Sri Lanka Police have arrested a suspect over the removal of bolts from the railway track at the site of Saturday morning’s derailment between Kelaniya and Wanawasala stations, in which one carriage of a Polgahawela–Kalutara South train overturned and at least twelve passengers were injured.
Peliyagoda Police took the suspect into custody, Ada Derana reported. Preliminary investigations indicate that he removed bolts from the track and transported them to another location. Police described the suspect as a drug addict and said they were also working to arrest a second person believed to be connected to the incident. The Railway Department has formally lodged a complaint over the affair.
Police later disclosed that a search of the suspect’s residence had recovered three iron levers used for railway track switching, along with tools believed to have been used to remove them, hidden inside the house. The suspect, identified as a 27-year-old resident of Wanawasala, was arrested on suspicion of removing railway components linked to the derailment, Newswire reported.
At a media briefing on Sunday, Western Province North Deputy Inspector General of Police Kalinga Jayasinghe said the removed track parts had been sold for Rs. 3,000. Acting on information from the suspect, officers traced and arrested the buyer of the components. Jayasinghe said the suspect was a young man heavily addicted to drugs and that investigations into the incident were continuing.
Speaking later in the day, Sri Lanka Railways Superintendent of Train Operations Asanka Samarasinghe said the accident occurred at a switching point used to guide wheels between the main line and a branch line leading to a solid waste site. Metal plates at that switch had been removed, leaving the point loose. As the train passed, the front carriage continued on the main line while the rear carriages diverted onto the solid-waste-site track, causing the second carriage to straddle both lines and overturn.
“A certain group has removed these plates, either intentionally as an act of sabotage or for theft,” Samarasinghe told reporters. A special police unit has begun an on-site investigation.
The injured passengers were admitted to private hospitals near the scene and one was transferred to the Colombo National Hospital, Police Media Spokesperson ASP F.U. Wootler said earlier. The train had departed Polgahawela at 3.25 a.m. bound for Kalutara South.
The arrest reframes Saturday’s incident from an ordinary derailment into a potential sabotage or theft case on a busy commuter corridor; an engineering investigation team was also deployed to the site after the carriage overturned. The Main Line has seen multiple disruptions in recent weeks, including a derailment at Dematagoda on 4 May and back-to-back Sagarika express derailments at Wadduwa and Kompannavidiya in late April.
The Wanawasala suspect and the buyer of the removed track sections were both produced before court on Sunday and remanded in custody until May 29 pending further inquiries, Ada Derana reported. Separately, Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union President Jeeva Gunawardena urged the immediate reinstatement of night patrol services on the rail network, saying these were “currently not being properly carried out” and that proper patrols could prevent similar incidents. He added that the driver of an earlier night mail train from Trincomalee had flagged a possible defect in the signalling system near Wanawasala to the control room before the derailed train was allowed to proceed, and called for greater attention to such on-duty driver reports.
Update (May 18) — compensation: Sri Lanka Railways Transport Superintendent Asanka Samarasinghe said the Cabinet-approved compensation scheme has been significantly upgraded. Payouts for death or permanent disability have been raised from Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 1 million, and hospitalised passengers will receive Rs. 2,000 per day for the first week and Rs. 5,000 per day thereafter. Payments will be processed once injured passengers are discharged, based on medical records, NewsFirst reported. The on-site damage assessment is expected to conclude today or tomorrow, after which a report will be submitted to police to determine further action. The department also urged the public to report any further acts of sabotage on railway lines via the 1971 hotline.
Update (May 21) — Rs. 1.7 million damage: Sri Lanka Railways has assessed nearly Rs. 1.7 million in damage to the railway system from the Wanawasala accident, NewsFirst reported. The Railway Track and Engineering Sub-Department said almost 200 feet of track, sleepers and other line components were damaged, and the affected sections have now been repaired. Assessments are continuing on damage to the signalling system and train compartments, with a combined damage report covering track, signalling and carriages to be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and Highways within the coming days.
