Sri Lanka Railways S12

Sri Lanka Railways S12 is a class of diesel-electric trainsets with locomotive-like power cars, built for Sri Lanka Railways by China's CSR Corporation, the first batch reaching the island in August 2012. The sets were bought to replace locomotive-hauled passenger trains, under a credit line agreement with China worth 101 million US dollars to be settled within 15 years. Seven sets were ordered to strengthen long-distance service on the Main Line from Colombo to Badulla, where steep hills and tight curves had left only a few classes of locomotive able to work the line, four serve the Kelani Valley Line as commuter trains, and the remaining two were designed as a luxury train. The first Main Line train run by the class began on 23 October 2012, and the newer S14 sets later took over most of the named services the S12 had operated.