Four train services have been cancelled because a power set and a locomotive were unavailable, the Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union said on Monday.
Two of the cancellations are passenger services on the Kelani Valley Line and two are freight services on the Main Line, Ada Derana reported.
Which services are affected
Union General Secretary Kasun Chamara Jayasekara said the 4.00 p.m. service from Colombo Fort to Avissawella has been cancelled for both Monday and Tuesday, along with the 5.55 a.m. service from Avissawella to Colombo Fort, because no power set was available.
Two Main Line freight trains were also cancelled on Monday after no locomotive could be found to work them.
The Colombo Fort–Avissawella pairing carries commuters between the capital and the Kelani Valley corridor through Homagama and Padukka. The 4.00 p.m. departure is an evening peak service and the 5.55 a.m. return is a morning peak working, so the two cancellations remove services in both directions at the busiest times of day.
The union’s wider complaint
The Station Masters’ Union said continued cancellations and frequent technical failures have become increasingly common within the Railway Department, and warned that the situation is causing considerable hardship to commuters who depend on rail.
The union did not put a figure on how many services have been cancelled over any recent period, name the rolling stock involved, or say whether the power set and locomotive are under repair or awaiting parts. The Railway Department had not responded publicly at the time of writing, and no alternative transport arrangements were announced.
Context
Rolling stock availability has been a recurring constraint on the network. The department has been restoring track and services elsewhere, including on the upcountry line between Kotagala and Radella, while day-to-day operations continue to be disrupted by equipment shortages.
Station masters have been raising the department’s maintenance backlog for months. On August 1 the body threatened trade union action over unresolved signal failures on the Talaimannar and Maho–Anuradhapura lines, saying services had been resumed despite serious signalling defects. In June it reported that fewer than 200 train services were running against a normal timetable of far more.
A note on the name: outlets render this body as both the Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union and the Station Masters’ Association, and Jayasekara has been quoted under each. LankaNewz has not established which is the registered name and uses the form each outlet published.
Ada Derana was the only verified newsroom carrying the cancellations at the time of writing; the item did not appear on the NewsFirst, Daily Mirror or Hiru News listings.
