Railway travel in Sri Lanka

In my latest “main” blog, I commented on how we travelled down to Colombo, and to these various beaches along the West Coast by Train, but I did not go into just what an experience train travel is in the country. I have already described to you the colonial feel to the railways themselves and the Stations along the track, but I was amazed to find that this historic feel was maintained on the trains themselves.

The choice of First, Second or Third class in itself makes me think of the British rail network as it must have been in the early parts of last century (of course now everyone in Britain travels by our very own “third class”). However, the choice of third class allowed us to travel the 120km from Kandy to Colombo for a sum of 150 rupees, slightly less than a pound. The carriages looked straight from a history book, with dim flickering lights (It was still dark as we went aboard the train), and a wooden interior, with bench seating sprawling from a thin central corridor. All the seats were taken, and there were already a large number of people filling the gang way, so we moved back towards the buffet car, which was mostly open space, but provided us with a clear space to sit with our bags for the journey.

I suppose you all must think we are mad for going for third class for a 3 hour journey, when a first class observation seat (at the opposite end of the train to the locomotive, with a large window allowing vision out of the back/front of the train, depending on the direction of travel) costing only 450 rupees (3 pounds). At first it was because we are spectacularly cheap (as I am sure you have gathered by now), but in retrospect it was one of the best travel decisions we have ever made.

Health and safety have evidently not caught hold in this country to the extent which it has in the UK, and the doors on the side of the train in third class are left entirely open throughout the journey. On a normal journey by car or train you are sitting within an enclosed environment, viewing the landscape through a window, in a state of abject detachment, in a similar way to how you might see a scene on a television, or in a photo. When you take advantage of this portal into the surroundings, you experience the passing of scenery in an entirely different way. By grabbing the alighting handles (as hard as you can obviously) and putting yourself outside of the train, into the environment, you experience the journey not passively, but actively, seeing the track disappear below you, feeling the air rush by you, truly sensing the sounds, sights and smells of the areas you pass (and even occasionally being slapped in the face by a palm leaf!). You travel though villages communicating with those you pass (almost catching a mango someone threw to me), experiencing the atmosphere and being involved in your surroundings, which in my opinion makes the journey by rail just as important as the destination here!

There are however some disadvantages to being forced into such a small environment for prolonged periods of time. Many people ride the train to busk, beg and sell food to passengers. They walk around with CT scans or letters from their doctor, outlining medical procedures they cannot afford, or drugs which they cannot obtain. The sheer volume of these people is awful, and the sums of money they need to raise (assuming credibility of their story – another matter entirely) is large, even by our standards at several thousand pounds. It creates a somewhat awkward environment as you never know who needs help, and who is scamming you, and you can never know if any money you chose to give is going to a truly good cause or not.

Overall, Sri Lankan train journeys offer a much better price, experience and feel than those in the UK, although their infrequency (3-4 hours on average, some longer journeys only once or twice a day), and the veritable circus of people trying to steal your money somewhat take the edge off a fantastic system.