Minister of Transport Israel Katz will not close Israel Railways on August 17, and his rail safety plan will be implemented, sources involved in the marathon talks between Israel Railways management and workers committee and Ministry of Transport officials believe .
Israel Railways' board of directors is continuing discussions on understandings reached in talks with other parties at the company. A source told ''Globes'', "Everything is open."
However, sources in the negotiations told "Globes" that agreements have been reached on 90% of the disputes, and they believe that the remaining issues will be resolved by Thursday's press conference.
Katz will convene the press conference at 11:30 am, together with ministry and railway officials. Ministry of Transport said that the conference will be held immediately after Katz and Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini strike a deal.
In mid-June, Katz threatened to close the railways if safety was not improved, and to keep them closed until the safety flaws were fixed.
The main points of the Ministry of Transport plan are increased supervision and enforcement of railway operations, tighter hiring terms for new employees (such as requiring train drivers to undergo thorough training and tests), and regular testing of rolling stock. The ministry will effectively become the supervisor and carry out organizational and administrative changes at Israel Railways in order to improve passenger safety, including professional training of employees, and proper hiring procedures.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 3, 2011
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