A passenger train is running along the coastal line between Colombo and Galle. This line was totally destroyed by the terrible tsunami that hit the west coast of Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004. Pieces of rail from the old line which were washed away by the giant wave were still visible during my visit in 2016. Further down the line, the tsunami caused the largest single rail disaster in the world history by death toll, with probably 1700 fatalities or more. It occurred when a crowded passenger train was destroyed by the tsunami which followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The train #50 Matara Express was pulled by locomotive #591 Manitoba, a Sri Lanka Railways class M2a built in 1956 by General Motors Diesel of Canada as a model G12. Locomotive #591 and two of the damaged carriages were salvaged and rebuilt. A wave was added to the locomotive's paint job as a memorial. The rebuilt locomotive and carriages returned to Peraliya on 26 December 2008, and every year since, to take part in a religious ceremony and a memorial, held to remember those who lost their lives. Source: Wikipedia
