Train looses compartments near Thalawa railway station

Colombo (News1st): Two compartments of an express train bound from Vavuniya to Colombo detached from the engine today (Jan 23). According to the Railway control room the compartments detached at about 7 AM close to the Thalawa railway station. The train was separated from the second compartment that was attached to the engine. This is not the first time that train compartments had detached from the engine. On the 4th of December 2018, the Yal Devi train's compartments were detached from the engine near  Irrataperiyakulam, Vauniya. Meanwhile, on the 23rd of August, train compartments detached from an engine between the Gampaha and Weeyangoda Railway stations. Chief Supervising Officer of the Dematagoda Railway Yard Lalith Fonseka noted that such a detachment does not happen usually as they inspect the compartments and the couplers before a train leaves on a journey. He noted that there are two parts to this coupler, one is this head and the other is the knuckle. Fonseka added that when it is locked, it does not detach and can only be detached during an emergency as it is how the mechanism is created. He added that if it ever detaches, the breaks will also automatically be applied.