Do not get off track: CEO of Israel Railways at eye level

Micha Meiksner has already developed the Merkava tank in the IDF service and managed companies in the field of transportation and infrastructure, but it is doubtful if anything has prepared it for the public outcry that accompanies the management of Israel Railways.

Interview with the man who tries not to follow the train

Liat Ron

05/01/2022

Wednesday, 05 January 2022, 14:09 Updated: Thursday, 06 January 2022, 08:59

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At the end of our conversation, I asked Micha Meiksner, CEO of Israel Railways for the past two and a half years, what grade he gives to the body he heads. Meiksner, hesitating and not in a hurry to answer. A score of nine, while most passengers, presumably, would have given it a significantly lower score.

Train passengers maintain an emotional love-hate relationship with it. And Europe, a transportation dream. Only here it is not Europe, and the lot of Israelis who are pushed to it on the docks is overcrowding, lateness, problematic availability and stopping service early in the evening and on weekends.

Meiksner is in no hurry to throw out numbers and prefers to add a complement: "What grade would a mother give who forgot the girl on the train and two stops after she found out, an inspector brought her to her? To them even before they passed the inspection at Ben Gurion Airport?

"In the end," he says, "the train consists of four companies: transportation, infrastructure, cargo transportation and real estate - the stations and docks. "Medium because their transport is affected by the infrastructure works and giving priority to the passenger trains over them, and on the passenger train our accuracy is 96%. We are not Germany in all aspects, but we are constantly improving."

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CEO of the train at work: "We are not Germany in all aspects, but we are constantly improving" (Photo: Shabtai Tal)

electric bill

Part of the improvement in the service to which the train aspires depends on the widening of the tracks, which we will reach later, and the creeping electrification project, which stretches over more than two decades and causes lines to shut down at 21:00 in the evening and on weekends, making it difficult.

The electrification of the railway tracks was launched as an idea in 2000 and began physically in 2017, with an investment of NIS 12 billion.

As part of this, the Israel Railways is supposed to generate electricity about a thousand kilometers around the country (the vast majority of passenger lines) instead of the infrastructure for transporting diesel trains.

As part of the project, 15 electric hate stations will be set up that draw the high voltage from the electricity company, and match the voltage appropriate to the train's activity.

At the same time, garages and technical treatment complexes are also being built from north to south.

"We need to distinguish between trains with a locomotive, carriages and at the end a moving carriage that pushes them and the second type, electric carriages, which have no locomotive and come as a group of carriages that can be extended and shortened. It was supposed to end in 2020, but only in that year the first line to Jerusalem was prepared, so there is an 11-year delay and it was supposed to end only in 2031. Relations with the contractor also ran aground and he was already sitting on the luggage on the way to Spain. New with the contractor and the schedule is significantly shorter, with the expected completion of the electrification being in 2025.

"When I took the job I learned that in order to build the infrastructure, train traffic must be stopped, and when electrification is done from south to north, it means harming passengers. In 2019 the train carried 70 million passengers a year while the forecast for 2025 is 110 million passengers. "Growing the population in Israel. In order to achieve this, we need to double the tracks and strengthen the trains."

"Because to get to work on the tracks, heavy tools and hundreds of workers are put in there. On average, when there is no 150% occupancy, 600 tons, like two and a half jumbo jets.Therefore the requirement for safety is maximum, an event of accident or injury can end in a terrible disaster.

"In the past the contractor used to work in the field for an hour and a half net, even though he demanded a 24/7 clean track that we could not give him, because then the trains were completely disabled. I try to concentrate the works when there is a minority of passengers, at night and on weekends. Today we give him between 4 and 5 hours of work and on Friday and Saturday he is allocated the tracks and he can work 48 hours in a row properly. "It

.

" We employ foreign workers on weekends and if necessary Special work. It is clear that there are places, like Bnei Brak, that we do not dare to reach. "

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"This difficult challenge is performed in sections. Every time you finish working on a section, you open it and return the traffic to the series. For a year and nine months, during the corona, we worked on the line to Ashkelon and inaugurated it two weeks ago and returned the service to four trains per hour."

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"It was on the first day of launch. Running such a line is a complex matter and we are constantly checking our accuracy online. I can say that 2021 ends with an accuracy of 96.5%. When I got on the train it was 84%."

The data on the "disappearing trains", those that "evaporate" and do not arrive at all, the noises that force passengers to wait for the next train and pray that there will be room in it, or the shuttles that will pick them up at the next point, are unknown.

Members of the vibrant Facebook group "By Train" often asked the train to post them, and were rejected.

Meiksner does not specify the number, but claims that it is only a few percent.

"Every train like this contains thousands of passengers and if they experience three or four accidents a day, they are obviously hurt and angry. Tell me, give a few more trains and the load will be resolved. I wish it was like that.

