Mr. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Transport, says that a fare revision should be made to maintain train fares one-third lower than the current bus fare.
Also, the minister further said that the time has come to amend the laws necessary to make the railway department an authority.
The minister mentioned this while speaking in Parliament today (24).
“The total revenue of the railway department in 2021 is 2.6 billion. 2.3 billion in overtime pay. 7 billion for salaries. Therefore, a loss of 10 billion has occurred in the past years. To compensate for this loss, there is only one answer to eliminate the inefficiency of this institution, these should be digitized.
For that we hope to fully digitize ticketing, seat reservation etc. within three months.
After that, you need to adjust the fees. A policy decision should be taken to maintain the train fare one-third less than the bus fare and the fare should be revised accordingly.
It is very difficult to make decisions as a department. Because of this, the organization should deviate from the departmental system in order to maintain efficiency. Therefore, an act was made in 2001 and 2002 to create an authority. I will leave it to the trade unions and relevant authorities to revise it as necessary.”
The minister also requested to support it for the future of the country.
