The foreign-sounding clanking of the train wheels

• Unions claim that the Government is planning to do a secret privatization of CFR Călători, after it has announced already that it would sell CFR Marfă

• CFR Călători: "Such an idea was never discussed" • Ticket inspectors blamed for the company"s financial problems

Union leaders, consulted by BURSA claim that the Government is preparing to privatize CFR Călători, the traveler division of the Romanian Railway Company (CFR).

They said that they can back their claims, as the plans for the reorganization of the company - which is being monitored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - which include among other things layoffs and sending employees on technical unemployment by months on end are not working.

Their statements can be backed by the company"s financial status: On June 30, the debts of CFR Călători had increased 5.3 million lei from the end of March to 24.7 million lei, and by 9.5 million lei compared to December 31st 2009, according to data from the National Tax Administration (ANAF).

The company"s debts have increased compared to the first quarter, even though in spring the company laid off some of its employees.

Constantin Dascălu, secretary of state in the Ministry of Transport, said that the company failed to meet the target set for the level of its arrears in agreement with the IMF,

There are now rumors that apart from the 3,000 employees that were sent on technical unemployment, the company plans to lay off 3,900 employees out of a total of approximately 15,000.

CFR Călători director Liviu Pescăraşu explained that the reorganization of the company is necessary because the company"s activity and revenues have shrunk by 15 to 20%.

Gheorghe Frăţică, the president of the National Federation of Commercial Transport said: "We suspect a covert privatization of CFR Călători is in the works, a plan that we do not support".

The union leader said: "The company"s debts are not that large but still it has issues and there are plans to put the employees into technical unemployment. Most likely, by the end of the year, they will tell us that the company has run out of money. In my opinion this is exactly what they are planning to do (ed. note. - privatizing the company). We are going to fight this project and I want to tell you that everything is being done < behind closed doors > instead of < out in the open >. If this were to happen, it would make us the only country in the EU that sold its railway passenger transport company".

Gheorghe Frăţică added that in Cluj for instance, there were cases where"as soon as CFR Călători dropped a route from its schedule, a private train operator promptly replaced it".

Ioan Popescu, the leader of the Meridian Union Confederation also spoke of a possible privatization: "Things are kind of < hot > on this matter. I can tell you I"ve been informed this could happen and it is well known that for CFR Călători there are many interested bidders. According to our information, the French would be the most interested in the company".

In reply to the claims made by the unions, the representatives of CFR Călători made the following statement for BURSA: "There were and there currently are no ongoing talks in the government that would mention this possibility". A possible privatization of CFR could be next after the Government already announced it plans that it plans to sell the CFR Marfă division.