Sri Lanka, Aug. 11 -- Despite photos of empty railway compartments circulating on social media, the Sri Lanka Railways Department has denied incurring any losses from reserved seats.

A senior department official said that the railway accounts continue to show a profit at the end of each month.

Social media posts alleged that passengers were avoiding seat reservations due to black market ticket sellers. However, the official said all tickets for the compartments in question had been sold, even though only a handful of passengers traveled. On the Podi Menike express train to Badulla, just six locals and eight foreign nationals were on board despite the train being fully booked.

"Railway reservation tickets are issued using the national i...