Elron CEO says new trains or wagons would eliminate problem of crowding

Photo: Albert Truuväärt

The main solution to overcrowding on passenger trains during peak hours would be increasing the fleet of trains, and whether the solution lies in the acquisition of new trains or wagons must be shown by an analysis to be conducted by Elron and the government as the party that places the order for public transport service, the CEO of Elron says.

The CEO, Andus Ossip, said according to spokespeople for the state owned operator of domestic passenger trains that the analysis must be based on a reasonable relationship between the state subsidy and Elron's ticket revenue, that is, whether a possible addition would make sense or not considering the additional costs.

Elron's train fleet at present works with maximum efficiency and while there are some routes that do not suffer from overcrowding, things cannot be changed for the passengers to the extent desired by them with the existing train fleet, departures and passenger numbers, according to the CEO.

«Of course we are aware of the high load on departures on the Viljandi and Tartu routes on Friday and Sunday evenings,» Ossip said. «At the same time, it isn't possible for us to tell people to travel to work on Tuesday and come home on Saturday – it's about objective inevitability, not Elron's inability to reduce overcrowding,» the CEO said.

«Two times a day, during the morning and evening rush hours, we have a shortage of capacity for objective reasons. At other times we rather have enough or more than enough of it,» Ossip said. We are on the lookout on a day-to-day basis to find additional possibilities to ease the situation on individual overcrowded departures. The key today first of all lies in changing the routes operated by longer trains on condition that passengers' comfort on other routes will not deteriorate.