Danger of traffic light blackout due to Siemens

The collateral damage from the black political money of Siemens and contracts worth of million euros that remain stuck, range from traffic lights to metro and OSE trains. Since 2008 the competitions for 7 new stations in Elliniko, Haidari and Peristeri, which will service 500.000 daily passengers, have been frozen!

Also, in about a month, the contract agreement for traffic light maintenance with Alktir is closing, another privileged area for Siemens and if there isn’t a new competition, 1.200 lights in Attica are in danger of switching off.

In the middle of fall the ministry introduced the tactic of broken contracts, wanting to secure the continuation in maintenance. In one of these «mini» competitions Siemens participated with Signalbau Huber, another German company which was pushed aside for technical reasons leaving the former company on its own. The ministry was forced to cancel the project, then recently re-auction it and wait for the outcome.

In the Athens metro, the company’s ghost has cost much in terms of the development of the project due to the refusal of two ministers (Giorgos Souflias initially and Reppas now) to sign the contract for electro-mechanical systems of 45mil euros. Without it, the safe  of the metro trains is not possible.

«We are waiting for clarifications from the ministry to move on with the projects as the signaling contract is the only crucial point left to complete all the work» said on protothema.gr the president of Attico Metro Christos Tsitouras, underliningthe fact that after the go-ahead from the governmen,t the contract would have to be verified by the board of the company and then pass through the audit conference. They have estimated that even if it is signed tomorrow it will take 6-12 months to complete the project but according to Tsitouras they will try to shrink it down to 9-10 months.  

Under normal conditions the new network would have been completed in stages by the summer of 2011!
 

The construction sites are being dismantled but the trains remain stationary

And while in Attico metro they are waiting for the new stations to unblock, work in the metro is moving so fast that in a while the construction sites will have been dismantled but the stations will remain locked.

It’s characteristic that in many stations like Peristeri the validation machines are in place and the restructuring of a 9-acre square is finished. The parking spaces are nearly finished in Haidari while the restoration of the environment in Elliniko gives the impression that the stations will soon be open.

Progress is marked in the extensions towards Piraeus, since during the week it is expected that the auction issues will be handed out to the participants to move to contest to its second phase. The extensions have been dragging since 2008 as Aktor had the bad luck to team up with Siemens for this 515mil contract. The synthesis of the consortium provoked Prodromos Emfietzoglou's "Michaniki", who found a chance to report the competition to the EC. But the case is now closed.

Signaling problems are also encountered on the rail network and due to Siemens again, the contract for wireless communications is frozen (GSMAR) for which the German company is asking for 7mil-euro compensation!
 
Reassessment and Integrity Agreements

The government seems determined to untie the Gordian knot that keeps crucial projects in the transport sector blocked, after the end of the Investigation Committee. Towards this end, they are planning to re-evaluate the competitions won by Siemens and enlist the Integrity Agreement that will apply to all future competitions. It means that participants will not bribe or use unclean methods during the auction, a method supported around the world by the German company itself and used by countries with increased levels of corruption such as Colombia, Paraguay and Indonesia!

The Infrastructure minister Dimitris Reppas will include it to the new bill on public projects.  
 
Two major contests for traffic lights at 7,5mil euros

The situation remains chaotic in another crucial project for the capital, which is the function and maintenance of 1.200 traffic lights.

The problem arose at the beginning of the previous summer, when the contract with Siemens ended and the ministry recruited minor contracts to avoid a total blackout. But despite the fact that there is a solution for the maintenance of non-specialized equipment from indigenous companies, in the part of the software which is the «brains» of the traffic light systems, the German company has the last word.

Excluding 450 sets that are controlled by the ministry's maintenance crews, 75% of the lights is controlled by Siemens and 25% by Signalbau Huber.

Besides the new competition that will have to go public to find a replacement for Alktir, two more major ones are on. One, at 5,5mil, is about the maintenance of non-specialized equipment and is at the stage of being awarded, but it has been temporarily blocked due to objections. And the other at 2mil euros are about the software and became public last Thursday.