News
Railway plans better sanitation facilities for commuters at stations
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) is planning renovations of its stations to improve facilities for commuters.
Railways Acting General Manager, S.S. Mudalige, said as part of the renovations, pay-to-use washrooms would be introduced and more public ones would be made available.
Facilities will be set up at main stations, while the railway department plans to outsource the maintenance of pay-to-use washrooms in some main and stations considered tourist destinations, he said. A fee would be charged by the outsourcing company.
About 20 stations already have this facility, including Hatton, Ragama, Rambukkana, and Galle, he said.
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- Men’s pay-to-use washrooms under construction at the Fort Railway station. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
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- The recently opened pay-to-use women’s washrooms at Fort Railway station
Mr. Mudalige said the move would give commuters a choice to use either the non-paying ones or the paying ones.
Recently, the women’s pay-to-use washroom at the Fort Railway Station was opened to the public. A user is charged Rs. 50. The male washroom is under construction and is expected to be completed in two months.
“SLR does not need to bear the burden of using resources to maintain washrooms. When washrooms are outsourced, the companies could maintain good standards,’’ he said.
SLR also plans to create branded stations where they would allow private companies to advertise.
One such station is the Slave Island railway station, which is under renovation. The railway authorities said they hope to introduce a similar scheme to maintain iconic and historic stations to attract foreign tourists.
In addition, authorities said beautification programmes are underway at stations, with ornamental plants being introduced.
The Sunday Times observed that many of the washrooms which don’t levy a fee, at The Fort Railway station, were dilapidated and unclean. The walls have obscene graffiti and many sinks are broken and taps missing.
The newly built pay-to-use toilets are clean and a worker collects the fee.
However, some of these newly redone washrooms remain locked, while others are operated by the railways. An employee at Ragama station said the pay-to-use washroom was closed after the company that ran it ended its services on April 1 as it was not profitable.
At the Rambukkana railway station, too, the newly opened pay-to use-washrooms remained closed but the facility was now being run by the employees who charge Rs 30 from a user.
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