Free travel cards for BDZ and NRIC employees until year end
11.07.2012
Cards for free travelling for the employees of the National railway operator Holding BDZ (Bulgarian State Railways) and NRIC (National Railway Infrastructure Company) will be active until the end of the year. This was announced by the Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski during briefing, held today in the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications. According to an inquiry of the 2 companies at the time near 350,000 current, former and retired employees of BDZ and NRIC, their families and employees of various government agencies are entitled of free travel. Their working trips will remain free, but the number of cards will be seriously reduced next year. According to the Minister there won‘t be any new cuts in jobs this year.
„Over the past few months we have finished several big projects connected with the railway transport“ the Minister said. In the beginning of July was held the official opening of the railway section Plovdiv-Dimitrovgrad. All trains serving the railroad line between the two cities can now travel with speeds up to 160 km/h. The line between Plovdiv and Dimitrovgrad is part of the project "Reconstruction and Modernization of the Plovdiv – Svilengrad (Greek and Turkish Border) Railroad." It is financed by the EU ISPA and Transport operational programs. The section is 67-km-long and allows speeds of 160 km/h for passenger trains and 120 km/h for freight ones.
"Until yesterday is already operating signaling, telecommunication system, and new control center in Plovdiv, which will run the trains at the newly opened railway section Plovdiv - Dimitrovgrad, the system will soon cover the entire route to Svilengrad. According to Minister Moskovski BDZ will receive its first 12 sleeping cars as part of an order of a total of 30 sleeping cars from Turkey's state owned manufacturer Tuvasas.He noted that one of the mechanisms for modernization of BDZ is to purchase new rolling stock and that can be done by the EU Structural Funds. "The company started preparatory activities to enable the beginning of the next programming period 2014 - 2020 to conduct a tender for the purchase of new trains for 600 million BGN" he added.
In regard of the fuel thieves, minister Moskovski said there is a significant progress and several organized groups have already been captured.
On the occasion of protests by trade unions minister Moskovski said he did not understand their behavior against the positive processes in rail transport. "We have always had a good dialogue with the trade unions and they are aware of everything that we are planning to change“ the Minister added. |