Ticketless travel costing railway a packet
By Nilika de Silva
The Railway Department is losing massive sums of money as about 15 per cent of rail commuters travel without tickets, General Manager of Railways Priyal de Silva said.

Mr. de Silva told The Sunday Times that commuters trick the department by purchasing tickets for only part of their journey.

For instance a passenger travelling from Polgahawela to Colombo Fort, will purchase a ticket up to Alawwa (the next station) and then get a friend at Ragama to purchase a ticket for him from there to Colombo Fort, he said explaining that since it is difficult to check all passengers' tickets during the journey, such malpractices go unchecked.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Railway Department is also losing money each day in view of a shortage of tickets due to slow work in the printing branch.

However the GMR denied that the department was losing massive sums of money as a result of the shortage of tickets, and said "No, no, there is no loss as such".

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