MOLDOVA COMES OUT FOR JOINT CONTROL OVER RAILROADS CROSSING TRANSNISTRIA
09.03.2010
Moldova agrees on the resumption of the passenger train traffic through the territory of Transnistria only under conditions of the joint security control together with Tiraspol, Minister of Transport and Roads Anatol Salaru said in the program “The Open Studio” in a program of the TV-7 channel.
He explained that only in this way Moldova will be able to guarantee that nothing will happen to passengers and cargoes at the given railroad section.
“But now we cannot guarantee this, as we do not control the Transnistrian section of the Moldovan railroads. We do not know, whether the railway tracks were repaired or not. Besides, there were cases, when good disappeared and trains were detained there” Salaru said.
In his words, until Moldova does not have control over this railroad section, it will not risk.
“We cannot confirm the Transnistrian authorities’ reassurances and we do not believe them, as Transnistria is an unrecognized state, the minister said and communicated that the representatives of both sides had two difficult meetings and the next meeting is slated for the end of March, where the matter will be of the joint control and repair of the railroads and the safe travel of passengers.
As Infotag has already reported, the administration of the Transnistrian Railroad Company sent a letter to Salaru, where it proposed to resume the full-fledged passenger railroad traffic through the territory of the region. Tiraspol is ready to make concessions and to fulfill a number of the conditions, put forward by the administration of the National Railroad Company of Moldova for the resumption of the railroad traffic.
The Transnistrian Railroad Company was set up in August 2004 by means of the alienation of the Bender and the Rybnitsa terminals and the section of the Moldovan Railways crossing the region. To develop its own railway Tiraspol introduced a privileged taxation - 01% from the fixed rate on each income item provided the profit is used for the logistic equipment, re-equipment and personnel encouragement. At first 4.15 million rubles ($520 thousand) were allocated for purchasing the rolling stock. The only Transnistrian diesel locomotive was bought for these resources.
Tiraspol estimated the introduction of the new transit regime for Transnistrian cargoes on the basis of the Moldovan customs clearance on the Moldo-Ukrainian border on March 3 as the economic blockade of the region. In retaliation it blocked the pass of transit trains. After this the Moldovan Railways sent trains in the circumvent of the region.
In August 2004 the law enforcement institutions of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic misappropriated eight branch sections of the Moldovan Railways and a railway track passing through the region. The Transnistrian Railways enterprise was set up on their basis. From that time the Transnistrian authorities began demanding payment from the Moldovan Railways for the transit of trains and a registration fee from passengers. In March 2006 after the introduction of the new transit regime for Transnistrian cargoes on the basis of the Moldovan customs clearance on the Moldo-Ukrainian border Tiraspol estimated it as the economic blockade of the region. In retaliation it blocked the pass of transit trains. After this the National Railroad Company of Moldova sent trains in the circumvent of the region. As a result the Transnistrian Railroad Company is virtually idle and the Transnistrian authorities do not rule out the sale of the company. The conditions of the National Railroad Company for resuming the railroad traffic include the return of the rolling stock, appropriated by Tiraspol, the sale of tickets for lei, the access of Moldovan railroad inspectors to the trains.
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