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Commentary: A series of mistakes in a project that was big on the Israel Railways in the first place - Walla! Business and Consumerism

2020-02-20T02:32:56.860Z


So why has the electrification project become a failure? Because in the end the project remained in the hands of the train and it chose one contractor to do all the electrical work. In addition, the winning bid was unrealistic. Not only...


Interpretation: A series of mistakes in the project from the beginning was a big one on Israel Railways

So why has the electrification project become a failure? Because in the end the project remained in the hands of the train and it chose one contractor to do all the electrical work. In addition, the winning bid was unrealistic. Not only was the price suspiciously cheap, the agreement that unfairly imposed the contractor on it - was too good

The biggest failures are the ones that are invisible - and the train's electric failure is a prime example. The passengers are crammed into the cars, the bystanders breathing in diesel fumes and anyone who forfeits the train ride experience in favor of the private car - all are unaware that the situation could have been completely different. Had the train electrification project been carried out on time, from the end of next year the train would have been offered to travel on faster, quieter and less polluting electric trains. The switch to electric trains would allow the train to increase passenger numbers by about 30% and save tens of millions of shekels on diesel fuel.

But that will not happen before 2025, at the earliest. Why? First, because the electrification project was a big one on the Israel Railways in the first place. The government knew this and contemplated for years how to promote it. In the end, the project remained in the hands of the train and it chose one contractor to do all the electrical work. First mistake. The winning proposal was unrealistic, eye work. A second mistake. Not only was the price suspiciously cheap, but the contract that unfairly imposed the contractor's responsibility and risks - was too good to be true. The Spanish contractor had no experience working in Israel, not least in dealing with the Israeli bureaucracy, but it did not stop the train from imposing on him the responsibility for carrying out the coordination and approvals with the regulators and other bodies - a task that even a stubborn Israeli body would find difficult to meet. Third mistake.

If anyone on the train thought that the unsuspecting Spaniards turned out to be the Israelis who came out with suckers. Because once the project was in their hands, the Spaniards could tweet about everything that was agreed knowing that getting them out of the project would cost more. And meanwhile, the damage is only increasing. The multi-year procurement and procurement program of the train was built on the basis of the electrification project schedules. As a result of the delay in the rail project, hundreds of electric trains are stuck that no one will need in the coming years and on the other hand the diesel train system collapses under the burden of rising demand.

Dan Harel reluctantly entered this bail, after the facts had already been established and the great damage had already been done. Minister of Transport Israel Katz, the man who caused him to resign when he was the Director General of the Ministry of Transport, applied for his honor and called him back to the flag, to save a national project that was in distress. Katz recalls announcing that the highway to Jerusalem would open during Passover 2018 and realized late that the train had no idea when the project would be completed. Harel sounded like a loyal soldier and did his utmost to pull the cart out of the mud. He had to send home to former CEO Shahar Ayalon and run himself It is not surprising that the appointment of a dominant CEO after a long period in which the company was run by a chairman eventually ends with the departure of one of the two.

Source: walla

All business articles on 2020-02-20

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