page_title: Fort railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fort railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: FORT STATION COLOMBO SRI LANKA JAN 2013
context_page_description: Fort railway station is a major rail hub in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The station is served by Sri Lanka Railways, with many inter-city and commuter trains entering each day. Fort Station is the main rail gateway to central Colombo; it is the terminus of most intercity trains in the country.
context_section_description: When the railways first opened in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1864, trains terminated at Colombo Terminus Station, a now-retired station near Maradana.  The earliest station to be called Fort was a small station, built in 1877 when the Coast Line was built.  This original station sat on the site of present-day Secretariat Halt just west of today's Fort Station.
  The present Fort Station was opened in 1917, as a new central station for Colombo. This has been constructed similar to Manchester Victoria station. The station was built on land reclaimed from the Beira Lake.  This project was part of a scheme started in 1906 to reorganize the railway within Colombo, where Colombo Terminus Station was closed and replaced by the new Maradana Station. This was ceremonially opened by G.P. Green who was the General Manager at CGR. Fort was added in 1917 to serve the city centre.
  The station was bombed by the LTTE in 2008.
caption: Fort Station is significant for its Victorian-era architecture
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