Sri Lanka Railways Reservation of Seats in Intercity & other Express Trains

Organisation : Sri Lanka Railways (Department of Railways)
Facility Name : Reservation of Seats in Intercity & other Express Trains
Country : Sri Lanka
Website : http://www.railway.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=289&Itemid=62&lang=en

How To Reserve Express Trains Seats in Sri Lanka?

Reservation of Seats in Intercity and other Express Trains

Related / Similar Facility : Reservation of a Railway Holiday Resorts Sri Lanka

Service Information:
There are Intercity and other Express trains from Colombo to Kandy, Nanuoya, Badulla, Jaffna, Batticalo, Trinco, Vavuniya and Taleimannar. The First-class & Second-class seats of these Trains are Reserving Seats. Generally, one coach of the intercity train consists of unreserved third-class seats. All the couches of the Jaffna Intercity are fully Air-conditioned. Most of the other trains have one Air-Conditioned Coach.

Application/Reservation method of the service:
Reservations can be done at the Terminating Stations and at Stopping Stations. Majority of the reservations are done at Colombo Fort Station. Passengers can visit the Reservation Office at Colombo Fort Station or can meet the Station Master at the Terminating or Stopping Stations fortheir reservation purposes. However, only a limited number of seats have been allocated to Station Masters at Stopping Stations. No application forms required.

Reservation of Seats in Express/Intercity/AC trains through Mobitel, Etisalat and SLT Telephones:
(From 30 Days before the Date of the Journey) and Follow the steps below.

1. Dial 365 in your Mobitel/Etisalat Telephones or Dial 1365 in your SLT Telephone
2. The Mobitel/Etisalat/SLT Call Centre Operator will answer
3. Reserve your seat
4. You will receive a Reference Number through a SMS
5. Visit Railway Stations listed above for reservation facility OR any of the Mobitel Billing Centers and show (or tell) this Reference Number
6. Then, you will receive the Train Ticket
7. Your Train Fare will be added to the Mobitel/Etisalat/SLT bill. Mobitel/Etisalat/SLT will charge additional 15% of the Ticket Reservation Value.

Payments/Charges to be made for the service:
You can directly download the ticket fare from the Department website.

Documents to be submitted:
No documents are required but, it will be convenient if you have a pre-decided plan for the travel (Eg: Date of travel, number of persons, Class of travel, Date of Returning to obtain return tickets, alternative dates for travel if no reservations available).

Procedure of the service:
Reservations are made on 30 days before the date of the journey and First Come First Serve Basis. Due to the limitations in availability of number of seats, it is advised to make your reservations on the Date of the Opening of the Reservations itself.

Average time taken for obtaining the service:
Train ticket booking time period is before 30 days of the Journey date.

Officer responsible for extending the service:
Station Master in charge of the particular Station
(Ex: Station Superintendent at Colombo Fort Station)
(or)
Operating Superintendent:
Tele: 0112431094
Mail: senevigs [AT]gmail.com

Commercial Superintendent:
Tele: 0113442001/0114600156
Fax: 0113442001
Email: com [AT]railway.gov.lk
dcom [AT]gmail.com

Deviations of the service process:
No deviations

Application Forms:
No application forms

Additional Simplified Procedure

There are two main ways to reserve express train seats in Sri Lanka:

Online:
You can reserve seats on the Sri Lanka Railways website [seat reservation sri lanka railway]. This is a relatively new service, and while it seems to accept foreign credit cards, reviews are somewhat limited. The website does not currently allow you to choose your seat, assignments are automatic.

Mobile Phone:
If you have a local SIM card (Dialog or Mobitel are common options), you can call a reservation hotline to reserve seats. You’ll need the passport number of the person picking up the tickets at the station.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind:
** Reservations can be made up to 2 hours before departure.
** You cannot use the m-ticket to board the train. You will need to exchange it for a physical ticket at the station with your passport.
** Unreserved tickets can only be purchased at the station on the day of travel.