Wretched travel woes in office train leaving Galle By Sunil Thenabadu
In Sri Lanka apart from all other anguish matters transport woes take pride of place in the land so called a paradise. In common all medium class citizens in Sri Lanka go through despicable phases to meet urgent needs faced in life unlike in developed countries.. They are all confronted in addition to worst situations the travel problems which remain unresolved in various cities in the country which the authorities are deaf on.
There is no ready-made universally acceptable solution to our transport systems. In developed countries planners, engineers, economists and transport technologists each have their ow views, which when combined, invariably have produced a workable strategy for the convenience of commuters. But this workable solution has never been even thought of in developing countries like Sri Lanka. In developed countries implementations and policies are appraised in terms of cost.
In this horrifying backdrop, the most affected are the middle- class office workers particularly those who travel to Colombo from outstations areas like Galle. The writer has confronted a few responsible government officers from Galle area who travel daily to and from their dwelling houses. These persons who travel to Colombo need to keep standing for nearly three hours for lack of seats despite purchasing second class tickets at a cost of over Rupees two hundred and fifty for one way. It is learnt that these unfortunate office workers have no room to leave the brief cases, Just imagine how these unfortunate responsible office personnel could discharge their accountable duties sensibly once they report to respective offices not in normal senses ,never heard of this drastic lapse in most other countries where the commuters sit comfortably while travelling long distances.
A solution to this matter is so simple. Just adding a few compartments to the train which commences journey from beyond Beliatte in the wee hours of the morning. Once this is achieved these officers who are travelling to Colombo could discharge their responsibilities effectively. This is only a simple strategy which the railway authorities should adopt to reduce the agony of the commuters not thought of hitherto.
