Train driver and wildlife officer prevent collision with wild elephant near Habarana

A potentially fatal collision was narrowly avoided when a train driver and a wildlife officer acted in time to stop a Batticaloa-Colombo train from striking a wild elephant crossing the tracks between Habarana and Palugaswewa, the Department of Railways and witnesses said.

The incident occurred as the up train was travelling through a stretch of track that cuts through elephant-corridor country in the North Central Province. Mobile phone footage shared by passengers and circulated by local media captured the elephant moving across the railway line as the train approached, with the engine slowing in time to allow the animal to clear.

Thanks to the driver’s quick reflexes and the wildlife officer’s intervention from the trackside, the train was brought to a controlled stop without injury to either passengers or the elephant. The animal moved off the line and into the surrounding scrub.

The Habarana-Palugaswewa corridor is a known wildlife crossing point on the Batticaloa main line, with trains regularly slowing through the stretch during dawn and dusk. Wildlife officers are stationed in the area as part of efforts to coordinate with railway staff and reduce the risk of train-elephant strikes, which can be fatal for both animals and drivers.

The averted collision lands at a politically sensitive moment for the country’s elephant-conservation policy. Sri Lanka has recorded more than 128 wild elephant deaths so far in 2026 in the rolling human-elephant conflict, and the Court of Appeal has ordered the Department of Wildlife Conservation to address electric-fence gaps that have driven much of the fatality count. The Cabinet recently revoked an earlier set of decisions on domesticated elephants amid the broader review.

For Sri Lanka Railways the story sits in welcome contrast to a difficult run of incidents. The main line and its branches have seen a string of derailments and engine failures over recent weeks, including a May 24 engine derailment at Maradana, making a successful near-miss with wildlife a rare piece of good operational news.