The Railway Drivers Association says that the failure to fill the vacancies of train drivers for several years has fundamentally affected the reduction and cancellation of train services.
If this situation continues, the maintenance of the railway service may be severely affected, says the Secretary of the Association, Chandana Wiyanduwa.
He also stated that before this, there were about 390 trips per day, and today there have been reduced to 340 trips.
Mr. Chandana Wiyanduwa said that out of the 458 train drivers required, there are currently 220, and accordingly there is a huge shortage of 238 drivers.
He said that at present, the trains are operated by retired train drivers recruited on a contract basis and that although drivers should be recruited for the annual train service, the last new recruitment after 2005 was in 2017.
Since a person recruited for the train driver service must complete three years of training, the Railway Department further stated that even if the recruitment is done this year, it will be 2029 when the training is completed and the person is put into service