Sri Lanka Railways S12

The S12 DEMUs were meant to improve services on the Main Line and the Kelani Valley Line. The steep slopes on the up-country portion of the Main Line is difficult to operate. Prior to the S12, only a few classes of locomotives were capable of operating this line. As DEMUs started to replace locomotive-operated trains on other lines, the up-country Main Line could not be operated by DEMUs. The S12 is the first DEMU to handle these conditions. The locomotives were purchased under a USD 101 million credit line agreement with China. The loan was to be settled within 15 years. In September 2012, the first units had trial runs. Most of the named services operated by the S12 DEMUs were later taken over by the newer S14 DEMUs. == Current fleet details ==