Most of Sri Lanka’s railway lines run through or near protected wildlife areas where many elephants live. When moving from place to place, elephants often use the same routes, known as elephant corridors. 

While the Department of Wildlife Conservation has taken action to minimise elephant–train collisions by cutting canals on the sides of tracks, installing thermal-imaging cameras and educating train drivers, the elephant corridors that have been used by herds for generations are not safeguarded at all. 

Hasini Sarathchandra from the wildlife department explainedto local media that post-mortem examinations on the elephants are in progress, while a technical committee would visit the site of the accident to find any long-term solutions to this recurring issue. 

Dr Prithiviraj Fernando, chairman of the Centre for Conservation and Research, pointed out to local mediathat “Trains need to go slow in high-risk areas where elephants frequently cross the tracks.” He explained that these high-risk areas can be identified by the frequency of elephant–train collisions and GPS elephant tracking data. 

High-risk areas include the eastern Trincomalee railway line between Trincomalee and Batticoloa and the northern line of Jaffna from Kurunegala. Slowing down the trains in these areas could also minimise the level of damage done if accidents were to occur.