Concerned about the alarming state of the train fleet of "Lietuvos Geležinkelių", the deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party faction of the Seimas, Eugenijus Sabutis, wrote to the Head of the Government, Ingrida Šimonytė, asking her to initiate an investigation, according to a press release.
"We urge Ingrid Šimonytė and Minister Mariė Skuodis to evaluate the available facts in order to determine whether AB is currently "Lithuanian railways"The condition of the trains and public infrastructure in operation meets the requirements for smooth and safe passenger transportation," says the parliamentarian.
E. Sabutis emphasizes that "Lietuvos geležinkeliai" must be guided by the interests of society, and not only by narrow calculations of benefits and profits.
He draws attention to the fact that information about broken down and delayed trains appears in the public space more and more often.
"Passengers are experiencing huge inconveniences and losses, but there are more and more testimonies that it is increasingly difficult for people to demand clear information from the administration of "Lithuanian Railways", even though the legal acts provide a clear procedure for how customers should be treated in the event of incidents," comments E. Sabutis.
According to him, the decisions of the management of "Lietuvos geležinkėliau" raise many doubts.
"It seems that they are trying to save money at the expense of passenger safety, mass layoffs of employees, and such decisions ultimately cause not only inconvenience, but also danger to the health and life of passengers.
This happens when the interests of economic benefits are placed above the duty to ensure the safety of passengers", comments social democrat Eugenijus Sabutis.
The parliamentarian recalls a series of recent incidents: after the train broke down, people traveling from Vilnius to Klaipėda did not reach their homes until the next morning - the journey took almost half a day.
"One incident after another shows that the situation is becoming unpredictable - it is necessary to immediately assess the state of the train fleet. We see that the passenger trains break down more and more often, they are pulled by old locomotives, but they too cannot withstand the load.
The increasing number of cases when trains are changed is worrying: an old passenger train arrives instead of an underground one. This is a blow to people with mobility disabilities. A train set-up changed at the last minute without warning can mean the end of the journey for a disabled person", comments E. Sabutis.
The parliamentarian suspects that not all information about the incidents reaches the public.
"It took a special journalistic investigation to find out that in March two passenger trains almost collided. A major catastrophe was narrowly avoided", E. Sabutis notes.
He is surprised that the representatives of "Lietuvos geležinkėliau" did not comment on the incident in more detail, although the incident happened in March, the message did not become public until May.
Jadvyga Bieliavska (ELTA)
