Every two days a derailment occurs on the railway tracks in Bulgaria - be it a train, wagon or locomotive, admitted Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadjov. The alarming statistics were shared on national air during an interview broadcast in the morning block of bTV.
"Every two days a derailment occurs on the railway tracks - of a train, wagon, locomotive", said Karadjov. He stressed that the state of the Bulgarian railways is extremely worrying, with various railway accidents occurring in the country every day.
Particularly worrying, according to the minister, is the fact that our country does not have modern methods for electronically stopping trains in the event of a driver's error.
"We do not have modern methods for electronically stopping trains when the driver makes a mistake or the so-called "ejectors", explained the Minister of Transport.
Karadzhov's words come just days after the incident at Kalitinovo station, where the first carriage of the fast train from Burgas to Sofia derailed. According to the minister, the accident in Kalitinovo was extremely serious.
"The accident in Kalitinovo is very serious. "The driver is entirely to blame for this accident," Karadjov was categorical, adding that the drivers were driving at 100 km/h in a section where the speed limit is 40 km/h.
However, he noted that only the driver's quick reaction prevented a much more serious incident. "The drivers acted adequately after that. They were driving at 100 km/h where they should have been driving at 40. This incident could end with many victims and many injured people," Karadjov warned.
In the interview, the minister also mentioned that quite a few accidents have occurred on the railway tracks in the past few months. In June, a locomotive without wagons caught fire, and a few days later, the locomotive of the Varna - Sofia fast train caught fire. In August, tankers of a freight train caught fire near the village of Pyasuchevo in Haskovo.
Karadzhov also announced that express trains on the Sofia - Varna line will stop operating after the end of the summer season. As an alternative, an express train is being considered on the Plovdiv - Varna route, which will have the possibility of changing the composition at Karnobat station. The fast train on the Sofia - Burgas line will continue to run until the end of September.
At the end of the interview, the minister reminded that changes to the new Road Traffic Act will come into force on September 6, which will allow the detection of average speed initially in 22 sections, and by mid-October the system will cover over 1,200 km of the country's road network.