Financially troubled Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) intends to create a new company that will deal with repair of locomotives. The idea was discussed during the public council in the railway sector between the industry and NGO organizations that took place last week
The enterprise will be set up with the participation of subsidiaries of the BDZ – the BDZ Public Transportation and BDZ Freight and, where appropriate, together with private firms having specialized equipment to perform such activities. Deputy Minister of Transport Petar Kirov stressed out that by creating such a company the state will enhance the safety of railway operations, which is a top priority for the ministry, according to him.
„Initially, the company will perform only basic repairs on locomotives and then take over small and medium repairs as well as daily maintenance. The goal is over time the newly formed company to perform repairs on private locomotives owned by Bulgarian companies and companies in the region,“ the Executive Director of BDZ Christian Krastev said.
Undoubtedly, the railways have a big problem with their locomotives. The state-owned company has more than 500 diesel and electric machines, but 77 percent of them are aged over 30 years, and 15 percent between 26 to 30 years. That means – almost the whole composition of the fleet is of quite aged. Furthermore, over the years, the maintenance schedules were totally neglected and large gaps have been accumulated that already affect the transport of goods. Two months ago, the management of BDZ acknowledged that it makes annual plans for this activity, but they are fulfilled at only 20%. Otherwise to overhaul an engine costs least 500,000 levs and every year only seven machines can be repaired.
More importantly, however, is which private companies could be included in the joint venture? One of the main players in the sector until recently was Repair and Reconstruction Enterprise Koehne. It is part of the public Railway Infrastructure holding company, which in early 2013 was renamed Infra holding company. Actually now the holding is a successor of Nove Industry, which is controlled by businessman Vasil Bozhkov. Owners of private companies relied heavily on the estimate that the state would allocate a significant portion of money from EU funds for large-scale modernization of the rail transport, but it never happened and orders declined. Another potential partner is the state Russe manufacturing and repair of locomotives plant Express Service. Some time ago, its management said that because of the increased number of orders the construction of a new depot for 800,000 levs was about to begin.
The BANKER
