The "same song" is constantly on the Railway: Wages are late, trains are being patched

Dusko Chakarovski
Dusko Cakarovski / Railway Station Skopje / Collage: SP.

AD Zeleznica - Transport is constantly at a loss, and the locomotives, except for 4 new ones, are at the end of their technical depreciation century, and part of a new one should have been written off.

Yesterday at 7 o'clock in the morning the railway traffic was completely interrupted - both passenger and freight, and as Dushko Cakarovski, president of the Trade Union of Machine Personnel, told "Free Press", they will not get in the locomotives until they get the second part from the October salary.

- We are at our jobs, but we do not drive without a salary. Almost every month we fight to get our paycheck. Both the management and the Ministry of Transport know that if we are not paid a salary by the 25th of the month for the previous month, we will stop working the next day. Despite that, we did not receive a salary by the specified deadline - says Chakarovski.

The president of the representative union - the union of trains, Gjoko Ilijevski, on the other hand, explains that the payment of the salary is not only a problem, but also the working conditions.

- At this time we do not have any heating in the rooms where the train controllers are. That is unacceptable - says Ilijevski.

The train controllers, on the other hand, stopped performing the obligatory control 5 days ago after each trip and, as Ilijevski stated, those who drove them, did it on their own.

Locomotives are at the end of their century

The condition of the towing facilities is on the border of technical-technological exploitation power. This is exactly what is written in the Business Plan for 2021 of AD MZ-Transport.

"The reasons for the current condition of the towing capacities are due to the age structure of the capacities, the untimely medium and large repairs, the problems in the current maintenance, which have been going on for years. This is a result of insufficient financial resources. The age structure of the towing facilities burdens the exploitation process, increases energy consumption and increases idle driving. Diesel locomotives of type 661 have an average age of 48 years, which means that the technical and depreciation life has passed. The condition of diesel maneuvering locomotives is slightly better, and the condition of electric locomotives, whose average age is more than 35 years, is better. With the procurement of the four locomotives in traffic, the state of technical-technological exploitation power of ЖRSM Transport AD Skopje has increased, the operating costs have been reduced, and thus the financial results are improving. writes in the Business Plan.

The document also states that in order to avoid the high cost of passenger traffic, it should be done with diesel motor trains instead of diesel locomotives and classic wagons, but also that the condition of electric motor trains is as follows: the inventory park consists of 6 sets , of which only one is in operation!

A savior will be sought

The necessity of transformation of MZ-Transport has been talked about for a long time. Two years ago, a consulting company for the restructuring of the Railways was hired, but the Government has not yet come up with a position - which model is the most favorable, whether it will offer the railway transport for sale or management through public-private partnership. Unlike AD MZ-Transport, the infrastructure is within a public enterprise - PE for railway infrastructure, and according to previous announcements, it is planned to remain in state ownership.

MZ-Transport is constantly at a loss. Last year, the losses from passenger and freight transport were around 7,5 million euros, and such an amount is projected for this year. The Ministry of Transport and Communications explains that they transfer money to them for the losses in the passenger traffic, but the Railway, as a joint stock company that realizes activity and income, should take care of its profitability and the palaces of the workers.

MZ-Transport has 855 employees and 7,6 million euros should be paid for them in a gross amount for one year.

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