ŽICG: Unloading of passenger cars at the railway station in Podgorica completed

The unloading of passenger cars from rail cars has been successfully completed at the Podgorica Railway Station, the Railway Infrastructure of Montenegro (ŽICG) announced.

"Thanks to the coordinated activities of ŽICG management members and employees of the Capital City's tow truck service, as well as the engaged towing services, the process, although complex, proceeded in an organized manner and without any delays," the statement reads.

Vehicle owners have been informed to be present at the station today at 10 am to collect their cars.

"ŽICG employees were also assisted by Želimir Pavićević, an employee of ŽPCG. We would like to thank the Mayor of Podgorica, Saša Mujović, as well as the Acting Head of the Communal Inspection, Branko Kovačević, for their support and assistance in the implementation of this operation. We owe special thanks to the employees on the spider, Jovana Brković and Predrag Božović, whose wholehearted help was crucial to the success of the intervention, as well as to the owners of the towing services for their extraordinary engagement," the statement said.

A group of 85 ŽICG employees, including train dispatchers, remote control dispatchers and traffic dispatchers, suspended their work two days ago, and thus train traffic throughout Montenegro, because they are demanding higher salaries from the company's management.

Due to the suspension of rail transport, the Railway Transport of Montenegro (ŽPCG) has organized alternative bus transport on all routes and for all train departures according to the scheduled timetable, it was announced to the Beta agency earlier today.

For international trains, alternative bus transportation has been organized from Bar to Prijepolje without the transportation of escorted cars.

Due to the traffic suspension, damage and inconvenience were suffered by passengers of the international train, which departed from Belgrade on Thursday evening and arrived in Podgorica around 9 am. With the arrival of the international train in the capital of Montenegro, rail traffic was blocked and the suspension of work began.

Passengers continued their journeys to their destinations by bus, organized by ŽPCG, but some of the passengers' cars remained trapped in the train's passenger cars.

Katarina, one of the train passengers who left Belgrade for a summer vacation in Ulcinj on Thursday evening and whose car was trapped in the train carriage, told Beta that they were unable to get their cars on Friday, and that they were only able to retrieve their personal belongings from the vehicle after waiting for several hours and talking to management.

She said that they had anticipated the damage because they had no information about the strike announcement before leaving for the trip, that they only found out about it when they arrived in Podgorica, and that they felt like "collateral damage" in taking positions for negotiations regarding the employee strike.

She said that the Railways offered them bus transportation to Bar, as well as refreshments and food while they were at the station in Podgorica, but that she believes that there were communication gaps regarding the information about the work stoppage, which shortened her vacation, caused additional costs and was due to the inability to have their own vehicles.

Katarina said that the group of passengers hired lawyers and submitted a claim for damages to the management.

The ŽICG management previously said that those who are stopping train traffic are "carrying out diversions", that these "acts have some other background and that some of the workers will be held criminally liable".

They also emphasized that they are ready for dialogue with workers, but not for "blackmail", and that higher salaries are already being discussed with representative unions.

The Ministry of Transport announced yesterday that allegations that certain minority shareholders are behind the organization of the "illegal shutdown" are of additional concern.

"We expect the competent authorities, primarily the State Prosecutor's Office, to fully investigate this information and identify all those responsible for today's event and the material damage caused by the illegal traffic stop," the department said.

Workers who stopped work due to dissatisfaction with their salaries announced that the traffic blockades in Bijelo Polje, Podgorica and Bar will last until management calls them in for talks.