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Strike-plagued BDZ may have its 25 Siemens Desiro trains blocked unless it starts paying its EUR 24 M debt to the creditor. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's state-owned railways BDZ may have the 25 Siemens Desiro electric trains blocked through computer software unless it moves to settle the EUR 24 M debt it owes for their purchase.
The trains will be stopped if BDZ fails to find the resources to pay at least half of the debt by the end of the year, said Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovsku at an annual conference on the implementation progress of Operational Programme "Transport" (OPT) in 2011.
He voiced hopes that the upcoming visit of Finance Minister Simeon Djankov in Berlin would see an agreement with the creditor, German bank KFW.
Moskovski said that another way to solve the problem was to release a portion of the BGN 140 M in bridge financing approved by Parliament.
Minister Moskovski urged railway workers still on strike to provide the conditions for smooth rail travel throughout the Christmas holidays.
In the meantime, the collective bargaining agreement between the management of the Freight Services unit at BDZ Holding and the trade unions was sealed on Wednesday.
The management of BDZ' Passenger Services said it expects talks to be renewed on Thursday, so that the collective agreement could be signed by the end of the week.
Thursday is the 22nd day of the railway strike, with no train traffic between 8 am and 4 pm.
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