#4832
Sri Lanka Railways S8
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka ·built by Hitachi· from 1991· class of diesel multiple unit
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. S8 class: Hafiz Issadeen , Dharga Town, Sri Lanka· CC BY 2.0
what is it?
Sri Lanka Railways S8 is a class of Diesel multiple unit (DMU) train set made by Hitachi and Hyundai operated by Sri Lanka Railways. They were imported to Sri Lanka in 1991 and primarily runs on the Kelani Valley Line.
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 35 years ago, in 1991.
- 1.1 MW is about 13 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 19.8 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 35 years.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1991
- in service from
- 1991
- status
- in service
- number built
- 20
- kind
- Diesel Multiple Unit
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
- builders
- Hitachi, Hyundai
- operators
- Sri Lanka Railways
- top speed
- 88 km/h
- power
- 1.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- formation
- DPC + 4 TC + DTC
- length
- 19.8 m
- weight
- 70 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7585957, Wikipedia: Sri Lanka Railways S8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.