News
Badulla night mail sleeper carriage service drifts off into the night
View(s):By Wasantha Ramanayake
Waking up at dawn in the misty mountains of Uva after an overnight train trip in the Badulla night mail is an experience of a lifetime.
Although it is not exactly luxurious, the first-class sleeper service with two single beds in one berth on the Colombo-Badulla night mail train hangs in balance.
On June 6, the Romanian-made, 30-year-old sleeper berths were discontinued, Railway locomotive chief engineer K.G.S. Bandara said.
The first-class sleeper compartment has six berths with 12 beds and each berth has two bunker-type beds. The fare for one berth is Rs. 10,000.
The first-class sleeper service with two single beds in one berth on the Colombo-Badulla night mail
Both Colombo-Badulla and Badulla-Colombo night mail trains have now been replaced with a second-class compartment for 32 passengers, he added.
“These are old compartments hardly suitable for first-class service,” he said. Officials have divided opinions on whether to continue to offer first-class berths just for 12 passengers or whether they should be replaced with a second-class compartment for 32 passengers.
Two compartments that are to be repaired in the Ratmalana yard are still in the Maligawatta shed. “They will be added to the service only next year,” Mr. Bandara said.
He said that based on market research on the profitability of providing first-class sleeper berths in the night mail train, the SL Railway could even buy new compartments.
Senior professor at the Transport Management & Logistics Engineering Department, University of Moratuwa, Amal Kumarage said: “Whatever the decision to add or remove the service of the first-class sleeper carriage, it should only be done after a proper study.’’
However, an employee who wished to remain anonymous said the services should be continued as “they are usually full.” It is mostly government employees who book these berths using their free warrants.
Discontinuation means depriving public servants of their privileges, he said.
More passengers buy first-class berths in the Meena Gaya intercity to Batticaloa. “This sleeping compartment has 14 berths.’’
The Meena Gaya intercity express train to Batticaloa and Badulla night mail are the only night trains that have sleeper berths.
“The Sri Lanka Railway discontinued the services of the first-class berths from both Kankesanthurai and Trincomalee night mails. The first-class berths of the two trains were removed when the SLR introduced new Indian-made compartments in 2021.” 
SLR intentionally did not order first-class berths when it ordered new compartments, he said. “This is a calculated move to intentionally take away the facility,” he alleged.
Most employees believe SLR should not discontinue first-class sleeper berths, he said.
“Perhaps it could offer more modern sleeping berths rather than repairing old compartments,” the employee said. He wonders if the sleeper berths of the Badulla night mail train would meet the same fate as the two other night mails.
Night mails were operating to coastal destinations and also Badulla even before 1956, the year in which diesel locomotives were first introduced.
S.S. Mudalige, the newly-appointed SLR general manager, could not be contacted for comment despite several attempts.
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