• The company’s strong commitment to the safety of its employees and users is endorsed by the certification of its protocols against Covid-19.
• The Basque Government’s publicly-run company is the first railway company of the Basque Country and of Spain to obtain that certification

During a ceremony held at Euskotren’s Zazpikaleak station on 11 June, the AENOR Director in the Basque Country, Luz Emparanza, presented to Euskotren, represented by its Chairman and Deputy Minister for Transport, Antonio Aiz, and the General manager, Imanol Leza, the certificate that recognises the company’s great effort to ensure that the different means of transport that it operates (train, tramway, underground and funicular railway) are safe spaces to travel, by minimising the risk of spreading Covid-19.

Euskotren is thus the first company with a certified train service in Spain and the first tramway and underground one in the Basque Country to have obtained this certification and the fourth in the public transport sector, after ALSA, Avanza and Empresa Malagueña de Transportes.

The AENOR auditors have checked the protocols established in the company’s Covid-19 contingency plan, with a methodology developed according to the recommendations and requirements of different international and national documents and extensive knowledge of the sector’s situation. The comprehensive checks, both in person and of the documents, have gone through the procedures, the workers’ commitment to their correct application and the use of the latest technologies to maximise their effects.

During the AENOR audit, the specific conditions of the sites and activities covered by the organisation’s protocol.

The analysed aspects include maintenance of the railway rolling stock, managing tramway maintenance, customer service, transporting passengers on the railway and funicular (Larreineta), the traffic control room of both tramways (Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz) and transporting people on the metropolitan railway (Line 3 Bilbao).

In total, 13 work centres were audited, where a total of 584 people work.

The document structure developed by Euskotren to support the contingency plan was reviewed. That structure includes minutes of the Basque Public Transport Coordination Panel; instruction and information for employees; identifying and assessing risks; training procedures; health monitoring; and cleaning and disinfection protocols.

That effort has now been endorsed by an independent third party so that users can be fully reassured when travelling with Euskotren. Passengers thus have a further guarantee aimed at returning passenger transport mobility rates to their usual level as soon as possible.

(Source: Euskotren)