The Railway Department has taken steps to implement additional speed limits and revise train timetables to prevent wild elephant collisions on trains running at night.
As a preliminary step, the Railway Department has taken steps to provide a lower speed limit for train running in areas where wild elephants have been reported to roam in large numbers.
The Railway Department has also taken steps to revise train starting times to minimize train running during elephant roaming periods in areas where elephants have been identified.
Accordingly, these train timetables have been revised to cover the areas from Palugaswewa to Hingurakgoda and from Welikanda to Poonani on the Batticaloa line and from Galoya Junction to Kantale on the Trincomalee line.
The revised new timetable is scheduled to be implemented from 07 March 2025.
Furthermore, from that date, it has also been planned to deploy an S-13 type power set for the “Meenagaya” intercity night mail train running between Colombo Fort and Batticaloa.
Accordingly, passengers who have made previous seat reservations for the upcoming dates from 07th are kindly informed to arrive for the relevant trains on time.
The Railways Department expresses its regret to the passengers for having to spend extra time in reaching the destination railway stations due to the revision of the train starting times and the imposition of the above speed limits. The Railways Department also states in the announcement that the Railways Department will act considering the protection of wild elephants as a national responsibility.
The revised train starting and destination times from 07.03.2025 are shown below.
