Fort Railway Station 100th Anniversary

New access road commissioned.

A new access road from Bastian Mawatha to Colombo Fort railway station was commissioned today by Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Colombo Fort railway station.

Opened in 1917, Colombo Fort is the Colombo’s main railway station commencing train journeys to all parts of the country except the coastal railway line.

The station handles around 320 train operations per day with over two million daily commuters.

“It records a monthly income of nearly Rs.100 million,”

– Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) Operations Superintendent Vijaya Samarasinghe

Parallel to the 100 year celebrations,  an all night ‘Pirith Chanting’ ceremony  and almsgiving was held yesterday and today  at the Colombo Fort  railway station premises to invoke blessings on the souls of  railway employees and  the people who died in the bomb blast at the Colombo Fort  railway station.

Four new ticket counters at the Olcott Mawatha Station and  an alleviated bridge  were  also opened at the Colombo Fort  railway station for the ease of the train commuters.

A newly-repaired S8 power set was commissioned under the auspices of the Minister while a celebratory stamp was launched in commemoration of the celebration.

Meanwhile, plans are afoot to renovate the Colombo Fort railway station as one of the best tourist services with modern facilities.