You have to understand that the train is a network. To enter and this complexity allows us to operate on the Haifa-Tel Aviv line a maximum of 10 trains per hour one way, and no more can be added to increase frequency.

In terms of rail development, we are ten to twenty years behind. "

Meissner on the tracks: "In terms of track development, we are ten to twenty years behind" (Photo: Shabtai Tal)

The battle with Nati

The fourth railway in Ayalon is supposed to help reduce congestion, but instead of working with all our might, you and Nati, who share the tender for the construction of the project, are busy quarreling.

"Ayalon centralizes 80% of train traffic in Israel. Every disruption in Ayalon disrupts the schedule throughout the country, because it is the heart of the heart. The fourth track is supposed to add 30% to train traffic. We think the fourth track should be built entirely by the train.

The reference I made in this matter to the director general of the Ministry of Transportation was respectful and should not stop the work of Nati. Unfortunately instead of ending in 2025, the fourth track is only scheduled to end in 2030.

"We are the ones who have to approve the plans and when I see them, they want to close Ayalon for a period of between four and five months. Let's see how the prime minister approves to paralyze all train traffic in the country for such a period. Therefore I argue that such a contracting project should be "The one who plans the traffic, the schedules and the safety trust. The CEO of Nati is a talented writer and elsewhere they do a great job. The fourth track should be managed by the CEO of the railway."

Meiksner: "The CEO of Nati is a talented writer and in other places they do a great job. The fourth track should be managed by the CEO of the railway" (Photo: Shabtai Tal)

And he ascended to the threshing floor

Meiksner, 63, holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in business administration. After 12 years he moved to manage the metal recycling company and eight years ago as CEO of the railway he headed "Imco Industries"

. What I believe in and I appreciate and thank the public for his patience. There is a syllable critique, but also a lot of paragon. I "so appreciate our employees for their dedication, this is a young age group and I love them and love being there."

"Because we are limited to four per hour. Looking to the future, when there is a fourth track and when the coastal track is doubled that can drive trains at 250 km / h, instead of the limit of 120-140 km / h today, the journey between Tel Aviv and Haifa will take half an hour and the frequency will be higher. , And this is also true of BS-Tel Aviv. At the end of the quarter, the high-speed line between Modi'in and Jerusalem will open with two trains per hour. "

" We are developing in this area. Ashkelon station has a bus terminal and with the help of the system the driver knows in real time when the train arrives. In Afula, too, we make coordinated shuttles to the hospital and in Bnei Brak to the industrial area. At the end and at the beginning, the train is meant to provide a service to passengers, hence everything is born. "

Abroad, bicycles are encouraged to get to and from the train. We have problems for riders.

"We encourage the use of bicycles, but the congestion during peak hours does not allow us to put them in carriages. We turn the lower floor in two-storey carriages into urban carriages, take out benches and tables and allow standing like a bus. .

Micha Meiksner in his office.

Every year on a train is equivalent to seven years for a person ... (Photo: Yoram Reshef)

"I do not see the house"

The Ministry of Communications announced the privatization of the post office. Maybe it's time to privatize the train as well.

“When trains are privatized abroad, the state continues to own the infrastructure and traffic management and the franchisees are given the right to operate the train. Our conditions do not allow us to work with a contractor, because in the tender we will be required to meet a specified number of trains per hour, during maintenance times in garages, which we can not meet, and the money saved in privatization will be paid in fines. The state is not ripe to privatize the train. "

" When I got on the train I found the stations old and neglected. In the bathroom the floor was green with the smell of urine. We renovated from the foundation to the taps 50 of the 70 stations we have. I'm crazy about the awnings. And I also want the women to have more than three toilet cubicles, the docks to be covered and accessible,It is in the process. "

What is still in the process is the complex relationship that the railway management has with the workers' committee, with negotiations on a new collective agreement. The latest episode includes a recent petition by the committee and the Histadrut to the Labor Court The committee claims that this is a change in arrangements made without coordination and without negotiations.

"We are in advanced negotiations on the collective agreement," Meiksner says, "and if the committee wants to reach agreements, we will reach them. We have done everything possible responsibly and we try to address sensible demands, but there are things that are under the authority of the Ministry of Finance and the Commissioner for Wages. The workers' committee stopped the Ashkelon project and caused it to be postponed for several months by the Modiin line. We try to work with them in a logical way. "

He laughs that every year of his three years in office is a year of a dog, equivalent to seven years of man.

"I do not see the house and I have no complaints in this matter. This work is full of challenges and achievements and I have a committed and winning management. In two years the current term is coming to an end. You ask what next? It is still very far away."

The full interview with Micha Meiksner, CEO of Israel Railways, will also be published in the "Business" issue of Maariv, Friday, 7.1

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Tags

• Israel Railways

• Netivei Israel

• Ayalon lanes

• Department of Transportation