It was not to be expected that Pier Eringa would quietly close the door behind him on his departure from ProRail (he becomes CEO at Transdev / Connexxion) “Managers in the government hardly dare to say what it is about,” says Eringa in De Telegraaf and the AD.
“Problems at CBR, UWV, the police and the Tax and Customs Administration therefore continue to persist for an unnecessarily long time.”
He is also concerned about the power supply to the track.
Eringa says she is regularly ashamed to work for a public organization. "Fear rules. There are too many executives in government who are looking for the cautious side. They are afraid of ugly phone calls from The Hague. ''
The ProRail boss himself is known for his unconventional management style. He does not shy away from harsh criticism of his bosses in The Hague. This has often caused resentment in recent years: State Secretary Van Veldhoven waited a long time this year for Eringa's reappointment. Eringa does not regret for a moment. “My goal is to achieve results, then it can scrape. But you hardly see that style of leadership in the government anymore, they mainly want to keep their own face clean. ''
According to Eringa, his hands itch when looking at other government services. “Take the problems with the CBR, UWV, the Tax and Customs Administration, the police. As a former police boss, I read with horror that hundreds of moral cases are left on the shelf every year by the police. Chief of Police Erik Akerboom will not like it, but you are not credible if you have 60.000 men walking on the street and let that happen. I would pull retired vice detectives from behind the geraniums if necessary. Citizens must have confidence in institutions such as the government, police, hospitals. ''
On the occasion of his retirement, Eringa says he hopes that the cabinet will show more ambition on the railway. "The Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management is far too careful." For example, the railways must be quickly supplied with extra mains voltage at sixty locations in the Netherlands, otherwise NS will not be able to expand its timetable in the coming years. “That's sixty Haarlem-Zandvoort routes,” he says. NS wants extra trains for Formula 1 here, but that is not going to happen due to insufficient power.
ProRail is therefore sounding the alarm about the power shortage on the track. As a result, trains can no longer run on a number of track sections. There is also not enough voltage on the catenary to run new or longer trains, says the rail manager. The railway has more than sixty bottlenecks, according to an inventory by PRORAIL. The train service cannot be expanded or renewed there without additional measures.
In order to tackle the problem structurally, ProRail argues for more or larger transformers that supply more electricity to the overhead wires. The voltage on the overhead line must be increased from 1500 to 3000 volts. "The 1500 volts date from the 20s," says Eringa.
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