Railway an essential service from today, after tragic death of student

(UPDATED) The Railway services will be declared as an essential service from midnight today, Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena said.

The announcement came hours after a Moratuwa University student fell off the roof of a train at the Horape station.

Minister Gunawardena said that Locomotive Engineers had gone on a sudden strike despite assuring them of a discussion with Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to resolve a trade union issue tomorrow.

“Action should be taken against all those who are acting as terrorists and resorting to trade union action,” Minister Gunawardena said addressing the post-cabinet press conference.  A minute of silence was marked in respect of the student killed in the accident.

As many as 40 train trips have been cancelled due to the strike since today morning.

Minister Gunawardena said that the issue concerns only 84 employees and therefore calling for a strike affecting the entire railway service was unreasonable.

Minister Gunawardena also blamed the police for its failure to investigate cases of robberies.

Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses the student had fallen off the roof after head struck the overhead bridge. He had been drawn about 20 meters and runover by the same train.

The father of the student said he had telephoned his wife and told her not to allow the student to travel by train as they were overcrowded due to the strike. However, the student had said he had to be at the campus today and that he would proceed by bus from Fort to Moratuwa.