at several points, but the Indian army laid it back. But only a few people travelled by train, when the Indian army left and the LTTE captured several sections of the northern line. That was the end of the Yal Devi’s journey to Jaffna,” he said. All downhill
It was all downhill after that. Although it is still an express train, it no longer whizzes past other trains. Now it stops at every station after Maho Junction and is no longer the trim and proper belle that it once was. The compartments are old and untidy. Its once magnificent restaurant is now reduced to a counter that serves weird looking, awful smelling short-eats. Its toilets are unusable. Porters do not flock the platform when the train arrives. ‘Tuk-tuk’ drivers hardly care for the passengers the Yal Devi now brings.
“The Yal Devi has grown old and like an old woman, it travels slowly and shakily, stopping to rest at every station,” Vipulaskandha said. Because the train no longer arrives at the Jaffna railway station.
My uncle worked at the CGR in the 1960s and is a friend of Vipulaskandha. Although he never worked on the northern line, he has travelled several times to Jaffna by Yal Devi. Sometimes, he recounts tales of Jaffna, to me. Of the karthakolomban, prawns, Naga Devale and the majestic Yal Devi. Whenever I remember these stories, I wish I could travel to Jaffna by train and enjoy the city, the way my uncle did. But, I know I can’t, because trains no longer arrive at the Jaffna railway station.
Growing up near the Jaffna railway station in the 1950s, Mailwahanam Vipulaskandha always dreamt of joining the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) and becoming a station master. One must remember that at this time the CGR was at its zenith. Station masters and engine drivers lived like royalty, living in comfortable railway quarters and served by an assortment of servants. “I always wanted to join the CGR and my dream came true in 1967 when I joined as an assistant station master. I was sent to the railway training school and then was posted to Batticaloa in 1969. After one or two years I went to Vavuniya. After that most of my service was in the Northern line,” he said. From 1970 he worked as a relief station master in the northern line working in stations like Chunnakam, Anuradhapura, KKS, Mankulam, Vavuniya and Madu. “As a relief station master I have worked all over the Northern line,” he said. Although the late 1960s and 1970s were a time of peace, the Northern line was a pleasant place to work in. But things began to gradually deteriorate in the 1980s. When violence escalated between government troops and armed groups, railway officers like Vipulaskandha were trapped in the middle. Violence and assassination became a part of daily life. It was while working at the Madu railway station in the mid 1980s that Vipulaskandha faced what he calls, the most traumatic experience of his life. “I was working at Madu station in 1985 as the relief station master. Unlike today, back then, there was a small Sinhala community living in Madu. There was a Sinhala school as well, the Madu Maha Vidyalaya. Several of my porters too were Sinhalese. One day several members of an armed group came to the station dragging two Sinhala women to the station. They shot the two women in front of my own eyes. Then they came to my room and asked me whether there were any Sinhalese people working in the station. I said ‘no’. Then they went away,” he said with a shudder. Little did the gunmen know that Vipulaskandha was concealing one of his Sinhalese porters behind his chair. “When they came in and talked to me, one of the Sinhala porters was hiding behind the chair I was seated on. I was trying to play cool although I was very scared. If the armed assailants realised that I was hiding someone from them they would have killed both of us on the spot. It was the most horrific experience I have been through, although I’m glad I was able to save a life. Now that boy is a man in his late 30s. He still keeps in touch with me and comes to see me from time to time,” he said. Although he’s now retired from the CGR, Vipulaskandha still has fond memories of the Northern railway line and its legendary train Yal-Devi. “I spent my youth working at the northern line. I have also seen the Yal-Devi speeding like a bullet on that line. I wish that my children could one day go to Jaffna travelling on the Northern line in that magnificent train,” he said. (RK)
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