Classic route
Yal Devi
Colombo → Jaffna · Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Northern Line express: its tracks to Jaffna, torn up during 25 years of civil war, were relaid and reopened in 2015.
How this line was checked
- The 324 km this route shares with OpenStreetMap relation 11686253 is drawn from that relation's own nodes, thinned to within 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: 98.4% of this line lies within 250 m of real track (median 10 m); the longest stretch away from it is 2 km
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: Sri Lanka Railways — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Yal Devi?
The Yal Devi runs 397 km from Colombo to Jaffna.
How long does the Yal Devi take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 6 h 40 min for the 397 km. That is an average of 60 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 120 km/h.
Who runs the Yal Devi?
Sri Lanka Railways, with Class M10 diesel.
How old is the Yal Devi?
The line has been in service since 1956. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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