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The Upcountry railway line, damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, reopened in October 2026 after nearly 10 months. Three days after services resumed, on the morning of October 5, a train derailed. As news reports of the accident appeared, a video claiming to show it spread widely on Facebook. Here are the posts that carried it.
Social Media Posts:
Another video shared under the same theme is below.
Among the posts were also exaggerated videos showing a train falling into a ravine after derailing.
We checked whether these videos showed the October 5 derailment.
Fact-Check:
The October 5 derailment was a different accident
Because the videos were being shared as a recent major train derailment, we checked mainstream Sri Lankan media. The closest reported derailment was that of the morning office train from Peradeniya to Colombo Fort, which derailed between the Gangoda and Kadigamuwa stations at about 4:40 a.m. on Monday, October 5.
The Upcountry line from Colombo Fort to Peradeniya and Gampola had been blocked for nearly 10 months by damage from Cyclone Ditwah, and services resumed on October 2, 2026. The accident happened three days later, so it drew public attention, and videos and information about it circulated on social media.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), the Sri Lanka Railways Superintendent of Transport and the train’s driver all confirmed that earth and rocks falling onto the track caused the accident.
In the October 5 accident, only the engine and one carriage derailed, and the front of the train was damaged.
The social media videos, however, showed an entire train derailing. The train in the Gangoda accident was also blue, as the video below shows, while the train in the social media videos was red. It is clearly a different train from a different incident.
No passenger injuries were reported in the accident. Passengers got off the train, walked to the Kadigamuwa bus route, and took a bus to Rambukkana, where an additional train was arranged to take them on to Colombo.
The viral video shows the Sagarika train derailment at Wadduwa on April 24
We ran frames from the video through a reverse image search. It confirmed that the video shows the derailment of the “Sagarika” train in the Wadduwa area on April 24, 2026.
The footage shared recently had been posted six months earlier, on April 24, as shown below.
Mainstream media and social media users published many reports on that accident. BBC Sinhala | Newsfirst | AdaDerana | HiruNews | FB Users
A social media post about that accident is below.
Of the Sagarika train’s 13 carriages, 11 derailed. Several tipped over, causing severe damage to the track infrastructure, and a few people suffered minor injuries. Both lines were completely blocked, so coastal line services were badly disrupted: trains from Colombo were limited to Panadura, and trains from the Matara/Beliatta side to Kalutara.
The next afternoon (April 25), while the derailed train was being re-railed and brought back to Colombo, the Sagarika train derailed again near Slave Island station.
The Railway Department launched a formal investigation and suspended four operating staff with immediate effect: the driver, assistant driver, chief guard, and sub-guard. After the line was fully restored, the Sagarika train resumed normal service on April 27. The Sagarika is a coastal line train running from Beliatta to Maradana, not an Upcountry line train.
The two accidents differ in date, line, train, and damage
| Description | October 5, Upcountry line | April 24, Coastal line |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time | October 5, 2026, about 4:40 a.m. | April 24, 2026, about 7:10 a.m. |
| Location | Between Gangoda and Kadigamuwa | Near Wadduwa railway station |
| Train | Morning office train from Peradeniya to Colombo Fort | Sagarika (No. 8097) from Beliatta to Maradana |
| Derailment | Engine and one carriage | 11 of 13 carriages (Ada Derana) |
| Cause | Earth and rocks that fell onto the track | Not reported; an inquiry board was appointed |
| Injuries | None reported | About 15 passengers with minor injuries; 5 taken to Panadura hospital |
| Damage to the line | Earth and rocks cleared; services resumed the same day | Both lines blocked; many concrete sleepers broken; services returned to normal two days later, on April 27 |
Derailments on the coastal line were reported before
Besides the Sagarika accidents of April 24 and 25, 2026, several other derailments on the coastal line were reported. The Rajarata Rajini derailed near Ambalangoda on July 15, 2022. The Samudradevi derailed near Kalutara on January 23, 2023. Derailments occurred near the Secretariat railway station on March 14, 2024 and March 19. A slow train derailed near Panadura on June 13, 2024. The Galu Kumari derailed near Ginthota on August 16, 2025. Most of these reports did not mention the cause or number of injuries. We found no reports of the Sagarika train itself derailing before, but this covers only the reports we opened and read.
The railway safety problem is real, but this video is not evidence of it
Public concern over an accident three days after the Upcountry line reopened was not unfounded. The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union said that although NBRO gave technical support, written approval on landslide risk had not been obtained. However, NBRO and the Ministry of Transport said they acted on NBRO recommendations and that claims the line was opened without approval were false. Our fact-check of this is in the article below. Using footage of the April 24 coastal line accident as evidence for the Upcountry accident is, however, a misleading presentation.
Also Read: Was the Upcountry railway line reopened without NBRO approval?
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Conclusion:
We examined the October 5, 2026, derailment on the Upcountry line and the video circulating on social media. The video does not show that accident. It shows the April 24, 2026, derailment of the Sagarika train at Wadduwa, which Ada Derana, Newsfirst, BBC Sinhala and other outlets reported at the time.
In the October 5 accident, the engine and one carriage derailed, and NBRO, the Railways Superintendent of Transport and the train’s driver said earth and rocks on the track caused it. In the Wadduwa accident, 11 of the Sagarika’s 13 carriages derailed. No one died at Wadduwa and only a few people suffered minor injuries, while no one was reported injured in the recent Upcountry accident.
Title: Upcountry Train Derailment Video Is From Wadduwa in April, Not October 5
Fact Check By: Pavithra Sandamali
Result: Misleading
