2024 Volume 15 Pages 475-493
Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) provides wide-ranging socio-economic benefits to the country while ensuring accessibility and mobility needs of passengers and goods shippers. SLR has been facing a financial shortfall since the early 1940s and needs strategies to mitigate this, which will reduce the burden on the government treasury and economy. The objective of this study is to ascertain the crucial factors of the long-term financial shortfall of SLR and the possible reforms by analyzing the expert opinions in rail transportation. This study adopted a qualitative research methodology, leveraging primary data and conducting an expert opinion survey to identify crucial factors and propose potential reforms. The findings revealed a range of internal and external factors, as well as diverse institutional-level and policy-level reforms to address the financial shortfall. These findings offer valuable insights for transport policy decision-makers, enabling them to implement appropriate reforms that effectively reduce the revenue-expenditure gap for SLR.
