site.btaViolation of Procedural Rules Related to Railway Traffic Safety Will Not Be Tolerated, Minister Karadzhov Says

Violation of procedural rules related to railroad safety will not be tolerated. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadzhov on Monday after a meeting with the management of Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) and  National Transport Investigation Board (NTIB). The reason for the meeting was the recent train accident and its tragic outcome near Lokorsko. 

Karadzhov pointed out that the conclusion from this conversation is that in addition to the procedures and rules currently in place, they should also think about a systematic secondary control, which in case of human error should be triggered and press the stop button to avoid a catastrophe. He announced that the companies have been given until the end of the week to analyze the weaknesses in the safety system and send a report with safety measures. He stressed that BDZ and NTIB have until the end of the week to submit the emergency measures which should be implemented within a month. 

Following the accident, the BDZ and NTIB heads resigned and the transport minister accepted their resignations.