Liberals call on Budapest mayor to sack transport company chief

The Liberal Party has called on István Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest, to sack the chief of the capital city’s transport authority (BKK), a party official said on Tuesday.

Viktor Szabadai, the party’s Budapest leader, told a press conference that the latest mishap to affect the aging Soviet-built metro 3 line, occurring at the Árpád Bridge station, showed that BKK chief Kálmán Daboczi was unfit for his post.

He called it “scandalous” that after a heavy rain on Saturday, the station was flooded and tracks were inundated up until Sunday morning’s opening of service.

Heavy rain leading to flooding of the track which incorporates a third rail to provide electric power “posed a danger, even if passengers were not allowed to enter the station at the time,” he said.

He demanded to know who was responsible for the weekend mishap, and referring to renovation work taking place at the station in question, requested information about which company was carrying out the work and whether it had also been assigned to other upgrade projects in Budapest. Szabadai also said he wanted to know whether it was true that BKK had indicated on several occasions that the company carrying out the renovation work was not doing a proper job and had sought damages.

Source: MTI