July 2, 2019 - Not even one month after the city and county leaders were photographed in the brand new, air-conditioned train on the inaugural ride from Kopilica to the Split Ferry Port, a dated, vintage locomotive could be seen on the Split railroad tracks this week.
So, why has a much older model replaced our modern metro? Slobodna Dalmacija consulted HŽ Passenger Transport Company to find out more.
“Since we have a new 7023 series train running on the Split - Split suburbs route and vice versa, on which the air conditioner broke the day before yesterday, in its place is the diesel-motor train of the 7122 series. Ongoing repairs of the new train are in progress, after which it will be in circulation again,” replied the state transport company.
The interest for the new Split metro can be seen by the fact that from June 11 to 30 June, from the central station at the Split Ferry Port to the station in Kopilica, the HŽ Passenger Transport company sold 670 return tickets together with HŽ and ‘Promet’, or just over 35 per day.
Since data for June is still being collected, as tickets are sold by both HŽ and the city public transport company ‘Promet’, at the end of the month, however, the calculation may be somewhat more favorable for passengers.
Whether the number of passengers will increase, time will tell, though it might help if the metro kept to their schedule.
Namely, as readers revealed to Slobodna Dalmacija, one train scheduled to depart from Kopilica at 2:03 pm didn’t leave a half hour later!
“The worst is that none of the employees knew which train was departing. Thus, 50 passengers changed trains three times, and in the end, we didn’t even leave until 2:40. In the heat they moved us from train to train rather than let us at least stand in the waiting room,” the reader testified.
HŽ said that the cause of the delay was from a defect on the train that drove from Split to Kaštel Stari.
“Because of this, there was a delay for trains in urban-suburban transport. A substitute train has been introduced in traffic and the traffic is gradually normalized. We apologize to passengers who had difficulties with the train delays,” said HŽ Passenger Transport.
On the bright side, Split’s sense of humour has shined through the new metro fiasco, which you can see in the memes below.
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