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The '''Ceylon Railway Company''' was formed as a joint stock company in 1847 to establish and operate a railway line from [[Colombo]] to Kandy in the British colony of [[Ceylon]] (today the state of Sri Lanka), principally to facilitate the local planters. Construction commenced in 1856 but, after not a great deal of progress, concerns were voiced as to the economic viability of the enterprise (whether the 5% guaranteed return was disproportionate to the escalating cost of construction). The Secretary of State for the Colonies- subsequently annulled the contract and took over all the company’s assets and liabilities and the Company was dissolved in 1862. Once the government had taken over the company’s assets it set about fulfilling construction of a railway system for the island by inviting tenders from interested building contractors and taking over three existing contracts, one with Robert Stephenson & Co., locomotive engineers.

<ref> [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228649/8330.pdf H.M. Government “Statute Law Repeals: Nineteenth Report : Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill; April 2012"; pages 121-122, paragraphs 3.29-3.31];. Retrieved on 2 January 2016</ref>