In TCDD, the number of trips was reduced due to the pandemic, but the number of accidents did not decrease. There were 56 major train accidents last year. The loss of the institution in 2020 exceeded 1,3 billion TL.
According to the news of İsmail ARI from Birgün; ” The Republic of Turkey State Railways (TCDD) Transportation Inc.'s 2020 Annual Report contains striking information. Accordingly, the loss of the institution increases exponentially every year. Moreover, it is seen that accidents do not decrease even if train services decrease in the institution. It is also remarkable that the rate of women among TCDD personnel is quite low.
NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS DECREASED BUT THE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS DID NOT
According to the report, train services were greatly reduced last year due to the pandemic. For example, there were no flights on the High Speed Train (YHT) between 28 March and 28 May. Then, according to the YHT Summer Tariff, 48 trips should be made, but the number of trips was limited to 16-20.
Despite this decrease in the number of voyages, “56 important accidents” occurred last year. In 2019, “56 important accidents” occurred. Accordingly, although train services decreased significantly last year due to the pandemic, there was no decrease in the number of accidents.
The causes of 56 accidents that occurred last year are as follows: 9 collisions, 18 derailments, 15 level crossing accidents and 14 other causes.
OLD WAGONS ARE USED
The report also included information on the distribution of passenger wagons by age. Accordingly, 4,3 percent of passenger wagons are over 40 years old. While 38,2 percent of the wagons are between the ages of 30-39, 32,4 percent are between the ages of 20-29. Only 25,1 percent of passenger coaches are under 20 years old.
On the other hand, 10,6 percent of freight wagons are over the age of 40, 17,9 percent are between the ages of 30-39, 14,9 percent are between the ages of 20-29, 26,3 percent are between the ages of 10-19 and It is stated that 30,2 of them are under the age of 10.
NUMBER OF PASSENGERS DROPPED 40 PERCENT
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the total number of passengers of TCDD decreased by 2019 percent last year compared to 40. While the number of high-speed train (YHT) passengers decreased by 66 percent, there was a decrease of 31 percent in Marmaray and 45 percent in Başkentray.
MILLIONS OF LIRA CASES
In the report, which also includes the case information of TCDD transferred to 2021, it was stated that the institution was the defendant in 532 separate cases and the cost of these cases reached 50 million TL. The number of lawsuits filed by TCDD was announced as 21.
ONLY 3,6 PERCENT OF STAFF ARE WOMEN
According to the Annual Report, TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş. has a total of 9 personnel. 714 of these personnel are men. The number of female personnel is 9. This means that only 367 percent of TCDD's personnel are female.
TCDD SUBCONTRACTORS ALL WORKS
Evaluating TCDD's loss of 1,3 billion liras for BirGün, United Transport Workers' Union (BTS) Secretary General İsmail Özdemir pointed out that the work done by subcontractors played a major role in this loss. Özdemir made the following assessment: “The works that need to be done by TCDD are outsourced to private companies, and a significant resource is transferred in this way. Even the legal affairs of TCDD are given to lawyers from outside the institution, although TCDD has many lawyers. Training services are also given to subcontractors in the same way. All this is done on the pretext of lack of personnel. Companies that operate high-speed train stations, such as those in Ankara, which are built with the build, operate, transfer model, are paid very serious sums. All of this puts a serious burden on the budget of TCDD, which is a 165-year-old institution.
NEARLY ALL PREVENTABLE ACCIDENTS
Özdemir also mentioned the train accidents and concluded his words as follows: “98 percent of the accidents that occur in TCDD are preventable accidents. Accidents happen due to signaling deficiencies or staff carelessness. In order to prevent accidents, technological investments must be made well. For example, there was a train accident in Kalecik and this accident occurred because the locomotives did not have the necessary safety system. The signaling system is also very important. With this system, personnel errors can be prevented.”
Since most of the managers are people who do not understand the business, such accidents happen. There is no fault of the staff here, I will look for some mistakes in yourself, please do not throw everything on the staff.