The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Association has warned it will consult other railway trade unions and take strict industrial action unless authorities resolve a set of administrative, service and audit grievances within a reasonable period.
In a statement, the association said it had made repeated written requests for discussions with the relevant authorities, including the Ministry Secretary, but had yet to receive an adequate response.
The grievances
The association said checking train arrivals and departures at stations is only one part of the audit process, and that some stations had not undergone a proper audit in several years.
It also pointed to a delay of more than two years in appointing District Transport Inspectors, despite the examinations and interviews having already been held. That delay, it said, has left a backlog of essential administrative work, including disciplinary inquiries.
The association raised further concerns over hold-ups in implementing the service constitution and the interim provisions governing recruitment, both of which directly affect the station masters’ service. It described measures such as train service cuts as an unfair way to target the service.
The statement also listed disruptions to daily train operations, problems with infrastructure, unusable railway assets, insufficient funding for service requirements, and the improper use of engineering and technical resources belonging to the department.
The association said its aim was to ensure administrative and service decisions are taken promptly so the railway can run reliably for the public.
A second warning in under two weeks
The statement is the association’s second threat of industrial action this month. On August 1 it warned of action over unresolved signalling failures on the Talaimannar and Maho–Anuradhapura lines, where trains have been running under a manual pilot system intended only as a temporary fallback. That warning followed safety concerns raised on July 25 about reopening the Talaimannar line before the signalling was restored.
Wednesday’s statement widens the dispute from operational safety to the terms and administration of the station masters’ service itself. The Railway Department had not responded publicly at the time of reporting.
