Google: "If VR is to be deprived of the postponement of deployment, the claim for compensation must be investigated, says Minister Mika Lintilä.
Mika Lintilä (Central), responsible for state ownership steering, is disappointed by the shortcomings identified in the coordination of the new VR-Group's access control systems for Sr3 locomotives.
Unexpected emergency braking has prevented the use of locomotives in passenger traffic for more than a year and has limited them to freight trains.
“When VR has made this deal, it has assumed that the locomotive is working for the purpose for which it was acquired, ie passenger and freight traffic,” says Lintilä.
See the video above to see how new Sr3 locomotives were introduced in 2017.
Yesterday, IS told about the biggest 300 million euros in VR's history of sourcing. The Sr3 locomotives manufactured by Siemens have not been used to drive passenger trains because the EU-standard access control system for locomotives has not been available on the Finnish rail network.
Read more: VR bought over 300 million locomotives that are not usable on passenger trains
VR informs the Minister about the problems of locomotives that have risen to the public yesterday.
- I find it quite clear that this is the responsibility of Siemens. They have known that this is the problem of coordination and are committed to solving it in cooperation with the parties, says Lintilä.
Petri Auno, Director of Traffic at VR Group, stated yesterday (IS 7.1) that the delay in the planned deployment of locomotives has not caused VR such damage that Siemens would have been liable.
Read also: VR's new locomotives make unnecessary emergency braking - now the driver who has been involved in trial runs
According to the Minister of Finance, which oversees the interests of the state and taxpayers in VR, the potential losses resulting from the delay in the use of locomotives must be strictly observed.
- The most important thing is to solve the problem first. In the process, however, the VR must assess all the time whether there is a clear financial loss. If any, they will be able to claim compensation.
Do you know that the delay in the introduction of the Sr3 locomotives would have caused losses to the VR Group?
- It must be asked by VR. It is impossible for me to know if this has caused them any harm. However, I think it is clear that if there is a clear financial loss, they will be asked for compensation. It is also VR's interest, the Minister says.
Within the state administration, friction is caused by the fact that infrastructure management is the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, but the VR Group operating the Sr3 locomotives is responsible for its results to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the operator VR is responsible for the parts of the cost control system in the train equipment.
After the disastrous Jyväskylä and Jokela train injuries caused by the devastating speed of the 1990s, a separate JKV access control system was created in Finland, the construction of which will continue until the 2020s.
However, VR has to evaluate all the time whether there is a clear financial loss.
The problems with the new Sr3 are essentially due to the fact that they are equipped with the European ETCS access control system required by the EU Commission, which has not been smoothly adapted to the Finnish JKV system. If any system crashes, the entire train makes emergency braking.
The Pan-European Access Control System is part of the EU Transport Policy Program, which aims to harmonize the safety of track systems. This, in turn, facilitates the opening up of competition to national rail monopolies. In principle, Finland could have applied for an exemption from ETCS accession due to its geographic location and different track gauge, but this was not the case. The widely used ETCS system was expected to reduce the cost of the access control system because its maintenance is shared among several countries.
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