Minister Angelkova: There is a systemic problem in the working conditions in the railway transport
14.10.2014
The conducted examinations of Executive Agency "Railway Administration" indicates a systemic problems with the working conditions for drivers and the need for their improvement, maintenance of the rolling stock and the railway infrastructure because of numerous thefts. That was stated by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Nikolina Angelkova, during a briefing following a meeting regarding operational safety in railway transport.
Minister Angelkova said that by Friday (17/10/2014), the management of "Holding Bulgarian State Railways" EAD, "BDZ Passenger Transport" Ltd. and "BDZ Freight services" must provide immediate, short and long term measures related to training of operations personnel, repair and maintenance of rolling stock. There is a requirement for representation of a revised business plan, which would include activities to implement short-term measures. According to initial calculations, the necessary funds for these activities are up to 1.5 million levs, which will be separated from the existing budget of the company.
There is a clear need for further training of operational staff to work with automatic train signaling and train dispatching radio connection, commented Nikolina Angelkova, adding that "it is unacceptable for train drivers to work in such conditions and that the available rolling stock must be maintained ".
A major finding of the inspection executed by EA “Railway Administration” is the poor control of maintenance and technical condition of the locomotives. If the measures, which are to be presented on Friday, do not set a realistic plan to eliminate specific problems, changes will be made in the management of BDZ Freight Services and BDZ Passenger Transport, said Minister Angelkova.
"I want to emphasize that, aside from the results of the inspection, rail transport is the safest and that the poor working conditions for the drivers does not mean that they are not professionally managed trains. Transport safety is guaranteed." Measures have already been take to strengthen the control and continuous monitoring of the fieldwork and locomotive depots.
During the briefing, it became clear that meetings for operational safety in railway transport will be held every two weeks in the presence of Minister Angelkova and Deputy Minister Georgi Todorov.
A meeting will the syndicate organizations of the sector will be held tomorrow. Measures to improve working conditions, qualification and training of operations personnel will be discussed.
In regards to last week’s incident at the “Obelya” district railway crossing, Minister Angelkova said that the technical investigation of the "Unit for investigating accidents in the air, water and rail" at MTITC found out that the head of traffic control on “Volyak” raiway station failed to execute his duties by not filing a signal on time to the crossing guard for the passing locomotive. |