Sri Lanka Railways (SLR), catering to the increase in demand for train services, will operate 19 trains for the work week commencing today (18) through to Friday (22). “Last week, we co-ordinated with the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) to provide buses for our commuters to get to the train station on time to catch the office trains leaving for the Fort and Maradana Railway Stations in the morning. In the first two days, there were some issues, but we managed to resolve them towards the end of the week,” SLR General Manager M.J.D. Fernando said. This week, a total of 11,500 seats were booked by commuters to travel to and from work. With Minister of Passenger Transport Management Mahinda Amaraweera granting permission to take in commuters according to the number of seats, commuters who were unable to book their seats beforehand will be given an opportunity to travel by train. “Tickets will be issued to such persons at their respective train stations, after verifying their office ID, formal request sent by their employer to report to work (letter, email, SMS, WhatsApp message, etc.), and on the availability of seats on each train,” Fernando explained. Fernando reiterated that commuting is still only allowed for people who are going to work from the state and private sector and that regular commuters are not allowed to board the trains yet. A total of 5,500 seats have been booked for the trains scheduled on the mainline and eight trains will be deployed to enable commuting for persons reporting to work from Kandy, Rambukkana, Polgahawela, Veyangoda, and Mahawa. Furthermore, 4,000 seats were booked on trains running through the coastal line, 1,200 seats on the Kelani Valley line, and 800 on the Chilaw line. · Mainline trains will operate from Kandy, Polgahawela, Mirigama, Veyangoda, Gampaha (two trains), and Ragama to Colombo Fort · Coastal line trains will operate from Moratuwa, Aluthgama, Panadura, Kalutara South, Galle, and Beliatta to Maradana · Kelani Valley line will operate from Homagama, Kosgama, Padukka, and Avissawella to Colombo Fort · Northern line will operate from Maho to Colombo Fort · Puttalam line will operate from Chilaw to Colombo Fort By Sarah Hannan