The online railway season ticket facility, currently limited to public sector employees, will be extended to private sector workers from September as a pilot phase, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said at a press conference in Parliament.

Steps are being taken to make the facility available to private sector employees without difficulty by October, the Minister said. The online option for state sector employees was introduced last month.

Season tickets are the standard commuter product on Sri Lanka Railways, bought in bulk for a fixed route and period. Moving the purchase online removes a recurring in-person queue at station counters for regular commuters.

Seat belts mandatory on expressways

Rathnayake set out a series of road safety rules alongside the ticketing change. He said a special transport programme is being implemented to protect the lives of the more than 2,700 people killed on Sri Lanka’s roads each year, and that despite numerous road and bridge projects and stricter law enforcement, it has not been possible to bring down deaths caused by reckless driving.

From September 19, it will be mandatory for all drivers and passengers in vehicles on expressways to wear seat belts, a measure aimed at reducing injuries and deaths in road accidents.

A special 10-day training programme will be introduced for drivers working in public passenger transport, and regular mobile drug testing will be carried out. Measures will also be taken to ensure only standard-compliant, roadworthy vehicles are put on the roads.

Focus on motorcyclists

The Minister said several measures are being introduced to protect motorcyclists, who account for the highest number of road accident fatalities. These include promoting SLS-certified safety helmets and plans to introduce dedicated lanes for motorcyclists in future.

Police figures released the same day support the emphasis: of 1,749 road deaths recorded so far this year, 617 were motorcyclists — the largest single category — with a further 122 pillion riders killed.

Update: August 24

Hiru News filed its own report on the season ticket change on Monday, adding the Minister’s assessment of what the railway cannot fix quickly. Rathnayake said resolving problems in the service — train shortages, unpunctuality and a lack of facilities — will take time, and that long-term work such as purchasing new engines, repairing existing ones and upgrading tracks was not carried out properly in the past.

Development work that can be done quickly, such as improving facilities at railway stations, will continue, he said, and several modernised stations are expected to be opened to the public.

Hiru also framed the online season ticket as the replacement for a system that had remained unaltered for decades.

Update, September 8: launched, with a start date of October 1

The facility was formally launched on Monday and will open to private sector employees from October 1, the Daily Mirror reported — settling the September-or-October question left open in August. The Minister had described September as a pilot phase, with the service working smoothly “by October”; the announced start is now October 1.

The launch was held at the Nelum Hall of the Waters Edge Hotel in Battaramulla under Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Dr Prasanna Gunasena, with Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eng. Eranga Weeraratne attending.

The Daily Mirror set out what the online route replaces. Under the existing system, commuters had to obtain a railway identity card by submitting an application, a photograph, proof of residence and a copy of their National Identity Card — and could do so only between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. within a 10-day window. Under the new system, passengers apply for and obtain season tickets from home once their identity and user account have been verified. Accounts can be verified at any railway station offering seat reservation facilities.

The programme is being run jointly by the Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development, the Ministry of Digital Economic Affairs, the Sri Lanka Railways Department and SLT-Mobitel, through the official seat reservation website.

The Daily Mirror also dates the government-sector rollout precisely: online issuance of concessionary season tickets for state employees began on June 9, 2026, under Chapter XVII of the Establishments Code.

Ada Derana also reported the launch, but its site returned a CloudFront error throughout this period and the report could not be retrieved to cite.

Sources