Private sector employees to receive online train season tickets from September

Private sector employees will receive the necessary facilities to obtain train season tickets online starting in September, Minister of Transport Bimal Rathnayake states.

Following the recent introduction of an online system for public sector employees—changing a system that remained unaltered for decades—this facility will be expanded to all private sector employees as well.

The Minister pointed out that passengers previously had to stand in queues and obtain letters from their workplaces to get train season tickets.

He mentioned that resolving issues in the railway service such as train shortages, unpunctuality, and lack of facilities will take time, and long-term processes like purchasing new engines, repairing existing engines, and upgrading railway tracks were not carried out properly in the past.

However, the Minister further stated that development work that can be executed quickly, such as improving facilities at railway stations, will continue, and several modernised railway stations are expected to be opened to the public in the future.