Yunus Yener, Chairman of TMMOB Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, shared his report on the Reality of Railway in Transportation with the public in a press release.
Pamukova and other railway murders presented as “accidents lanıy stem from the abandonment of the requirements of public administration and engineering sciences
As it is known, despite the warnings of the relevant professional organizations and experts, the high speed train (YHT) services started at the beginning had a very tragic result. 22 On July 2004, Pamukova YHT “accident” which caused the death of 41 citizen and the injury of 81 citizen, was not the last accident. Apart from many subsequent accidents, the train accident that killed 25 people in Tekirdağ Çorlu last year and the YHT “accident an that caused the death of 9 people in Ankara due to lack of signaling are in memory. In the same way last month during the Istanbul-Ankara line YHT expedition due to rainfall on a culvert in Arifiye due to rainfall was seen by the driver of the train shows that the case shows that both the conventional lines and the YHT lines are not serious problems.
Our Railway Report on the Reality of Transportation, which is updated every two years and the full text of which is presented in the appendix, examines the railway policy in detail and identifies the practices for the restructuring of TCDD as an important cause of railway accidents in our country.
Railway management requires central planning from investment to maintenance, renovation, personnel, training and construction of new lines. However, Booz, Allen-Hamilton, Canac, Euromed and so on. 163 annual railway gains are liquidated in accordance with the policy prepared by the institutions and the EU harmonization programs and the liberalization and restructuring of TCDD. Under the policies of liberalization (hence privatization) and restructuring of TCDD, which are imposed by neoliberal policies and stated in all official documents, the institution has been fragmented, the infrastructure and management have been divided, the market service approach has been adopted instead of the public service approach, the engineering services and criteria and technical perfection approach have been abandoned, infrastructure, maintenance, signaling, electrification investments were neglected, maintenance workshops were closed down, TCDD's immovables and ports were sold, vocational high schools, printing and sewing houses, laundries and pharmacies were closed, hospitals were disposed, many stations and workshops were closed or disfunctional. , many public services began to be taken from subcontractors, precarious work patterns became widespread, adopting a lot of work with reduced staff, dry There have been significant declines in the level of staff and qualifications in the sector and political and unqualified cadres have become widespread. In fact, the number of employees of TCDD, which was 1959 thousand 66 in 595, increased to 2000 thousand 47 in 212, 2017 at the end of 17.747; the number of maintenance personnel on the lines where thousands of road and gate maintenance personnel should work has fallen to 39.
In short, public service, the right of safe and cheap transportation based on the benefit of public-society; railways, highways, airlines, maritime operations and the weakening of railway operations.
In the most recent presidential 2019 Year Plan, Turkey is referred to the development of private sector train operations in the framework of the Law on Liberalization of Railway Transport and 2018 years in October as of a public, two private sector companies of railway operations organizer and a private company of which the freight receive agency authorization It indicated.
TCDD, which is the SEE which allocates the most resources to the Treasury due to the YHT lines, has used 2017 billion appropriation by exceeding the appropriation of 5,7 billion TL allocated under the 5,8 Year Investment Program, but according to the TCA report, 2017 closed the year with a loss of approximately 2 billion TL. Total balance sheet loss of the Agency with the previous years exceeded 18 billion TL. It is also stated in the TCA report that TCDD should focus on the modernization of conventional lines.
On the other hand, it should be noted that railways have been pushed to the secondary plan since the 1950s due to their road-weighted transportation policies. According to official data, the rate of road passenger transport in 1950 is 49,9, while today 88,8 is; road freight transportation has also increased to 17,1 percent while 89,2 percent. The ratio of rail passenger transport is 1950 in 42,2, whereas it is now 1; rail freight transport also declined from 55,1 percent to 4,3 percent.
Indicators for railway line lengths also point to important facts. The 4 thousand 112 km of railway lines were used in the 67 year before the declaration of the Republic; 3 thousand 746 km 1923 year between 1950-27; 945 km 1951 year between 2003-52; thousand 649 km were built in the 2003 year between the years 2018-15. At the end of the year 2017, there is a total length of 213 thousand 12 km with a thousand 608 km of YHT. So 1950 post 68 per year but 4 thousand 732 km railway was made.
On average, 62 km in the pre-Republic period, 1923 km in the 1950-139 period, 1951 km in the 2003-18 period, and 2003 km in the 2017-117 period.
1923-1950 period compared to the railroad facilities of today Turkey can be understood that the possibilities of how little importance is given today. Although YHT is a requirement, the exclusion of freight transport is applied with the emphasis on passenger transport and image / prestige, and since 2009, only 134 km lines can be built on average per year.
Of the existing railway lines, 4 thousand 660 km is electric and 5 thousand 534 km is signal. Their percentages in the total length of the road are respectively 37 (4 thousand 660 km) and percent 44 (5 thousand 534 km) respectively.
On the other hand, there are two different projections other than YHT. The first one is “High Speed Railway Projects” and the other is “High Speed Railway Lines.. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure "Us and Accessing Turkey 2018" While it is positive planning the construction of the line described in the document entitled, 2023 12 thousand km of high-speed and as targets for the year 915 speed rail line; 12 thousand 115 km 25 thousand 30 km line; The target of 2023-2035 is to reach 31 thousand km. However, it is possible to say that these goals are not realistic when 17 annual restructuring of power and line construction, maintenance, renovation, electrification, signaling practices are considered.
However, an accurate rail policy, public administration, public service perspective, integrated planning of transport with integrated elements such as cost, land, life, security, energy efficiency, environment must be based on such elements. At this point, it should be noted that the cost of railway construction is more economical than flat roads in 8 times, and in medium uneven terrain 5 times. While the ratio of railways in the total energy consumption is 2 percent, the energy consumption of the highways is above 80 percent.
For a return to a correct rail policy, transport policies should be determined on the axis of Combined Transport, which includes the combination of road, rail, maritime, airline transport in a single, economic, environmental, safe and fast way to form a single transport chain.
All modes of transport should be harmonized and the weight should be given to railway transportation and freight and passenger transportation should be developed in a planned manner.
All liberalization and privatization of infrastructure, vehicles, land, facilities, operations and immovables on railways as well as transfers to municipalities and third parties should be stopped. Out-of-service maintenance and repair facilities and all facilities must be re-used.
The disintegration of the TCDD, the appointment of political cadres and the massacre of experts at all levels should be ended. TCDD's personnel deficit caused by wrong policies should be solved within the scope of scientific professional technical criteria, not political, and the criteria of engineering sciences and competent staff should be given importance. TCDD should cooperate with universities and professional chambers in order to train qualified personnel and vocational training should be developed.
Operational improvements should be made to assess idle capacities in railway modes, all lines affecting transport safety must be repaired in a serious and complete manner, and electrification and signaling requirements must be met immediately.
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