Sri Lanka Railways after Ditwah: Rebuilding what was decimated; and building what a nation deserves

Cyclone Ditwah didn’t simply wash away Sri Lanka’s railway tracks. It washed away our excuses. For decades, Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) has been the classic state-owned paradox: socially vital, fiscally fragile, structurally neglected – and politically untouchable. When Ditwah ripped through bridges, buried tracks, and crippled services, it did not cause a crisis. It revealed one that had been ..