Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardena says that the train fares need to be revised in order to maintain train fares one-third less than bus fares.

Speaking in the parliament this morning (May 24), Minister Gunawardena emphasized that a policy decision should be taken for that purpose, adding that it is time to amend necessary Acts to convert the Railways Department to an authority.

Gunawardena, who stated that a loss of around Rs. 10 billion was incurred by the Department of Railways in recent years, pointed out that the total revenue of the Railway Department in 2021 was Rs. 2.6 billion, while an amount of Rs. 2.3 billion was spent on overtime payments and Rs. 7 billion on salaries.

“There is only one solution to eliminate the inefficiency, corruption and irregularities of the department and to recover this loss. This needs to be digitized”, he added.

The minister stated that thereby, the ticketing, seat reservation and other processes are expected to be completely digitalized within three months.

“After that, the fees need to be adjusted. A policy decision should be taken to maintain the train fares one-third less than the bus fares and the fare should be revised accordingly”, he expressed.

Minister Gunawardena, who stated that it is hard to make decisions as a department, highlighted that the railway service should deviate from the ‘departmental system’ in order to maintain efficiency.

He said he would instruct the trade unions and relevant authorities to revise the Act passed in the 2001-2002 period to convert the Railways Department into an authority.