Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva stated that all Railway Department employees who do not report for duty will be considered to have vacated their posts following the declaration of the railway service as an essential service. 

President Maithripala Sirisena signed the Gazette notification declaring railways as an essential service last night (8), Secretary to the President Austin Fernando said.

The decision to declare railways an essential service comes as train services came to a standstill across the country as a resulted of a strike action launched by railway trade unions. 

The strike launched by 12 trade unions of the Department of Railways continues as discussions with government officials this evening yielded little to no results. 

Secretary of the Locomotive Engineering Operators’ Union Indika Dodangoda stated that the trade unions will continue their strike action as the demands made to rectify the salary anomalies within the Railway Department was not met along with several others. 

He, however, stated that the issues related to the hiring of assistants for the department was resolved following discussions at the Presidential Secretariat. 
In April, President Maithripala Sirisena issued an extraordinary gazette notification to declare garbage disposal as an essential service, as the country faced a garbage crisis.

In July, fuel distribution was declared an essential service by a gazette notification and the government informed all the employees related to fuel distribution, who were striking, to immediately report for work.