Sri Lanka’s Railway Station Masters warn that reducing train services to artificially display profits is pushing the national railway service toward operational collapse, deepening passenger hardship, and damaging long-term public transport sustainability.
The Railway Station Masters Association has expressed strong displeasure with the current administrative process of the Railway Department. They point out that the current General Manager is following a very short-sighted approach with the aim of bringing the institution to a profitable level.
Steps have been taken to limit train services with the narrow aim of controlling costs, and this, they say, is based on very primitive logic.
The association emphasizes that the current General Manager, being an officer belonging to the Civil Administration Service, has created a crisis situation in managing a technical and operational service like the railway.
They have further stated this in a statement regarding the quality and future viability of the railway service.
The statement issued by the association is as follows:
The railway service can be introduced as the institution that has recorded the highest financial losses as a state institution due to Cyclone Ditwah. The Upcountry Railway contributed significantly to the country’s foreign exchange earnings through tourism, and the railway was the main means of transport for government and private sector employees in the suburbs of Kandy and Nawalapitiya to the capital city of Colombo for their duties.
Due to the lack of rail traffic beyond Rambukkana on the main line, those railway passengers have had to travel by road. It is with great regret that we point out that the money spent on providing rail travel for a month is not enough to provide transport facilities on the road for even three days. We regret to emphasize that these people have been subjected to severe psychological and economic hardship as a result.
Although the government initially proposed to reconstruct the damaged Peradeniya Railway Bridge on the Upcountry Railway Line and construct a new double bridge, plans have been made to reconstruct the old bridge. The government also took steps to create new hope among the public by announcing that the train will run to Kandy in April 2026.
However, although the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) was involved in the renovation work with the intervention of the government, the work they have done so far has been completed. Later, the Railway Engineering Technical Committee expressed its opinion that the renovation work of the Peradeniya Railway Bridge has been stopped due to the lack of the required level of maintenance. Accordingly, the Railway Department has proposed calling for a report again on the future work of this bridge.
There is no plan to start the renovation work of the railway line between Rambukkana and Kadugannawa at this time, and the Sri Lanka Railways Department, which operates on an engineering basis with engineering knowledge, is currently helpless due to its inability to make decisions.
We would like to point out that all the activities of the Railway Department, including track maintenance, train power improvement, and train operations, have been rendered inoperative due to the current Railway General Manager considering train operation as an unnecessary task while performing his duties.
Especially after Cyclone Ditva, it was planned to run parcel and goods trains on the road section of the Puttalam line that could be operated. However, since the Railway General Manager decided without any examination that train operation was unnecessary, it has not been possible to start the operation of parcel and goods trains. We would like to emphasize that this Railway General Manager has not even understood the basic principle that railways in the world earn more revenue from freight transport than from passenger transport.
It appears that the current Railway General Manager is working based on a very simple logic to show that the Railway Department is making a profit. That is, to minimize costs by reducing train operations. We would like to point out that not only this government but also previous governments expected to provide transport facilities through railway operations at minimal loss or at concessional fares for those using the railways.
It has not been possible to cover the loss due to concessional fares, and therefore the government allocates money for the railway service through the budget. Alternative methods can be used to minimize the loss incurred, but the inability to consider the opinions of departmental officials and the failure of the General Manager of Railways to listen to the views of other officials have brought disrepute to the current government. Railway passengers who use the railways have also suffered greatly.
This problematic situation has arisen due to the appointment of an officer from the Public Administration Service as the General Manager of Railways. Therefore, in order to restore the railway service as soon as possible and to reconstruct the tracks damaged due to the drought, we request the relevant responsible authorities to appoint a committee consisting of engineers who have served in the Railway Department and have now retired as General Managers of Railways, and to take steps to restore the train service as soon as possible. We would like to state that this is a mission to provide better public services and for the benefit of railway passengers.
Thank you!
R.M.S.K.C. Jayasekara
General Secretary
Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters Association.
