Sri Lanka Railways running short of locomotives and power sets

Railway operations face a looming crisis due to a sharp decline in running locomotives and power sets. The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters' Association warned that immediate intervention is required from authorities to maintain current timetables.

Association Secretary Kasun Chamara urged swift measures to protect train schedules.

The overall locomotive fleet shrunk from 106 in 2023 to 98 in 2026 after eight units were pulled from service. While the 2023 schedule required 74 locomotives for 450 daily runs, only 68 were functional at the time, and that number plummeted to just 49 active locomotives.

A similar decline affects the power set fleet, which dropped from 109 in 2023 to 106 in 2026. Running the current timetable requires 88 power sets, but active units fell from 78 in 2023 to a mere 52, leaving a deficit of 36 power sets.

The total operational fleet across both categories decreased from 261 to 242 over the three-year period following the retirement of 19 total units. Kasun Chamara stressed that decision-makers must act instantly to prevent widespread disruptions across the network.