Sri Lanka Railways incurred a loss of over Rs. 100,000 due to damage to property by angry commuters after pandemonium broke out at the Colombo Fort Railway Station last evening. Fort Railway Station Superintendent S. Perera told the Observer Online that the incident occurred due to several train delays following a sudden colour light failure between Slave Island and Maradana.
Although the signal system was brought back to normal a few minutes after the incident, officials were not in a position to carry out their duties under such circumstances. He said due to the incident the officials at the station?s counters were unable to issue tickets from 6.00 p.m to 8.00 p.m for any train running from Colombo Fort to the outstations and the Department also suffered heavy losses. "Although some trains were at the station at the time of the incident, fortunately no trains were damaged," he said. It is reported that 11 persons were taken into custody by police after the incident.