Disruption to train services likely this week: SLSMU

There would be a disruption to train services in the coming week due to arbitrary actions taken by the Railways Department, the Sri Lanka Station Masters’ Union (SLSMU) today warned. 

SLSMU President Sumedha Somaratne said the Railway Department has not taken any action to fill the vacancies that exist in the department.

He said there are around 4,000 vacancies for Railway Station Junior Staff and 250 Station Masters. 

But nothing had been done up to date to fill the vacancies, he said.

Therefore, the train services would be cancelled and delays would become inevitable during the coming week.

"There is a scarcity of signal operators and the retirees assigned to the service were not paid during the past six months and they too had decided to stay away from work from tomorrow.

 Therefore, the trains need to be operated without signals and it will be extremely dangerous," he said.

Therefore, the SLSMU said the inconvenience caused the commuters due to the disruption of train services should be taken by the Government and the Railway Department. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)