Sat, Feb 11 2012

Clive Leviev-Sawyer

Editorial: Bulgaria’s state railways are in a state

Fri, Aug 28 2009 09:59 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer 2191 Views
The phrase "a hell of a way to run a railroad" is extremely apposite regarding Bulgarian State Railways, BDZ.

Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov is entirely justified in launching investigations into, and speaking out about, the loss-making behemoth that is now under his stewardship.

The state of the railways in many ways epitomises much of what is wrong about the way that official Bulgaria has run things.

The problems of BDZ include incompetent management, inadequate communication with customers along with no concept of service, outmoded computer systems, an utter failure to respond in any realistic way to the economic crisis, inappropriate employee numbers and, not least, at least one case of questionable business dealings.

Further, in the specific case of BDZ, there was the Sofia-Kardam train fire in 2008 that caused the deaths of passengers – and there is no real reassurance that all trains are safe. They may be, but there has been no proper report that all safety measures are in place.

The fatal car crash on August 24 that left trains on the Plovdiv – Sofia route unable to move for more than six hours was just one more reason for Tsvetkov to speak out against inefficiency and inadequate communication.

There is no question that train transport of passengers and goods is a vital and strategic public service. Sweeping reforms are needed to bring efficiency, and if Tsvetkov can pull this off, he will have achieved much.

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