Major cities served by the line include Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Vavuniya,Kilinochchi and Jaffna.

The line was severely affected by the civil war and no services operated north of Vavuniya after 1990.

Reconstruction of this section of the line commenced following the end of the civil war in 2009 and was fully completed in early 2015.

[2] Construction of the 21 miles (34 km) Kankesanthurai-Chavakacheri section, including Jaffna, began in July 1900.

[2] The construction of the line was completed in the next few months and on 1 August 1905, the first train from Colombo arrived at Jaffna Railway Station.

An express train called Yarl Devi was introduced on the northern line on 23 April 1956, cutting the journey time between Jaffna and Colombo to 7 hours.

[9] It was blown up by Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization cadres near Murikandy, Mullaitivu District on the night of 19 January 1985, killing 34 people including 22 soldiers and destroying the tracks.

[12] The railway tracks were relaid by the Indian Peace Keeping Force and in August 1987 the Jaffna-Colombo rail services resumed.

In the middle of 1990 the truce between the LTTE and Sri Lankan government broke down and full-scale war erupted.

Intense fighting took place in and around Jaffna as the Sri Lankan military tried to regain control of the area.

The station was bombed by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on 9 August 1990, damaging 6 train carriages and killing eight people nearby.

[14][15] In the next few years the entire track between Kankesanthurai and Vavuniya and abandoned railway coaches were removed by the Sri Lankan military and Tamil rebels for use as bunkers.

Following the end of the civil war in May 2009 the government initiated various projects to rebuild the northern line from Vavuniya to Kankesanthurai.

[18][19] The contract to reconstruct the 96 kilometres (60 mi) line between Omanthai and Pallai was awarded to Ircon International, the Indian state-owned engineering and construction company.

In July 2011 it was announced that Ircon International had also been awarded the contract to reconstruct the 56 kilometres (35 mi) line between Pallai and Kankesanthurai.

[5] In 2011, the railways began a project to add electronic signalling to the rail lines in the north.