Sri Lanka Railways Forum

The Station Masters’ Trade Union (SMTU) yesterday charged that there was a calculated effort by a section of the Railway Department employees to sabotage the Railway service and put the Government into a difficult position.

President of SMTU, K.V. Jayasena told the media that the income from the Railway service has drastically come down due to the unprofessional and short-sighted decisions of the Railway administration.

“Minister Alahapperuma is trying his best to improve the service. He was able to allocate funds for spare parts, new coaches, power sets and locomotive engines after the service had been neglected for many years. Unfortunately, the top officials of the Railway have failed to use them to improve the service,” Mr. Jayasena said.

The Railway Department has put into operation new power sets which are without a guard’s compartment between Aluthgama and Maradana. The Postal Department uses short distance trains to transport parcels. “But with the introduction of the new power sets for short distance , hundreds of parcels have been stacked at the Railway Postal Service in Fort”, he said.

The department has also stopped transporting curd. Dairy farmers in Tampalagamam, Mollipotana, Agbopura and Polonnaruwa had used trains to transport their products to the south for years. “After the suspension of transport of dairy products, the department has lost a huge income. Dairy farmers now hire lorries to transport their products” Mr. Jayasena said.

He charged the present management of the railways for their utter failure to provide a satisfactory service even after Minister Alahapperuma had provided them with all necessary resources.

Mr. Jayasena said the train delays, cancellations, accidents and derailments have sharply increased in the recent past as never before and the officials had no answer to the sorry and disappointing situation.

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Source: Daily Mirror

Tags: accidents, derailments, employees, locomotive engines, necessary resources, parcels, postal service, railway administration, railway service, satisfactory service, spare parts, station masters, trade union, train delays, utter failure

                            

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