Railway services to be fully restored by tomorrow, after calling off strike

Railway services are expected to be fully restored by tomorrow morning after a decision by the Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union to call off a four-day long strike.

The Transport Ministry today assured Sri Lanka Railway Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union that they will expedite the recruitment of engine drivers and resolve the issue about promotions among other outstanding demands which prompted the strike.

Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena presided over the discussions with the Union.

Among the demands are that the  second-class promotions of locomotive drivers be expedited.

However, Ms K.de Silva,  Additional General Manager (Administration) of the Department of Railways  claimed that they had issued 57 promotion letters to the railway locomotive engineers by last Thursday (June 06) while 13 more have been delayed due to various issues including disciplinary investigations and failure to complete exams.

Meanwhile passengers faced severe inconvenience during the past four days due to the strike while one of the passengers had fallen off the train due to overcrowding of the trains.