Railway strike concludes ; token strike every Thursday

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The strike action launched by several trade unions of the Department of Railways concluded at midnight yesterday after 2 days. According to the convener of the Alliance of the Railway Operation Supervisory Officers' Union Lal Ariyaratne, arrangements have been made to resume normal railway operations from early this morning. He said that it was decided to hold a token strike every Thursday until authorities provide solutions to their demands. Railway drivers, station masters, controllers, railway supervision managers and several officers of the Railways Department were involved in the trade union action. The general public faced tremendous inconvenience due to the strike action by railway employees and the loss incurred by the Department of railways was estimated to be over Rs. 19mn. Meanwhile, The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has earned a revenue of Rs. 79mn during the period of the trade union action. Deputy General Manager of the SLTB T.H.R.T. Chandrasiri said that a number of additional buses operated yesterday and the day before for the convenience of the public. He added that during the strike period the leaves of the SLTB employees were cancelled to run the services smoothly.