The Transport committee in the 40^th National AssemblyThe transport and telecommunications committee in the 40^th National Assembly is again chaired by Prof. Dr. Iordan Mirchev, who was head of this body in the previous Parliament as well. His deputies are Kamen Kostadinov from the Parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and Rumen Angelov from Bulgarian People’s Union.

In August, Siemens delivered to BDZ EAD three more Desiros from the total of 25 diesel trains under the contract concluded in the beginning of the year. Thus the overall number of diesel trains has reached twelve. The remaining Desiros are expected to be delivered in September and October.

On 12th September 2005, the CEO of BDZ EAD, Nasko Tsanev, and the Director General of NRIC, Dimitar Gaydarov, presented to the Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev, a schedule of salary payments on both companies to be disbursed by the end of the year. The main topic, addressed by the parties, was the identification of a quick and efficient solution for the surmounting of delays in salary payments.The managers of both companies briefed Minister Mutafchiev about the results from the meeting with representatives of trade unions, held on 8th September 2005. The railway companies presented a detailed schedule of payments to be disbursed by end-2005 and underlined the fact that these payments are effected with the companies’ own financial means. The main reasons for these delays were the inevitable decline of revenue from freight and passenger services, the growth of operational costs due to the redirection of trains via longer routes, the benefits non-accrued due to the destruction of main railway lines and railway infrastructure facilities as the result of natural disaster, and disruption of train traffic.By 12th October, the managers of both companies must present to Minister Mutafchiev their plans for financial stabilisation of their relevant companies so that these be discussed and validated by end-October. By end-December, all due payments of employees should be cleared. Minister Mutafchiev will be informed on a bi-weekly basis about the progress in salary schedule implementation.

At the end of August, BDZ EAD received the licence to act as a bus operator. The validity term of the licence is five years. The company intends to operate bus services along loss-making line sections and along those which have been damaged by the floods. The bus-operating unit will be made part of BDZ and the ticket prices will be the same as for trains. To this end, the company will procure six minibuses to serve the sections Plovdiv-Panagiurishte and Dolna mahala-Hisar. According to the CEO, Nasko Tsanev, the procurement of further buses and minibuses will make it possible to restore transport services along some secondary lines such as Cherven briag-Oriahovo, Yambol-Elhovo and Nova Zagora-Simeonovgrad. BDZ intends to develop door-to-door services by lorry and train. Tsanev stated that 70% of the company interests are in lorry services and 30% in bus services.

At the beginning of September, the Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev appointed as his deputies Georgi Petarneichev, who is the ex-Mayor of Peshtera and a popular figure in the field of car transport; Daniela Nikiforova, who is a lawyer and ex-member of Parliamentary committees on civil society issues and youth and sports issues; Youdjel Atilla, ex-deputy in the 38th National Assembly, and Vessela Gospodinova, expert in Eurointegration matters. It became known that one of the previous Minister’s deputies, Krasimira Martinova, has kept her position. Georgi Petarneichev will be responsible for inland (i.e. rail and road) transport, Daniela Nikoforova – for air and water transport, Youdjel Atilla – for asset management and control; Vessela Gospodinova – for Eurocoordination and infrastructure projects; and Krasimira Martinova – for harmonisation with EU legislation and regulatory policy.

At a press conference on 18th September, the new team of the Ministry of Transport announced that it is considering the possibility of establishing a consortium, embracing BDZ EAD and NRIC with the objective to increase railway market share. In the future holding structure, freight services will be separated from passenger services. It is also possible to establish a separate entity, dealing with locomotive maintenance, within the holding structure. According to Minister Petar Mutafchiev, the splitting of Bulgarian railways into an operator and infrastructure manager as of 2002 was a mistake, which further aggravated railway problems. He stressed the necessity of a new transport scheme, which should coordinate all transport modes and enhance the quality of transport services. The current scheme is considered as inefficient because of the overlapping routes of road and rail services. Special units will be established to conduct investigation of transport accidents. On his turn, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Youdjel Atilla introduced the concept that non-core business activities should be concentrated in separate daughter companies and subsequently privatised. He announced his support for the concessioning of railway stations, as well as for the outsourcing of ticket sales to private companies.

BDZ is considering the implementation of Ro-La services in cooperation with ÖBB. These services will cover mainly Turkish TIR lorries, which will be mounted on wagons at Svilengrad and will be transported along two routes. One of them goes via Serbia and Hungary to Austria, the second route goes via Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia to Austria. BDZ proposed some time ago to lease 50 Ro-La wagons from ÖBB as the Austrian railways have a surplus of such wagons. The necessity for Ro-La services became urgent after the number of accidents with freight lorries in the region of Kniazhevo. Furthermore, BDZ has prepared the tender documentation for the procurement of 300 Ro-La wagons. It is a well-known fact that EU member countries have prohibited the operation of heavy road vehicles on weekends. This restriction will be applied in Bulgaria on the accession of our country into the EU in 2007. Along the route from Kapikule to Austria there are 4-5 borders, heavy congestion and long stopping times.