Let’s be realistic!

Railways before 1989 were a totally different enterprise as it is today. It was managed according to absurd rules of the centralized economy of that time, rules that had nothing to do with the reality.
Back then, Railways represented the most important link of the entire national transportation network, and independently became one real monopoly - which developed its activity on command, the other transportation modalities being kept bureaucratically behind. This transformed the railway “cast” in a sort of a policeman of the national economy, which made somehow people think bad of railway men. These bad feelings were made public only after the Revolution, when the privileged position railway men used to have before, was lost over night. The consequences have been some of the most dramatic ones on the transportation market - railway transportation activity diminished considerably. Such very painful process unexpectedly affected the railway men’s lives: personnel reduction, closing of certain railway stations and other non-popular measures that would have decreased the expense list. Out of a sudden, Railway had too many assets, too many liabilities and too many personnel. What it received in exchange for its services was far from being enough for covering the expenses for a good functioning activity, under the conditions of the market economy that used to be a new concept in the Romanian society of that time.
The westward Railways underwent the same process of loosing their importance on the transportation market. But in their case, the phenomenon was much less painful than for the Romanian Railways, since it lasted for tens of years, the consequences were annulled by governmental support and personnel reductions - the most drastic reform consequence - went through a natural way.
In Romania, everything happened so quickly, tough measures being absolutely necessary, while our railway men was caught off guard. All of a sudden he started to talk about totally unknown things for him, such as market restructuring, working place instability, new management rules, etc, etc. Or, all these things have been turned out into real frustrations, which are felt apparently even nowadays.
Even so, our railway man does not have to become a victim, telling to himself that this should happen only to him, because this may happen to anyone, to any large social category, to us all!
He must understand that the reform is a necessary and important process. It is a process meant to connect us to the …reality of our life.
Every railway man and every Romanian should consider this phenomenon as a challenge!
Let’s be realistic and gather our forces so that we could manage to self- define and “raise the glove”!

Reporting Oana Bran