site.btaTransport Minister: BDZ Has Been Negligent Towards Its Operating Assets

Transport Minister: BDZ Has Been Negligent Towards Its Operating Assets

Sofia, February 24 (BTA) - The Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) has been negligent in using and maintaining its operating assets, although it has taken good care of its account books, Transport Minister Hristo Alexiev said on Friday, speaking at a roundtable discussion on the challenges confronting the ailing national railway system.

Due to this negligence, in 2017 the carrier is unable to fulfill its timetable and has spent over 1 million leva on providing temporary bus services as a substitute for train services for which it has no locomotives, Alexiev said.

According to him, the National Company for Railway Infrastructure (NCRI) has evolved into a construction company and has forgotten its main functions: capacity management and train servicing. The NCRI's biggest problem is working with its clients. It is behind schedule in repairing infrastructure and has trouble implementing large EU-supported projects.

Railway transport in Bulgaria is not competitive, and reversing this situation must be the main goal, the minister said. Above all, railway services must become reliable in order to attract more cargo and restore clients' interest in using trains. Railway transport should be placed on an equal footing with road transport in terms of pricing policy. Transport services should become more mobile and intermodal.

Alexiev went on to say that just two weeks after the latest changes in the BDZ management and other measures taken by him, the train timetable is being fulfilled at 90 per cent, compared with 77 per cent previously.

The BDZ has been heavily subsidized over the last 10 years, and yet it does not have enough locomotives and train carriages, has problems with its transportation scheme, and is treating its clients unsatisfactorily, said Yordan Mirchev, former chairman of the Transport Committee in the National Assembly and current leader of the Movement for European Development of the Bulgarian Railways. Mirchev suggested that the subsidies should be provided for specific purposes, not in lump-sum payments.