RGSCC,            
        in Actuality

· Instructions updated in 2003
The General Inspectorate for Safety Traffic and Control (RGSCC) is presently engaged in a very important intercession for the well development of the activity at the railways: the achievement of the Program for the elaboration and the update of certain instructions specific to the railway transport in 2003. Consequently, the employees within RGSCC are involved, especially during the summer, in the coordination of the activity developed by the collective of specialists from various departments.
In year 2003, CN "CFR" SA is going to elaborate and to update 17 instructions, because there have been established presentation terms at the General Department for the Regulation of Services Quality in Railway Transport within MTCT and which, later on will be promoted through the order of the minister of Transports. Among them, up to the present time, there have been finalized:
- Instruction no. 303 - for the rehabilitation works at the railway track;
- Instruction no. 317 - for the speed restrictions and the shutting down of the railway sections;
- Signaling Regulation no. 004;
- Instruction no. 215 - for the exploitation of the snow plough, which will also include the Instruction of the hydraulic DIESEL snow plough of HENSCHEL type for the removal of the snow and the Instruction for the utilization of the snow ploughs BIORKE type and the simple ones ( no. 313/1995);
- Instruction no. 311/64 - for preventing and fighting against the snow laid on the railway tracks, which will also include the current Instruction referring to the winter preparations (no. 90/54).
A series of other existing instructions, which are generally dedicated to the activity that is developed in the railway equipment field, is presently in elaboration stage. In this category is included:
- Instruction no. 352 - for the maintenance and the overhaul of ELF equipment;
- Instruction no. 353 - for the maintenance and the overhaul of the contact line for electrified track;
- Instruction no. 354 - for the maintenance and the overhaul of the electro-supply equipment for the track;
- Instruction no. 356 - for the order through the energetic dispatcher of the fixed equipment of electric hauling.
Up to the end of year 2003, there will be updated other four instructions from the Equipment branch and other two from Tracks branch.

Safety traffic carefully analyzed
Recently, an analysis regarding the safety traffic at CFR SA has been made within RGSCC in the first four months of the year 2003. There have been studied the events occurred on the public railway infrastructure administrated by the company, on each professional branch involved (Operation, Tracks and Equipment), and there has been made a comparison with the similar period of the last year (Table 1).

Branch	January - April 2002	January - April 2002
Operation	2	-
Tracks	-	-
Equipment	-	-
Technical	2	2
Foreign	-	-
TOTAL	4	2

According to their gravity, the railway events produced in the first four months of the year 2003 (two events) have been included, according to the provisions of the Instruction 003/2000 for the prevention and the research of the accidents and the railway events, at Group C - "other railway events". The two events took place on Galati and Constanta rail region area.
For the improvement of the safety traffic, the general inspector of RGSCC, Mr. Lucian Blaga, has disposed, at the end of the analysis, to be taken the following measures:
- appropriate performance of the controls by the personnel in charge with the guidance, training and control, according to the Disposition of the General Director of CFR SA no.5/1998 and the work instructions;
- the appropriate performance of the essential controls at the level of the rail regions, according to the provisions of the Disposition of the General Director of CFR SA no.5;
- the checking by all head of units and subunits which have attributions, according to the instructional provisions, of the technical state of the tracks and safety traffic equipment, in order to track down all the deficiencies, to establish the technical, organizational or remediation measures, in order to assist the unfolding of the railway transports in safety conditions;
- theoretical and practical training of all the employees in order to know and to correctly enforce all the instructional provisions and of the regulations in force. The implementation at the level of the rail regions of the modern training methods, using the video and IT technique;
- the increase of the exigency in the training of the personnel working or competing at the trains safety traffic.
To all these there is implicitly added, the analysis, in the monthly meetings of safety traffic, of each railway event produced at CFR SA in the previous month. Within these meetings, there will be emphasized and discussed the causes that have generated the occurrence of the event, as well as the wrongly work methods that have generated them. Moreover, for the events with special implications there will be drawn up case studies presenting the aspects related to the instructional provisions infringement, as well as the dangers for the railway safety traffic.

PSI events during January - April 2003
In the first four months of the current year, at CFR SA there have been registered 22-PSI events, on the area of all the rail regions in the country. The relatively large number of such events has imposed the performance by the bodies having guiding and control assignments of certain unexpected controls. Pursuant to them, there has been noticed that, after the identification of the cases of infringing of the instructional provisions and of the laws in force by the employees, there have not been taken all the measures stipulated for the treatment of these cases (as, for example, the one of taking over the respective cases on the occasion of the monthly analysis) and there were not taken strict measures for sanctioning the guilty personnel.
The representatives of RGSCC have also tracked down other inconveniences, which have been remedied during the control actions and there have been also solved later on, with the help of the control bodies.
In order to have a complete image of the RGSCC activity we asked Mr. Lucian Blaga, the general inspector, to comment on the analysis of safety traffic for the first four months of this year.
"In the first part of year 2003, the activity regarding the safety traffic has been unfolded in better conditions than in the last years and, I can say, from the qualitative point of view it was much more superior.
By all means, for this improvement of the situation we do not arrogate, namely the Inspectorate, all the credits; the prevention of the railway events represent the result of the efforts of all the leaders of the units and the subunits. The activity of RGSCC has been also present in the correct enforcement of the measures established by the management of the company and the management of the company and the management of the rail regions and in close surveillance of the way in which the chiefs of compartments are developing their activity in the territory, from the chiefs of sections, to the ones of the districts.
Still, we should not venture to appreciate this activity as "very good", because there are still many things to do and to solve. And only at the conclusion of the balance sheet on this year we will truly see if our work has been well done. Only then we will draw a line and we will see the result. Yet, up to that moment, there can happen many things…
Taking into consideration that there is going to be a restructuring period at the Railways, which will be concluded at the end of the balance sheet of the third trimester, anticipating a new situation, presently working at a new program for the coordination of the control activity. In order to reduce the number of the personnel there will bee needed a greater attention on behalf of the ones that are staying! Probably that in a few months we will be able to achieve these programs; we are working on them and up to the end of the third trimester we will finalize them."
We have also asked the general inspector, Mr. Lucian Blaga about the vast action of putting up-to-date the work instructions developed during the current year.
"Along the time, the instructions have been altered and completed. Additionally, during every reorganization of the activity at the Railways, we should analyze these important papers including the provisions according to which the railway activity is unfolded; we should come to an agreement with the new context. This time we propose to make them so that they remain valid for a longer period of time and, if in about five years there will be performed another restructuring in the Railways activity, so there should not be necessary their alteration. We should not block the people to work at the alteration of certain instructions, which should not be valid anymore. For this, we analyze all the UIC regulations and all the old instructions from the Romanian Railways. We thought to build the new regulations so that, no matter how will be the Railways called in the future and no matter which will be its organization form, these instructions should stay viable.
It is a very complex activity, implying efforts from a great number of employees, within RGSCC, as well as from all the activity sectors of CFR. But I consider that it is an achievable project and that is why we have proposed to accelerate the working rhythm."

Silvia Mirea