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Jaffna

Jaffna in July 2018: walking the tracks of the railway yard near Kankesanthurai, past rusted carriages left over from the years the northern line stood still.

Jaffna, July 2018. At the very top of Sri Lanka the railway line runs out near Kankesanthurai, and in the yard there the past is still parked: rows of rust-red carriages with their windows long gone, sitting on the sidings the war left behind.

Inga standing on railway tracks beside a line of rusted, abandoned train carriages in a railway yard near Kankesanthurai
The northern line's ghost train. The working trains run again, but these carriages stayed.

The north feels different from the rest of the island, quieter, hotter, palmyra palms instead of coconut. From here we looped down the coast: next stop, Trincomalee.