The Department of Railways had announced the operation of postal and Intercity Express train services on four occasions, and passengers had made reservations. However, these train services were cancelled the night before departure causing great inconvenience to passengers.
The General Secretary of the Station Masters’ Association Kasun Chamara Jayasekara said that although they had requested the authorities to commence the long distance train services and following their trade union action, the railways authorities had promised the State Transport Minister that all Intercity train services would operate according to the timetable from January 2.
“However, our union strongly opposes the sudden cancellation of train services and the failure to operate the train services according to the schedule as promised from January 2 onwards.
Also, the Badulla-Colombo night mail train, the Colombo-Hatton express train and the Colombo/Kankesanthurai express train that were scheduled for yesterday had been cancelled.
Also based on the failure of the railway administration to properly operate the goods transport service, the lottery transport services and flower transport service from the Central hills, these services have been handed over to the private sector for transport. Hence, the Railway Department which is already reporting huge losses is bound to be thrust further into trouble.
He said that after the country was reopened following the lockdown, passengers had faced great inconvenience as they had paid money and booked their tickets, but there were insufficient trains deployed to transport these passengers.
“Although the Station Masters Union launched strike action to get the authorities attention to these issues, so far the railway authorities have not shown any response. Therefore, we are preparing to launch a continuous strike within the next few days if the authorities fail to pay heed,” Jayasekara said.
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