Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 13
Trend:
Azerbaijan Railways CJSC has tightened control to prevent various cases of scam, Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, told reporters in Baku Oct. 13.
He made the remarks at an event dedicated to the professional holiday of Azerbaijan railway workers.
Gurbanov in his speech said that earlier he also worked in the railway sector, and then he was appointed to a post in a structure of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Transport engaged in roads.
“However, after returning to Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, I witnessed serious problems,” Gurbanov said. “The locomotive fleet was barely operating. Azerbaijan was importing electric and diesel locomotives that had already been exploited for 10-12 years, as well as repaired locomotives used for 20-30 years in Russia.”
“We began to study the car fleet and found out that if the situation doesn’t change, only 123 cars will remain in the fleet by 2023,” Gurbanov noted.
He went on to add that at the time, the communication system in the road infrastructure was also at the lowest level.
"The railway machinists even kept in touch via mobile phones,” he added. “Regression was observed in most areas. Some 70 percent of the wooden sleepers deteriorated.”
“There was no security,” he said. “There were virtually no locomotive depot and administrative buildings. In short, there were problems everywhere. However, I gathered colleagues and started to work."
Gurbanov added that he intends to achieve transparency in the company’s activity.
"We have solved the problems related to irregularities in materials procurement,” he said. “For example, the railroad switches were purchased for 29,000 manats, but 56,000 manats were indicated in the documents. We tightened control to prevent such fraud. Presently, goods and materials are not purchased without tenders."
Azerbaijan Railways CJSC was established in summer 2009. The total length of railways is 2,989 kilometers. The transportation volume amounted to 18 million tons as of late 2015. Some 9.6 million tons of that volume accounted for international transportation. The rolling stock included 19,987 carriages as of early 2016.