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by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe

The escalating trend of railway accidents, over the past few years, has caused much concern among the train travellers as well as the public. Most of these accidents have caused great damage, not only to the life and property of others, but also to the passengers, notwithstanding the rolling stock of the Sri Lanka Railway (SLR), including the track.

According to investigations and enquiries made, majority of the accidents seemed to have occurred as a result of improper supervision and maintenance of the track, and chiefly due to the negligence on the part of the drivers, in adhering to wayside warnings and over-speeding regardless of the possibility of an impending danger.

It is said that apart from the actual destruction of sleepers, difficulty in maintenance is generally due either to crushing or displacement of ballast under the sleepers, or to the failure of the formation to resist the pressure transmitted to it by the ballast. When the track is newly packed with ballast, the total load is evenly transferred, but once it is crushed or displaced with the movement of trains, the track becomes weak to withstand fast moving trains.

In the old days, before the dieselisation of trains, steam locomotives pounded the track. Some of them were the Big Bank engines, the Nanu-oya Superheater, double-engined Garrett locomotive etc., Which moved up and down, coughing and puffing, in keeping to time schedule. These coal-fired locomotives were less comfortable to the drivers, which made them to be more vigilant over the track at night, as they had to keep standing most of the time, while on the run, without feeling drowsy.

I can remember an incident that happened about 30 years ago, when B.D. Rampala was the General Manager, Manager of the Railways. The driver of the Talaimannar-Colombo night-mail train had fallen asleep, while on the run, allowing the speeding train to pass a couple of stations, en route, without exchanging the tablet (a metal disc of authority to proceed) and regardless of the red signal.

To prevent a head-on collision with an on-coming train, and with the advice of Mr. Rampala, "the track was made clear up to Matara via Colombo Fort, so that the train would automatically come to a halt when fuel ran dry. As the train approached Polgahawela, a bucket full of water was thrown into the driver's cabin, to awake him had he been asleep. The attempt was successful and the train was stopped a distance away from the railway station. The passengers in the train, who knew nothing of what was happening, saved their lives in the nick of time.

If we were to look into the history of the SLR, the fist sod of earth for the construction of a railway up to Kandy, as desired by the European Planters, was cut on Aug. 3, 1864, by the colonial governor, Sir Edward Barnes, amidst great jubilation, from a spot where the present Maradana Railway station stands. The first section of the Main Line, up to Ambepussa, was opened for traffic on Oct. 2, 1865, and the first tain reached Kandy on April 26, 1867.

Since then, many railway accidents have taken place, due to a wide variety of factors, and the way in which circumstances combined to produce such unfortunate incidents. A common factor in railway accidents is the heavy death toll and the high number of casualties involved in such mishaps. Most of the railway accidents have changed radically. Forgetfulness, negligence, ignorance of operating rules and other factors due to natural causes, have well-accounted for all accidents, either major or minor.

The latest major railway accident, which we still remember, took place on Aug. 18, 2001, killing 15 passengers and injuring 45, most of them being footboard travellers. It was the Udarata Menike train from Badulla, which got derailed at Yattalgoda, close to the Bujjomuwa railway station when the Observation Saloon plus three compartments, jumped off the track and turned sideways. It seems thereafter, the Yal-devi train had also met with an accident close to Polgahawela station, causing damage to 4 bogies. The first historic major railway accident took place at Gongitota near Kelaniya, on Jan 14, 1865, during the construction of the line. What led to the accident was that one Seera Maloo Naidu, the pay-clerk, had trolley from Ragama and, neglectfully, leaving the trolley on the line, had gone to pay the labourers working on the line. A ballast train heading towards Ragama from the opposite direction, coupled with 16 bogies and carrying labourers, and running at a moderate speed, had collided with the trolley. With the impact, the bogies had telescoped and the men were thrown overboard into the morass below. 36 had died under suffocation having engulfed in the boggy land.

On Jan. 10, 1923, another railway tragedy took place at Medawachchiya. The train from Talaimannar and another from Jaffna had arrived at the Medawachchiya station. They were coupled together, and the train left for Colombo. Due to heavy rain, that day the line was submerged by flood waters, at seven places between 138 and 148 mile posts. As a result, the train got derailed, due to ballast being washed away, and to a breach of one of the tanks in the area. On inquiry, the driver was acquitted from any blame, as he had been keeping to the speed authorised by the engineers.

The Katukurunda disaster on Mar. 12, 1928, was the result of an entirely different set of circumstances. It was a head-on collision of train proceeding from Maradana to Alutgama, and train proceeding from Matara to Maradana. The accident took place at a point 800 yards from Katukurunda station or 3 miles from Paiyagala South station.

According to railway authorities "the line on which the collision occurred had worked on the absolute block system with Tyer's tablet instruments". However, Lieut. Col. F.R.H. Eustace of the Indian Railways who was assigned with the task of investigating into the accident, concluded on evidence, "that the tablet for the Paiyagala South railway station was not issued at Kalutara South railway station, and that train bound for Alutgama had left the station without it". The accident was due to mere negligence on the part of the driver, for not observing safety rules.

The railway accident at Wilwatta (between Mirigama and Ambepussa), occurred on Oct. 17, 1964, when the night-mail train, which had left Talaimannar Pier, got derailed with serious consequences. "The train had 8 passenger bogies including 2 passenger brake-vans, 15 four-wheeled goods wagons and one bogie low-side. The train was hauled by a General Motors M2 Class diesel locomotive of 1,310 h.p., gifted to the government under the Colombo Plan.

In this accident, 25 people who were in the train lost their lives and 72 were injured, some seriously.

Some passengers were extricated from the wrecked compartments by amputating their limbs.

After the derailment, it was found that the engine and 9 wagons had broken away from the rest of the train, and those coupled to the engine had moved for a considerable distance from the site of the accident. It was found out, after an enquiry, that the accident had occurred due to a mechanical defect of the couplings connecting the bogies.

Another serious accident took place at Kurunegala railway station. It was due to negligence of one of the drivers of the two trains involved in the mishap. One train had come from Kankesanthurai and the other from Batticaloa. When the one, which came early, was stopped at the station, the other came from behind and ploughed in causing damage to both trains. The death toll was 12 and the number injured was 58. Had the on-coming driver observed the danger (red) signal ahead, he would not have entered the platform, and the accident could have been averted.

In 1998, another railway accident took place at Bujjomuwa.

A ballast train, stopped at the station to collect material and tools to repair a track near Vavuniya, was ploughed in from behind by a power-set. In this accident, 3 passengers were killed and 16 were casualties. The driver of the train suffered serious injuries. It was also a neglect of duty by the power-set driver.

Although the SLR is not directly responsible for all accidents at level-crossings, the Railway Department is partly at fault for not providing proper gates to prevent road vehicles moving to and fro, without the least precaution of impending disaster.

Many incidents have been reported about accidents at level-crossings, mostly due to the negligence of road users. The bus-train collision, that happened at the Seeduwa junction, on Aug. 16, 2001, killing 10 and injuring 32, is a recent example, where the bus driver had tried to be too smart even after sensing danger.

The previous government had bamboo barriers installed at level-crossings to prevent rail-road collisions. The decision to erect them was taken when a school-bus with children was knocked down by a train at Ahungalla on the Coast Line, killing 20 children and wounding many who were trapped inside the ill-fated bus. Most of these barriers have now disappeared, or are not being operated when trains pass up and down.

The Janasavi recipients were engaged in those days to operate the bamboo gates.

But most of them are now not there to open and close the barriers. In view of the increase in road traffic, installing gates or barriers at these vulnerable points are most essential notwithstanding the expense involved.

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