#4386
Sri Lanka Railways M6
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka ·built by Thyssen-Henschel· from 1979· class of 16 Sri Lanka diesel-electric locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. ClassM6 788: Nipuna Dodantenna· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
Sri Lanka Railways M6 is a class of Diesel-electric locomotives imported to Sri Lanka in 1979. Most of these locomotives are still in active service with Sri Lanka Railways, the national rail operator.
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 47 years ago, in 1979.
- 1.2 MW is about 14 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 16.5 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Still in service after 47 years.
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1979
- in service from
- 1979
- status
- in service
- number built
- 16
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
- builders
- Thyssen-Henschel, Henschel & Sohn
- operators
- Sri Lanka Railways
- top speed
- 97 km/h
- power
- 1.2 MW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- wheel arrangement
- A1A-A1A
- length
- 16.5 m
- weight
- 87 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7585952, Wikipedia: Sri Lanka Railways M6 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.