- Title: 245 AT Train or Romanian nurses
- Date: 24th April 2020
- Description:Austria organises weekly trains to bring Romanian nurses to Austria as of May 2 Austria needs Romanian caretakers back to work, so they found out a way to bring them to Austria as of next month. The Austrian authorities have established a weekly connection by the night train for the Romanians who work as caretakers. The train will cross Hungary, but the Romanians will be exempted from the border restrictions. On the other hand there is an important number of Romanian caretakers blocked in Austria for weeks who finally want to go back home to Romania to see their families. As Hungary has introduced the travel restrictions, with no one being allowed to transit its territory since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, Austria has found a solution to come up with this night train to transport Romanian workers to take care of the Austrian elderly. The train will be operational as of May 2 and is accepted by all countries involved, as it allows the transport of large numbers and, at the same time, it can observe the social distancing rules. The empty train will leave Vienna on May 2, departure in TImisoara is Sunday, May 3 in the evening, from where it will transport 350 caretakers to Vienna. According to the Austrian authorities, 33,000 people in Austria depend on the services of the caretakers. The train will leave from Timisoara on a weekly basis, but it might have a frequency up to three nights per week. The caretakers are tested for COVID-19 directly after leaving the train and only remain in quarantine the few hours until receiving the test result. The tests have to be paid by the clients. Shotlist - WS Karoline Edtstadler - SOUNDBITE (German) Karoline Edtstadler, Austrian Minister of European Affairs: "We have negotiated with the Hungarian and with the Romanian government and in the first days of May the first train should bring Romanian caretakers to Austria and reversely drive back home those who have been here for weeks. In the negotiations with Romania with supply by the Austrian embassy in Bucharest we obtained that the 24h caretakers are now allowed to leave Romania. Currently we plan that this train works on a weekly basis, and there is enough space for 300 – 350 persons, so that the necessary distance for the required hygienic standard is ensured. The capacities can be increased up to three trains by week according to the demand, there and back, so that those who have been here for a long time have also the possibility to return home. - Question: who pays for the train?" - SOUNDBITE (German) Karoline Edtstadler, Austrian Minister of European Affairs: "It is organized by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and will be paid by the organizations who want to bring the 24h caretakers to Austria to cover this needed request. " - SOUNDBITE (German) Mario Tasotti, Austrian Chamber of Commerce: "The first train will arrive on Monday, May 4 morning in Austria, at the railway station of the Vienna Airport. The personal caretakers can be tested in hotel next the arrival railway station by a 24h test program and can be brought the next day to the persons to be cared. The test is always to be paid for by the person being cared for. There will not be more than 4 persons in a train compartment, this is also agreed with the authorities."
- Collection: ORF
- Genre:News
- Producer:ORF
- Transmission Date:24/04/2020
- Decade: 2020s