Profitable future solutionsa

Interview with Mr. Marius DIACONU,
Manager of the Rails Department with the CFR-SA

Marius Diaconu   Born the 16.02.1955 in Iasi Married; has two children He graduated the Constructions Faculty, section CFDP, Iasi PHD in Terrestrial Communication Ways in 1995 Professional activity: • 1980-1982 engineer at the RCF Iasi; • 1982-1989 assistant at the Constructions Faculty, Iasi; • 1991-1991 engineer at the Rails Division with the RCF Iasi; • 1991-1996 survey office manager with RCF iasi; • 1996-1997 chief of the Rails section with the General Rails Department in Bucharest; • 1997-1998 chief OTD section with the Infrastructure Department of the RCF Iasi; • 1998-1999 chief of the Technical Division with the RCF Iasi; • 1999 councilor with the CN CFR-SA; • 2000 chief of the Technical Division with the CF Iasi

Railway Journal: Mr. Manager, what do you think determined the management of the CFR-SA to choose you in this position?

Marius Diaconescu: I do not know which of my personal qualities contributed to this decision of the General Manager Mihai Necolaiciuc. I do believe though, that my promotion id due mostly to my contribution at the achievements with the CFR Iasi Department.

RJ: What means for you this position and what were the first decisions you made?

MD: It is obvious that this position represents a great responsibility and that is why my first decisions refer to:
v      Establishing the real estate of the network and the short-term resolutions in the maintenance activity to insure a safe traffic and a safe transport activity according to the norms imposed by the regulations;
v      Analyzing the speed restrictions to evaluate the necessary amount of works in view of a possible amelioration or elimination of these risk factors; 
v      More specialized personnel in supervision of the rails without joint and not only, because we experience an abnormal thermic period;
v      Recuperation of the debts and plans for the working left behind;
v      Revising and re-analyzing the instruction program according to the needs of the Rail Department
v      Permanent working contracts for our personnel.

RJ: What are the next priorities?

MD: I think that the medium-term priorities are as follow:
v      Insuring the trains safe traffic and the transport security;
v      Modernization  of the mechanic industry and enlarging the area of the modern machine stock, introducing the most advanced technologies of infrastructure repairing and maintaining process- as it is the total dynamic stabilizing perforation of the rails;
v      Rehabilitation of the rail geometry and composition of the geometrical data base for the entire network – decisive operations for the perforation process;
v      Training the entire personnel and especially the one involved in important activities as maintaining the rail without joints, exploiting and repairing all kinds of Plasser rail machinery;
v      Quality amelioration of the repairing works and of the used materials, reducing thus the maintenance costs;
v      Reintroducing on a large scale the thermical-aluminium welding to eliminate the cuts-off and to insure the continuity of the rail without joints at the end of the stations; adopting new systems of modern jointure  –as the elastic ones, the generalization of the concrete traverses, etc.

RJ: What are the projects you are working on at the moment?

MD: Our main concern is starting the rehabilitation and modernization works on the rail infrastructure within the IV pane-European Corridor, but then again I do not think it is necessary to insist on this subject since it is always present in the pages of your publication.
We also have been elaborating some other projects meant to insure the qualitative step we would like to make in the diagnosis, programming and execution process of the maintenance works. Among these objectives there are:
¨       Acquisition of  transporting trains for long , laminated or wielded rail and of an efficient wagon for measuring the rail, described in a recent number of the Railway Journal;
¨       Implementation of an automate system of projecting the geometry of the rails that has been already functioning with success at the Austrian railway administration;
¨       Enlarging the multifunctional tools park and replacing the obsolete machinery with new and efficient equipment;
¨       Making our own fabric of wielding rails.
We finally proceeded to concrete traverse production for the rail machinery. We have also decided on the mass production of the mixture material for the thermical- aluminum wielding, here in Romania.

RJ: What other working projects will begin until the end of the year?

MD: By the end of the year, we would have finalized the all planned works normally performed in our branch. With the risk of repeating myself, I will mention here:
¨       Dynamic stabilizing perforation of the stone blocks, which I have to say is a premiere for us, after a standard technological procedure in the other European administrations, with the support of the AFER;
¨       Rehabilitation of the rail platform and the total wielding of the ends of some of the rail stations.
About the other future plans, what I have to say is that another objective, which I think, is important in our activity, is the necessity of creating a user manual in the measurement and geometrical projecting of the rails. This manual will complete the technological knowledge of perforation and mechanized jamming in order to obtain rail geometry on the wheal-rail contact level, similar to the geometry registered in the other more advanced European administrations.