Almost 5,000 workers of the state-owned enterprise "Moldova’s Railways" have not received their salaries for five months. The people refuse to go to work and intend to protest, but the enterprise simply has no money, writes logos-pres, quoted by IPN.
The difficult financial and economic situation is confirmed by the management of “Moldova’s Railways". The enterprise’s priority is to clear the salary arrears of 156 million lei, accumulated between August and December 2024. The management's attempts to improve the situation by selling unused equipment – locomotives, old wagons, defective equipment – have not yielded results.
According to the quoted source, due to lack of funds, the Chisinau-Bender and Balti-Rogojeni suburban train routes were canceled on January 12. The only domestic route left is Chisinau-Ungheni.
The Public Property Agency, which is the founder of "Moldova’s Railways" and controls the enterprise, on January 23 informed about the current situation. "In the context of the growing financial and administrative difficulties witnessed by the Railways, the PPA notified the enterprise for several times, clearly instructing the enterprise’s management to benefit from the unused assets, to control losses from thefts and inefficient property management. However, a dangerous situation arose. The PPA is constituting an audit committee in order to get more actively involved in identifying the problems".
Moldova’s Railway the last time paid the salary for July 2024. And the people are desperate. Thus, the workers of the Ocnița railway station say that they are forced to live with debts while waiting for the money. The station has 36 employees, but only a few people can be seen there – a foreman, a keeper and three other people. If the Ocnita station does not work, the Kiev-Chisinau passenger train route will have to be canceled. Freight transit trains could not run either. Workers of the Ocnita station said they will quit their jobs and stop working in February if they are not rewarded for their work.
In case of problems in the operation of the Ocnita station, the implementation of the project for the railway corridor Vălcineț - Ocnita - Balti - Ungheni - Chisinau - Căinari will be under threat. Trains run through the north of Moldova to Ungheni and the port of Giurgiulești. Currently, this is the main transit route for Ukrainian goods to/from Ukraine through Moldova to EU countries.
Ion Zaporojan, chairman of the Trade Union Federation of Railway Workers, said he has repeatedly stated that Moldova’s Railways is a strategic facility. The enterprise must be preserved. The railway workers are desperate as all their previous calls to the authorities have not been heard. Workers tender their resignation and leave. This means that trains are no longer running. With the entry into force of the Railway Code, it was necessary to allocate funds from the budget for the maintenance of infrastructure and the payment of passenger transport.
The trade union leader reminded that in Moldova there is no state support mechanism for the railway sector, as it is practiced in European countries.
In the last 10 years, the total losses of Moldova’s Railways rose to almost 2 billion lei. The number of employees halved. Almost all domestic suburban train routes had to be canceled and only international passenger routes to Bucharest and Kiev remained.
