The fourth of the six in total new passenger trains, three more of which are expected to be delivered to Macedonia, will be put into use in the beginning of May, Telegraf.mk reads.
The assembly has arrived but in order to be able to operate, it has to go through several tests. In the meantime, the three previously procured passenger trains are working in line with the set itineraries.
According to officials with the Macedonian Railway Transportation company, the trains have excellent characteristics, but nonetheless, only several months after they had been put to use, they have suffered damages. Several days ago, a group of young men threw rocks at one of the three trains.
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The Macedonian Government has acquired six new passenger train compositions from the Chinese CRRC company, and the first one of them was put to use last year. The investment stands at EUR 25 million. Four of the six passenger trains run on diesel engines while the other two have electric motors.
Macedonian Railway Transportation says the citizens can witness that due to the reckless and violent behavior of a small portion of the passengers the undisturbed traffic has been disabled at times. The trains have surveillance cameras installed, but the company says no body has been penalized thus far because that is not its goal.
"We need to raise the awareness with that smaller group of citizens who believe these trains need to be destroyed so that in the future, they and all those who respect the social capital, can enjoy in the quality, efficient and effective railway transportation service in Macedonia for a longer period of time. Because, however much we invest in terms of finances, tangible and human resources in enhancing the railway traffic, maintaining the vehicles and the infrastructure and in raising the level of our services, if there are such destructive forms of action, then the result will not be appropriate with the invested effort, and in the end, those destructive individuals will criticize the railways in Macedonia and the fact they are not maintained on the necessary level," said Kire Dimanoski, head of the passenger transportation department of the Macedonian Railway enterprise.
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In the meantime, the Government has released a tender for the supply of three new electric engines, which is an investment worth EUR 7 million. The tender procedure will last until June 2, and the engines should be delivered in the country by July.
Otherwise, the six new trains have the capacity to carry 1,200 passengers. They were manufactured in line with contemporary standards, and they have modern equipment, an electronic steering board, cameras instead of exterior mirrors, monitors in the engine drivers cabins, as well as air conditioning and vacuum toilets.
The trains used in Macedonia before were more than 3 decades old. Previously, the Government procured 150 freight cars, worth EUR 13 million, as part of the same project.