The first run of the passenger train since the tsunami disaster became a non event Monday due to a strike launched by the railway trade unions.

The first train since the Dec. 26 Tsunami disaster from the southern town of Matara along the coastal line track to the capital Colombo, 160 km west, was scheduled for Monday after Sunday's trial on the restored track.

However 8,000 employees of the railway department have gone into strike action since mid night Sunday based on eight demands which includes action to correct salary anomalies.

Sampath Rajitha of the railway trade union strike group said they are on a 48-hour strike from Sunday.

The main railway control room said that no trains operated Monday in any parts of the island due to the strike.

The railway track devastated by the Tsunami was restored in a record time of 58 days.

A Matara bound train reported nearly 1,000 deaths after the tsunami hit on Dec. 26 last year.

The coastal line track was reduced to rubble as the eight coach train was toppled over by the power of the raging sea waves.

Over 800 bodies were discovered at the train tragedy site with hundreds of others still unaccounted for.

The unidentified bodies were buried in a mass grave within close proximity to the scene of the tragedy.

More than 30,000 people died in the Tsunami tidal wave attack -- the worst natural disaster in Sri Lanka's history.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2005)