The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Association has warned it will resort to trade union action in the near future unless authorities move immediately to resolve outstanding problems in the Railway Department.

Association Chairman Sumedha Somaratne said train services on the Talaimannar line were resumed despite serious signal-related defects, creating unsafe operating conditions. Services restarted last week, he said, but no proper measures have been taken since to restore the damaged signalling system.

Somaratne said train movements on the single-track section between Medawachchiya and Talaimannar Pier are being run under a “pilot method” — a manual fallback intended only for exceptional circumstances such as a temporary signal failure, which he said has now become continuous operating practice.

He added that signal problems on the Maho–Anuradhapura section also remain unresolved, with trains there still running under temporary signalling arrangements. Railway lines rebuilt at a cost of billions of rupees in public funds are deteriorating for want of proper maintenance and operational improvement, he said.

The association said it has already put its position to the relevant authorities in writing, and that it will proceed with trade union action if no effective solution is offered to the signalling failures and the operational difficulties facing stations.

An escalation from a warning a week ago

The threat marks a hardening of the association’s position. On July 25 it raised safety concerns about reopening the Talaimannar line without first restoring signalling, saying the move had been made on the instructions of the Minister. That statement stopped short of any industrial threat; Saturday’s does not.

Signalling is the mechanism that keeps two trains off the same section of track. Under the pilot method, a designated railway officer physically accompanies a train through a section, or a token is issued, to guarantee exclusive occupation — workable as a stopgap, but slower and wholly dependent on human procedure being followed every time.

The Maho–Anuradhapura signalling upgrade has been outstanding for some time; the Railway Department has previously pointed to an Indian-funded project for that section.

The Railway Department had not responded publicly to the association’s warning at the time of reporting.