Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Nikolina Angelkova, held an extraordinary meeting with the management of the National Company Railway Infrastructure (NCRI), "Holding BDZ" EAD and the Executive Agency "Railway Administration" concerning the accident at a level crossing in the residential district "Obelya" in Sofia.

Minister Angelkova ordered to the Director General of the NCRI, Milcho Lambrev, to remove from their positions the directly responsible people pending completion of the examination and clarification of the case. The responsible people are: the level crossing guard who was on shift, the traffic manager of the railway station Voluyak and the division director of "Managing the train traffic and railway station activity" – Sofia.

Yesterday, Minister Nikolina Angelkova order to the Aircraft, Maritime and Railway Accident Investigation Unit Directorate to verify the factual cause of the accident. The experts of MTITC, NCRI and BDZ fully cooperate with the investigative bodies.

We remind that on 09.10.2014 (Thursday) at 14:10, on the level crossing "Obelya" in the residential district "Obelya" 2, a locomotive that was travelling from railway station Voluyak to Central Railway Station Sofia, crashed a car and a man died.

There will be a preliminary scheduled operational meeting on safety in the rail sector next Tuesday. On that meeting, at the request of Minister Angelkova, the managements of the two railway companies and Executive Agency "Railway Administration" must provide short-term and long-term measures to improve the safety.