#5001
Sri Lanka Railways M8
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka ·built by Banaras Locomotive Works· from 1995· class of 8+2 Sri Lanka diesel-electric locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. SLR M8 Loco: Lanil T Marasinghe· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
Sri Lanka Railways Class M8 is a class of Sri Lankan diesel-electric locomotive that was developed by Banaras Locomotive Works at Varanasi, India, in 1996. This class of locomotives was fitted with 2,800 hp (2,100 kW) V16 power units. This is used on both passenger and freight trains on Sri Lanka Railways.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 31 years ago, in 1995.
- 2.1 MW is about 25 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 19 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 17.1 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 5 years (1996–2001).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1995–2001
- in service from
- 1996
- retired
- 2001
- status
- in service
- number built
- 10
- kind
- Diesel
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
- builders
- Banaras Locomotive Works
- operators
- Sri Lanka Railways
- top speed
- 120 km/h
- power
- 2.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Co'Co'
- length
- 17.1 m
- weight
- 113 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7585954, Wikipedia: Sri Lanka Railways M8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.