The express train was travelling near a wildlife reserve at Habarana, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of the capital Colombo, when it hit the herd crossing the line before dawn.
Videos shot after the accident showed one elephant standing guard over an injured youngster lying beside the tracks, with the tips of their trunks curled together.
Two baby elephants and their pregnant mother were killed in a similar accident by a train in the same area in September 2018.
The elephant deaths comes days after the authorities expressed concern over the growing impact of conflict between humans and elephants, as the ancient habitat of the animals is increasingly encroached upon.
Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody told AFP on Sunday that 150 people and 450 elephants were killed in clashes in 2023.
Just those two years represent more than a tenth of the island’s elephants.
“We are planning to introduce multiple barriers -- these may include electric fences, trenches, or other deterrents -- to make it more difficult for wild elephants to stray into villages,“ Jayakody said.
Elephants are known for their social and cooperative behaviour but calf burial had previously only been “briefly studied” in African elephants -- remaining unexplored among their smaller Asian cousins, according to the study in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mostly in India with some in Southeast Asia, surviving for an average of 60-70 years outside captivity.
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