Dialogue – a possible solution for the railway politics

Interview with Mr. Vasile Grigorie, General Manager with Constanta Public Rail Transport Department.

 

 

 

Vasile Grigorie
Date and place of birth: 21.11.1951, Fetesti, Ialomita county
Education: Transportation Faculty – Railway Transportation Technique specialization; Trade Faculty- Trade specialization;
Profession: engineer, economist;
Professional activity:

 

Railway Journal: Could you tell us what was the purpose for creation of short route companies within the Public Transport Department?
Vasile Grigorie: Regional departments were created to insure public transportation and country protection.
    Our activity object is structured on five levels: 1. Railway public regional/inter-regional transportation; 2. Luggage and mail transportation; 3. Maintenance and repairing of the rolling stock; 4. Special military transportation; 5. Supplementary transport services for public department.
    This type of organization of the public transportation on railway has to respond the needs and demands stipulated in European Union regulations that are to be implemented in all railway administrations.
RJ: What is the sector controlled by your company?
VG: Our company controls the entire 8 sector, that includes counties of Constanta, Tulcea, Ialomita and Calarasi.
    It has specific transport departments where 3000 employees are working at the moment at stations Medgidia, Palas, Fetesti, Tulcea and Slobozia; we have also a 144 wagon park at Wagons Department of Constanta that provides services both for itself and for the superior trains belonging with SNTFC or for other regional companies as Fetesti and Sobozia; the commercial service that coordinates personnel of 30 stations and 11 halts.
    Activity developed in all these departments has as goal those 57 public trains on routes as Constanta-Bucharest, Constanta-Ploiesti, Constanta-Mangalia, Calarasi-Urziceni, Slobozia-Festesti, Medgidia-Negru Voda and Medgidia –Tulcea City.
    We include here services provided for other transport operators that have trains on routes that cover the area controlled by our company.
RJ: What problems are you confronting with at the moment, after the reorganization and how do you plan to solve them?
VG: Usually there are general problems that exist on a national level. But there are though specific problems as the geographic position of the company. Our main problem which is in fact a national problem, is that of the rolling stock; being old and worn up, it cannot offer any longer the necessary conditions for an efficient exploitation as it is also a consumer of big amounts of money.
    The specific of our company is that of providing services for secondary sections that have a reduced number of travelers; this is far more efficient for our activity. As a result it is obligatory to replace these trains with simpler and more efficient systems – auto-motors and a reduced number of wagons adapted to the necessities of each station department as it is the case for the European countries.
    Replacing the traditional railway transport system is our company’s greatest wish, but for that we need a strategy also assumed by the state , because of the important investments that cannot be supported only from our budget. Among the other important problems we are confronting at the moment and need to be solved , would be that of the SELC Medgidia, unit that was created in 1938 and hasn’t been improved since.
    Other problems we could mention are: no finale of some regulations of mutual interest, lack of a short-term common strategy, as well as the information system yet in deficit.
RJ: What projects do you have to complete by the end of the year?
VG: We propose first, to fit our expenses and income budget, to realize all the quantity and quality indices, to finish all the planned investments as well as to maintain the present labor force.
    Taking into account the current estate of finalization for all these problems, we believe that by the end of the year we will have found a favorable solution for the development plan. The financial –accounting process is still affected by the bureaucratic structure more and more amplified by the interdependence of services among railway transport operators.
RJ: What could you tell us about the working conditions of your employees?
VG: Related to this, I could say that our management had and still has a policy based on a continuous dialogue with the unions regarding the existence of a benefic working climate in all our units. For this we have already accomplished some objectives in which we have invested important financial resources: capital repairs in the personnel bedrooms from Constanta Station, in the social utilities from the Wagons Constanta Department and SELC Fetesti, insurance of the necessary heating sources and of the equipment for cold seasons as well as special preparations of the rolling stock for the winter. All these actions will go on both on the level of capital repairs and on the educational level, in order to insure a better protection for all our investments we have made so far.
RJ: What will be new in your branch?
VG: In 2001 we propose to promote a better policy that will lead eventually to a better organization of our activity, to an efficiency increase but also to a reduction of expenses generated by repairing and maintaining works. This could be achieved only by a better administration of the rolling stock material. One of the our most important works, for which we have the necessary funds, is the improvement of the halt of SELC Medgidia and of the rail tracks.
    Our priority for 2001 is the increase of specific qualitative and qualitative indices by implementing ISO-9002 norms and a marketing policy meant to gain more and more clients through a direct development of the transport offer that should be tailored according to the market demands.


Reporting Magda Olaru

 

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