This list of railway accidents in Sri Lanka provides details of significant railway crashes in Sri Lanka involving railway rolling stock.

Other than these, a number of accidents have taken place. One major type is elephant accidents, which typically occur in the North-Central area. Other accidents occur at unsecured level crossings with road traffic.

Worst accidents

The worst accident was the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami-rail disaster with more than 1700 people died by tsunami wave which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.^[1]

1900s

• 12 March 1928 – A passenger train and a mixed train collided near Kalutara killing 28 people.
• 23 May 1958 – Night mail train derailed at Batticaloa, killing 3 and injuring several others.
• 18 March 1964 – 60 people died in a derailment at Mirigama.^[2]
• 19 January 1985 – 11 passengers were killed by LTTE bomb attack. Yal Devi train was attacked.
• October 1985 – A freight train from Trincomalee to Colombo got a bomb attack by LTTE. Class M2 No. 571 locomotive was destroyed in this incident.
• 24 July 1996 – 70 people died. A train was bombed by LTTE at Dehiwala.
• 4 December 1996 – LTTE attacked another train on the Trincomalee Line. Class M6 No. 7981 locomotive was destroyed in this incident.

2000s

• 19 August 2001 – A train derailed due to high speed and overcrowding, killing 46 people, between Alawwa and Rambukkana.
• January 2002 – The Intercity Express heading to Colombo from Kandy derails near Rambukkana causing more than 15 deaths. The accident was due to malfunctioning of the braking system.
• 13 June 2002 – Train derails whilst coming into Alawwa railway station, killing 14 people.
• 26 December 2004 – 2004 tsunami rail disaster. At Peraliya, approximately 2685 died in the world's biggest rail disaster as a train is overwhelmed by the tsunami created by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
• 26 April 2005 – Polgahawela level crossing collision, a private bus tries to beat another bus and the train at a level crossing in Yangalmodara close to Polgahawela crashed. 37 of commuters died, all on the bus.^[3]
• 17 September 2011 – 2011 Alawwa rail accident, near Alawwa railway station, two trains (intercity express train no 1029 Colombo to Kandy and a Class S11 DMU) collided killing 5 persons and injuring over 30 people.^[4]
• 17 May 2012 – Two trains (after one train crashing in to a stopped train) collided between the Wandurawa and Keenawala railway stations in Veyangoda.^[5]
• 30 April 2014 – An Intercity Express train to north and the Colombo bound Rajarata Rajina train collided at Pothuhera, injuring 68 passengers.^[6]
• 5 February 2018 - A train travelling between Colombo and Galle collided with a truck at Angulana, killing four people and seriously injuring two others.
• 28 August 2019 - Two trains travelling between Colombo Fort and Maradana stations (Fort-Chilaw) and (Maradana-Kalutara) collided head on at around 10:20 AM, with no injuries.
• 01 February 2022 - Four of same family dead as three-wheeler fatally collides with Rajarata Rajina at Rillamba Junction in Boossa.