Recent arrests and police investigations into the railway online ticket racket seem to have improved public access to tickets for the popular Colombo-Badulla train route. According to members of the RDMNS Railway Network, a social platform for passengers, tickets were still available for public purchase over 30 minutes after the online reservation system opened at 10.00 am on Friday, a significant improvement compared to previous instances when tickets sold out within seconds.
Network members praised this change and added that it was a step forward in addressing the issue. An investigation was launched after numerous complaints, particularly from the RDMNS group, about the tickets being quickly snatched up by scalpers, with the Colombo-Badulla route gaining popularity among local and international tourists.
While around 200 tickets are issued online every weekend, reports had surfaced of groups buying all available tickets as soon as they were released, then reselling them at inflated prices — sometimes as high as Rs. 16,000 for a ticket originally priced at Rs. 2,000.
Last week, the police arrested two suspects, including a railway department employee, in connection with a major e-ticket resale racket.
A technical officer from the Department of Railways was apprehended in Trincomalee with 92 e-tickets intended for resale to foreign tourists. Two more suspects were arrested in Matale and Kandy.
Among the arrested was a 37-year-old trishaw driver caught selling tickets at exorbitant prices to foreign tourists. Police said that the arrested railway employee had sent the tickets via a passenger bus to the trishaw driver.
The authorities seized 21 train tickets, Rs. 130,670 in cash, 130 record books, and a mobile phone from the suspect, who was arrested in Suduhumpola, Kandy.
The Railways Department has also suspended an employee of the Makumbura Multimodal Centre (MMC), accused of being involved in the e-ticket scam. The person allegedly set up a private company in a relative’s name to issue tickets and book e-tickets online.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told the Colombo Chief Magistrate this week that an investigation is under way into the e-ticket scam.
The investigation was launched following a complaint by the Railway Department to the Computer Crime Investigation Division of the CID, investigators said. The e-ticket system is jointly operated by Sri Lanka Railways and Sri Lanka Mobitel.
