brand logo

Station masters to stop if ticket shortage unaddressed 

20 Jul 2022

  • Write to Railway Dept. Chief Accountant, DGM Commercial, give week’s ultimatum   
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Pointing out that there is a shortage of train tickets at certain railway stations, the Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union (SLRSMU) has stated that if the Railway Department fails to provide a solution to the issue within this week, the station masters at the relevant railway stations would have to withdraw from duties pertaining to the issuance of train tickets. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (19), SLRSMU General Secretary Kasun Chamara said that the stocks of train tickets have been exhausted at several main and sub-railway stations. He said that the station masters at the relevant railway stations have been inconvenienced due to the lack of tickets to issue to the passengers. “In recent times, people have resorted to public transport in large numbers. The number of passengers who travel by train has increased greatly. Due to this, more train tickets than the number of tickets issued before had to be issued in recent days. As a result, many railway stations have run out of tickets as of now,” said Chamara. He said that earlier, the train tickets were printed through the Government Printing Department, adding that the relevant machines have now been installed in the ticket-printing unit of the Railway Department headquarters. Claiming that it is possible to issue another substitute instead of the tickets in the event that the stocks of tickets are exhausted at a certain railway station, he said that that programme is however not implemented in some railway stations, particularly those in the Galle area. “We have informed the Chief Accountant of the Railway Department and the Railway Deputy General Manager (DGM) (Commercial) about this in writing. We hope that they will work to issue enough tickets to the railway stations within this week. If not, we will have to withdraw from the duties of issuing tickets,” he added. Railway General Manager Dhammika Jayasundara was not available for comment.


More News..