Sorin Grindeanu, the Minister of Transport, made a series of very important last-minute announcements, during a press conference organized today, he was speaking officially about the tragedy in Galati the past few days, he was talking about problems that exist within the system railway from Romania, and not only.
Sorin Grindeanu explains below how he found out about the tragedy in Galati, what decisions have been made so far regarding the situation at CFR, but also what will happen in the next period, as new measures are needed so that others similar events should not take place in the following weeks and months.
"After the current investigation is finished, the control body of the ministry will be sent to Galati, because I don't want the investigation related to this accident to interfere with this report of the control body. I am demanding, first of all with myself (n. ed. asked if he is satisfied with what he did for the safety of travelers), and there is always room for improvement. Nobody is perfect, whoever says that perfection is embodied, run away from them, those are people who time. There is always room for better.
On Saturday evening, 5 minutes after the accident in Galati, I was informed by the ISU, by Mr. Arafat, about the occurrence of this accident. I alone asked for data from Mr. Arafat, he provided me with what he knew. The first person I saw was the general director Preoteasa, who went to Galati that evening, and is still there now.
Railway incidents are very frequent, and this is known, certainly fortunately without victims. A company, if we want to put it on the right footing, and this has been criticized for years, that 109 does not apply to state companies. We did this, and as you know, this board of directors selected by law 109 is in the process of selecting the new general manager.
Mr. Preoteasa currently does not have a mandate of 4 years, according to law 109. The only ones who have a mandate according to law 109, selected, are those from the board of directors, which in turn, according to the law, is to select a new general director for the next 4 years on law 109. I do not have an exact number of railway incidents in the last month.
Mr. Preoteasa is now at the funeral, and after the railway accident, it was transmitted, as far as I know, by those from the CFR, and the family was contacted, this is what the director informed me. All the things that have not been solved in Romania for about 30 years, there is underfunding of this railway system, and not just underfunding, and other things, and they cannot be solved by a resignation."
