Benefits should go only to those railway workers who deserve it

9. 3. 2010 / Boris Cvek

Cvek complains about his experiences with the railway workers as a user of the railway system. As a long time traveller in the tracks around Olomouc (he used to go everyday between Olomouc and Kojetin and Olomouc-Uničov, for 15 years he does Krnov-Olomouc), he learned to almost hate the workers of the Czech Railways. He says that the Krnov-Olomouc trip would often be 10 to 15 minutes late, thanks to what he, for a full month, could not arrive on time to catch his bus home, so he had to walk about 5 km or spend 130 Czech crowns in a cab. Plus, he points to the degraded restrooms, seats etc. Not to mention the way those workers communicate and deal with passengers: total disregard, no disposition of aiding anyone. He considers that to travel by train used to be an experience close to horror and left one on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Nevertheless, Cvek says he found some positive changes lately. From last holiday season the trains have been running on time, he can catch his bus home without any delays and more often than not the schedules are followed with precision. It also seems that there is better communication and more care. He even mentions a situation when a locomotive broke down between in Valšov u Bruntál and passengers, knowing how the Czech Railways is, started calling around to find a lift home, but all of a sudden a railway worker announced that they had a special bus for us on the way. "Wonderful!", he exclaims, incredulous.

Cvek also mentions the creation of a First Class section in the speed-trains betweem Krnov and Olomouc. He was skeptical, at first, that anyone would pay extra for something like that. But in the end he got pleasantly surprised that a considerable amount of people pay for the first class section. On the other hand, he describes a nightmarish tale that happened with him a couple of weeks earlier. The trip in a so-called "speed" train (which Cvek has difficulty calling that line or those trains "fast", but they supposedly, officially, are so...) at 17:07 from Olomouc do Krnov was full of troubles.

There was no heating and the railway worker that went numerous times back and forth did not waste his time explaining whether the temperature would be fixed or not. Passengers sat quietly, afraid to ask anything. Little by little everybody started to put on their jackets or pullovers... People who had paid for and were seating at the first class part of the wagon at some point could no longer stand the cold and moved down to the second class train, where it was probably warmer. Cvek doubts that anyone had the guts to imagine that they could or should get paid back the difference in the price of the ticket.

So Cvek declares that the simple thought of the workers of such a miserably bad administered colossus having the audacity to consider going on a strike for their benefits, not to mention salaries, seems to him shameless. So he advises the Czech Railways to actually motivate their workers by giving higher gains and benefits only to those, who in effect works well.

Vytisknout