Railway ticket online booking facility is now available for the first time in Sri Lanka. A website and a mobile phone application have been launched to book train seats online, enabling train passengers to book train seats in Sri Lanka from anywhere in the world with effect from 21st March 2022. This online train ticket booking facility is one of the major steps towards the development of Sri Lanka tourism since many tourists are struggling to book Kandy Ella train online before they arrive to Sri Lanka for holiday. Train journey in Sri Lanka is one of the thrilling experiences during your family adventure holiday in Sri Lanka. Most famous train journeys in Sri Lanka are Kandy to Ella / Colombo – Galle / Colombo to Jaffna VIA Anuradhapura but Kandy - Ella train is the most demanding stretch in Sri Lanka railway system which climb towards hill country through lush green tea estate and one of the best train journeys in South Asia.

Further Kandy – Ella train schedule and other main line schedules are available online.

 

General Terms & Conditions for online train ticket booking

 

General terms and conditions

• Select the correct train for your journey.
• Fix a convenient date for both up & down journeys.
• Ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the rates applicable.
• Maximum of 5 seats could be reserved at once.
• Standard customer verification and other terms and conditions would apply.
• NIC numbers of each and every passenger except "DEPENDENT" should be furnished.
• A reference number along with ticket details will be sent via email to commuters who make the reservation via website and/or mobile app.
• Commuters are requested to present this reference number for ticket printing purposes and notify any enquiries related to their reservation to the railway officer at the counters. Tickets can be printed at any existing location of Sri Lanka Railways currently in operation for ticket printing and it is recommended to print the ticket at the counter in departure railway station.
• A reservation only becomes guaranteed once full payment has been received by Sri Lanka Railways.
• No fresh tickets will be issued in lieu of misplaced or lost tickets.
• The reserved tickets could be used only for specified trains.
• Travelling on any other trains by using these types of tickets are strictly prohibited. An ordinary travelling ticket should be purchased for travelling to a transits station to catch a reserved train.
• All tickets issued through the Service are the property of Sri Lanka Railways. Tickets are non-transferable and should be handed over to the destination station before leaving the station after the journey. Sri Lanka Railways officers have the authority to request and check the tickets at any given moment

 

You can reserve your train ticket online through the Link   https://seatreservation.railway.gov.lk 

 

 

Payment Methods

• You should use a valid VISA or Master Credit/ Debit card when making online reservations through the internet.
• You are responsible for all transactions performed utilizing your credit/debit card and/or bank account.
• Server Slow Down/Session Timeout: In case the Website or Payment Service Provider’s webpage, that is linked to the Website, is experiencing any server related issues like 'slow down' or 'failure' or 'session timeout', you shall, before initiating the second payment, check whether your bank account has been debited or not and accordingly resort to one of the following options:
• In case the bank account appears to be debited, ensure that you do not make the payment twice and immediately thereafter contact the Sri Lanka Railways via e-mail or any other mode of contact as provided by the Sri Lanka Railways to confirm payment.
• In case the Bank Account is not debited, you may initiate a fresh transaction to make payment.
• However, you agree that under no circumstances the Payment Gateway Service Provider shall be held responsible for such fraudulent/duplicate transactions and hence no claims should be raised to Payment Gateway Service Provider. No communication received by the Payment Service Provider(s) in this regards shall be entertained by the Payment Service Provider(s)

 

Cancellation Policy          

• If you wish to cancel the journey, you have to visit the nearest Railway station where the mTicketing service is available together with reservation tickets issued to you. Moreover, bringing the NIC would ease the process.
• Fill the appropriate application supplied carefully.
• Cancellation can be done 24 hours prior to relevant train departure.
• In all instances only 75% from the face value of each reservation ticket is liable for refund. 25% of the total value of the ticket would be deducted and is non-refundable.
• Refunding / policy   
• Refunds will be available only for the particular train (journey) which has been completely unavailable due to an interruption.
• Only the ticket fee will be refunded and service charge will not be refunded.

 

 

Liability clause

Sri Lanka Railway shall not be held liable for any damages; loss or theft of personal luggage and belongings, nor can SLR be held liable for personal injury, accident, illness or death while guests are on an excursion made available by the train.

SLR shall also not be held responsible, when circumstances beyond its control lead to an interruption, early termination, delay or cancellation of any particular trip. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to instances of vis major/force majeure and/or casus fortuitus (natural causes such as floods and other natural disasters, fortuitous and unforeseen events, etc.).

 

 

Child Policy

Children from the age of 3 (three) years and younger sharing a seat with their parents travel free of charge (maximum of 1 (one)child per adult). Due to space constraints, SLR will not be able to accommodate any additional seat(s) to accommodate the infant / children. Children will have to share the seat with their parents / guardians. Should this pose a problem, SLR recommends that the guests book an additional seat for the children (in which case the children's rate does not apply and the standard adult rate for the seat shall apply). Children from the age of 3 (three) years and older pay full adult rates. SLR does not serve or provide special meals for children and/ or infants or adults. Children should be kept under strict adult supervision by their parents/ guardians and should not inconvenience other guests.

 

Dangerous Goods

For safety reasons, no guest is allowed to bring dangerous goods such as firearms, flammable substances, and fireworks, poisonous or toxic substances on board.

 

Pets

No pets are allowed onboard.

 

Luggage

Each adult passenger will be allowed, to bring on board their luggage, free of charge as per SLR’s general regulation. (Refer to general commercial rules set out below. For any enquiries meet a railway office.) The commuters will have to store luggage in the Luggage cabin by themselves. Luggage/baggage stored in the Luggage cabin is subject to availability. SLR would not provide

 

 

Source - Sri Lanka Railway Department

Image Credit -  Sri Lanka Railway Department Sri Lanka