Participants in this ceremony of granting licenses to 22 train drivers were:
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Mr. Ian Cliff
The Director General of ARH, Enis Berisha
Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Development, Infrastructure, Trade and Industry, MP Raif Qela
The Chief Executive Officer of Trainkos Sh.A, Gelor Shala
Member of the Board of Directors of Trainkos Sh.A, Shkumbin Hyseni
The licensing ceremony for the train drivers of the railway undertaking Trainkos Sh.a was opened with a welcoming speech by the Director General of ARH, Enis Berisha, who gave an overview of ARH's work and achievements. Berisha described this day as an important day for all the train drivers licensed today, especially for the railway undertaking Trainkos, since this is the first time such a licensing process for train drivers has taken place in Kosovo.
Following the successful completion of the licensing of service delivery, procedures began for preparing all the documents for issuing licenses to Trainkos' train drivers, which are necessary for operations in railway services in accordance with the legal provisions in force in the Republic of Kosovo and those of the EU. Now this process has also been completed and today marks the distribution of Licenses to Train Drivers, said Berisha.
Furthermore, the Director of ARH congratulated all the train drivers who obtained their licenses in this licensing phase. He took the opportunity to congratulate all the train drivers who will from today be equipped with licenses to practice their profession, as foreseen by the Law on Railways of Kosovo and the Regulation on Licensing of Train Drivers, Berisha emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom thanked the organizer for the invitation and said it was a very important day for the train drivers. Mr. Cliff spoke about the engagement of the country he represents in contributing to the development of the railway sector in Kosovo, expressing readiness for unreserved support for attracting investments to this sector, which also plays an important role in Kosovo's economic development. Ambassador Cliff also did not fail to mention to those present his own experience as a young man driving a steam locomotive.
"This ceremony organized by the Railway Regulatory Authority, for the licensing of train drivers, brings back memories of when, as a young man, I drove steam locomotives in East London," said Cliff.
- Cliff said he hopes the Government of Kosovo, namely MED, MI and MF, will engage more so that investments in Trainkos' rolling stock fleet will be greater.
A welcoming remark during this ceremony was also given by the representative of the Assembly of Kosovo, MP Raif Qela, who congratulated the train drivers on receiving their licenses, noting that with this licensing, besides fulfilling legal requirements, traffic safety is also increased.
During this ceremony, the Member of the Board of Directors of Trainkos Sh.A, Shkumbin Hyseni, also spoke.
Dear Participants;
Let me first address those for whom we have gathered here today, those who deserve the most credit, as they did yesterday, so today, and undoubtedly tomorrow as well, since the trains never stop providing services to our citizens in their communication and connections, as well as services for businesses that increasingly contribute every day to the country's economic development and the well-being of our citizens. So, the greatest credit for this belongs to the heroes of the railway – the train drivers.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire staff of Kosovo Railways Trainkos Sh.A., I greet you for your participation, support and cooperation, in particular:
The Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Blerand Stavileci
The Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Lutfi Zharku
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Mr. Ian Cliff
The representatives of the Railway Regulatory Authority of Kosovo, headed by Mr. Enis Berisha
As well as media representatives and all other attendees
Dear attendees,
We have gathered here today at this place to mark an extremely important moment for the Railway, namely the licensing of train drivers, which is taking place for the first time in the Republic of Kosovo. On this occasion we cannot fail to say a few words about the history of Kosovo Railways itself, and as a starting point we take the year 1874 when the first railway line was built. In the following years other railway lines were also built, which extend over 333.451 km of open lines and industrial lines reaching a length of 103.4 km.
Today the railway lines connect all the most important centers of Kosovo except Gjakova and Gjilan. The lines of Kosovo Railways also have a direct connection with neighboring states such as Macedonia and Serbia, and through them with other states in the region, thus also ensuring an international connection for our railway lines.
All stages of the development of railway communication in Kosovo are linked to different rulers and occupiers of the time, who had interests different from and contrary to the interests of our population. Their aim was often not linked to the development and progress of this country, but to the use and exploitation of its very rich natural resources. In this sense, the development of rail transport was a great opportunity for them. It was the period of Ottoman Empire rule when the first railway line in Kosovo was built; afterwards there were also not insignificant influences in this respect from the Austro-Hungarians, the Serbo-Slavic occupation, up to the time of the construction of the independent state of the Republic of Kosovo.
The beginning of freight transport by rail replaced the previous transport by animals; railways developed very quickly, so that for a long time they held the primacy of general land transport. With the beginning of the development of the industry for the production of road transport vehicles, the loss of the primacy of rail transport also began. But still, until the 1960s, the railway was the main carrier of minerals and heavy industry products. Nevertheless, rail transport continues to be very important today and has a high impact both on economic development and on the social aspect.
The most developed countries have invested so much in rail transport, integrating scientific and technological achievements within this field. In these countries the absence of rail transport can hardly even be imagined. Therefore, we too aim for such development, because the benefit will be all-encompassing.
So, despite the development of other means of transport, rail transport still continues to have certain advantages over them. These advantages can be defined in terms of the ecological aspect, that of safety, speed, accuracy, but it is not behind in comfort either. The development and use of rail transport would also greatly affect the relief of roads and highways from heavy vehicle traffic, especially from heavy road carriers. In this way the lifespan of these roads would also be extended, and above all many human lives would be saved.