#4036
Sri Lanka Railways S5
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka ·built by Hitachi· from 1969· class of diesel multiple unit
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Class S5: Onal Karunarathne· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. SLR S5 718 - 1: Hugh Llewelyn· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
Sri Lanka Railways S5 is a class of Diesel multiple unit (DMU) train set built by Hitachi and introduced to Sri Lanka between 1969 and 1970, only two of which were imported. The class was built with modern interior facilities aimed towards the special train tours market and is operated by 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 57 years ago, in 1969.
- 671 kW is about 8 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.7 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 100: 2 full city buses (~50 seats each).
- Still in service after 57 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1969
- in service from
- 1969
- status
- in service
- number built
- 2
- kind
- Diesel Multiple Unit
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
- builders
- Hitachi
- operators
- Sri Lanka Railways
- top speed
- 80 km/h
- power
- 671 kW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- formation
- 2 engine compartments + 3 passenger cars
- length
- 16.7 m
- weight
- 63 t
- capacity
- 100 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q17073936, Wikipedia: Sri Lanka Railways S5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.