A large number of commuters have been stranded due to the ongoing island wide railway strike which was launched by the Professional Railway Trade Union Alliance (PRTUA) last night. Railway authorities said that less than 15 trains out of 108 are in operation.

Meanwhile speaking to the Daily Mirror, Railways Superintendent L.A.R Rathnayake said, twenty five trains have been deployed despite trade union strike today to facilitate those who were returning to Colombo after the Hajj festival.
 
All train services were cancelled from last night due to a strike by the Professional Railway Trade Union Alliance (PRTUA).
 
However, the Department of Railways said it had deployed alternate train services. 
 
“Trains were allocated to Galle, Aluthgama, Kandy, Rambukkana, Polgahawela, Maho, Awissawella and Chilaw this morning. If the strike continues till this evening, we will do our best to allocate more trains to facilitate the office staff to return homes,” Mr. Rathnayaka said.
 
All the night mail trains leaving to and returning from Badulla, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Palai had been cancelled due to the island wide strike by PRTUA from last night.

Ratnayake said no long distance trains were operated since last night.
 
“However, there might be delays or shortage of trains unlike normal days. Therefore, we would like to remind commuters that there might be inconveniences,” he said.
 
Meanwhile, the Chairman of National Transport Commission Renuka Perera said special buses had been deployed from main stations in Kandy, Matara, Kurunegala and Galle to Colombo due to the strike.
 
The NTC was planning to allocate more buses to facilitate the people who were coming to Colombo and it would continue until the train strike ended, he said.