TRAFFIC UNDER HEAVY SNOW

    They say the railway worker fully deserves his salary when he is in a crisis situation. And no other period is more critical for railway traffic than winter. Then, in the coldest season of the year, the railway worker passes the “test of fire”. In the struggle with the hardships of winter, the worker proves his real qualities. He proves he can mobilise himself and, putting passengers’ safety above his own family, above his own physical limits, does his duty in an exemplary fashion. But winter is a formidable opponent that is not at all easy to defeat…
   The beginning of this year has been no exception: abundant snow and strong blizzards came down on the country, often dismantling people’s attempts to oppose. But it didn’t crush the railway workers, whom it found prepared as ever: they had acquired in time the equipment needed for any intervention, secured enough materials, mounted shifter heaters in key points, revised all their intervention equipment, and not least, wrote down a rigorous “battle plan”, with everyone precisely knowledgeable of his assignments. And… they did it. Proof is the brief statement in the press: “Traffic on the railways is unfolding normally.” How much effort and toil are behind those few words, only the railwaymen know. But they can also say what satisfaction it brings. Because there is no greater joy for the operating personnel to defeat “general Winter”. Preparation has been exemplary, and the actions, full of abnegation and devotion, as is the habit at the Railways. From the Central Winter Command to the regional offices, down to last worker, everyone was always one step ahead of events, working hard to prevent critical situations.
    Of course, there are difficult places, permanently subjected to blizzards, such as: Fundulea-Sarulesti, Ciulnita-Fetesti-Medgidia, on backbone line 800, where terrain is predisposed to two-three metres of snow on the railway and where winds in excess of 70 km/h impose speed limitations for electric-traction trains; Faurei-Tecuci-Galati-Tandarei, where strong winds and massive snowfalls lead to snow layers two-three metres high, along tens of metres; Ilva Mica-Suceava-Pascani-Iasi, where abundant snowfalls and strong blizzard predispose to snow rolls and stations becoming snowed-in. And examples could continue.
    Under these adverse conditions, it is understandable that major efforts have been required of the railwaymen to keep the infrastructure under normal operation. Workers have permanently patrolled the snowed-in sections, according to a minute plan designed by the Lines section, with hydraulic ploughs, bladed locomotives or Buzau-type ploughs. Significant manpower was dislocated to clean track shifters, so that traffic can unfold under proper conditions. And the railwaymen had another satisfaction this year: they managed to annihilate the intentions of the press to turn it into a scapegoat guilty of every perils of this time of the year. Because come winter, a shortage of sensation stories encouraged all television stations and the printed media to point the finger at the railway, announcing, with seeming satisfaction, news one worse than the other.
    And the railwaymen had another satisfaction this year: they managed to annihilate the intentions of the press to turn it into a scapegoat guilty of every perils of this time of the year. Because come winter, a shortage of sensation stories encouraged all television stations and the printed media to point the finger at the railway, announcing, with seeming satisfaction, news one worse than the other.
    This year, however, the railwaymen took that chance away. The biggest surprise for the media - and the greatest satisfaction for the railroad workers - was the Bucharest North station. Where before reporters used to dispatch stories such as: “Railway traffic is paralysed and no train is leaving the North Station,” things have been now completely different. With minor exceptions, independent of the condition of equipment or weather, all trains departed on time, and arrivals were very close to the Timetable. Proof is that, compared to an average delay - per 100 train-kilometres of 1.35 minutes and the forecast value, of 1.20 minutes, the real delay has been only 0.67 minutes. This says everything about what the railwaymen can do when they have the conditions needed to unfold their activity.
    And there is something else to say: they believe this success is not reason to become infatuated (although they are naturally pleased), but a start. They plan to overcome with equal success the adversities of bad weather, which will certainly continue to exist. The same people, the same struggle, the same outcome: normal railway circulation, in full safety and punctuality.

Nicolae Ciovica