The Sagarika express train derailed for a second time within 24 hours on Friday evening, this time at Kompannavidiya Railway Station in central Colombo, the Department of Railways confirmed.
The latest incident occurred at around 6:20 PM as the train was being returned to Colombo after being re-railed earlier in the day from a separate derailment at Wadduwa on the southern coastal line on Thursday morning.
As a consequence, train services on the coastal line are now operating on a single track between Colombo Fort and Wellawatte, severely truncating commuter capacity on one of the country’s busiest routes.
A Sri Lanka Railways spokesperson said efforts were underway to re-rail the train again and that steps were being taken to restore the affected stretch within the day. In comments to media on Friday — before the second Kompannavidiya incident — Department of Railways General Manager Ravindra Pathmapriya said full coastal-line services were expected to be restored within two days, putting the working target around April 27, but said the loss of the damaged Sagarika set was significant given the railway’s already-limited fleet, and that an alternative train would have to be deployed in its place. Passengers between Panadura and South Kalutara are being shuttled by Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses while one track is restored.
The Wadduwa derailment on Thursday had already disrupted southern services for much of the day, with one of the two tracks at the original site reopened on Thursday afternoon while repair work continued on the other. The fresh derailment compounds an already-strained timetable just days ahead of the post-Avurudu commuter resumption.
The Department of Railways has not announced the cause of either derailment. No casualties have been reported in either incident.
The coastal line links Colombo with Galle, Matara and the Beliatta southern terminus, and is heavily used by daily commuters into the capital. The original Sagarika derailment at Wadduwa on Thursday was the first major operational failure on the line in recent months.
