The Railway Days Summit, now in its 19th edition, started on Tuesday morning in Bucharest. For two days, the summit brings together hundreds of professionals and market leaders in the field and is the biggest event of this type in Romania. At the opening conference, moderated by Carmen Filipescu, Former Chairwoman of the CIT Committee, topics related to the challenges faced by the railway system, urban and metropolitan transport, as well as the financing of railway projects were addressed.
“There are big challenges for the rail transport system and to a large extent for the rail industry, which will have to re-engineer the sector. Apart from the usual challenges, two other big challenges have now appeared: those related to the environment, especially the Green Deal plan of the European Union, and digitization, which also includes artificial intelligence”, Carmen Filipescu said at the beginning of the Railway Days summit.
EIB financing in Romania
Mihai Frumosu, Transport expert at the European Investment Bank, emphasized the fact that Romania, in general, and railway transport in Romania, in particular, are at the center of the institution’s attention, both from the point of view of the investment volume and the of technical assistance.
The EIB supports all operational programs of the European Commission, which also refer to investments in the modernization of infrastructure and the purchase of new rolling stock. The railway sector sees the largest share of EIB financing in Romania.
Alstom trains for Bucharest metro M6 lines
The general director of Metrorex, Mariana Miclăuș, reviewed the progress made in recent years by the Bucharest Metro, especially in the areas of travel ticket payment facilities and digitalization.
According to Miclăuș the expansion of the network is a priority for Metrorex. Its latest project is the M6 line, which will connect the Gara de Nord Statio to the Henri Coanda International Airport. On November 19, Metrorex will celebrate 45 years of activity.
Mariana Miclauș also announced that so far four of the 13 trains ordered from Alstom for the M5 line of the Bucharest metro have been delivered and that by the end of the year the number of those received will reach 10. Already, the trains with the numbers 5 and 6 have been preliminarily received at the supplier and will arrive in Romania. “After completing all the necessary tests, the conditions will be met so that sometime in March 2025 the first train can enter circulation with passengers,” said the head of Metrorex at Railway Days summit.
CFR Marfă to enter bankruptcy
Daniel Apostolache, head of the Romanian freight operator CFR Marfă, talked at the Railway Days summit about the need for investments in digitization and mentioned the fact that GPS systems are being installed on all the wagons and locomotives of the national railway carrier, in order to set up a modern traffic tracking system.
Next, Daniel Apostolache welcomed the Government’s approval of the establishment of the new company Carpatica Feroviar. CFR Marfă will enter bankruptcy and liquidation as soon as Carpatica Feroviar obtains all the necessary authorizations to become a railway operator. Most likely, this will happen in March 2025, when the preventive agreement in which the company has been for many years expires.
CFR Marfă will remain with the debts to the state, related to the state aid granted to the failed privatization in 2013, on the model applied to the division of SNCFR in October 1998. Capratica Feroviar will take over 200 locomotives and 6,500 wagons from CFR Marfă, for a fee, and the money will go directly to the ANAF accounts, for debt settlement. Also, the new company will also take over six IRLU sections, in order to have a place to repair its locomotives. As for the more than 3,000 employees that CFR Marfa currently has, they will not be automatically taken over by Carpatica Feroviar, but “they will have a place to submit their CVs”, said Daniel Apostolache. He specified that the new company will take over “as many personnel as will be needed, depending on the contracts that will exist”.
1 billion euros for the Bucharest transport company
The spokesperson of the Bucharest transport company STB, Alexandru Ichim, recalled the fact that at the level of the Municipality, more than one billion euros were invested in the purchase of rolling stock and in investments in the modernization of the tram tracks. “Today we can discuss a public transport in full development process”, said Ichim.
The inaugural session was closed by the speech of the director of the Romanian Railway Notified Body, Mircea Arnăutu: “I’m almost living a dream, things are happening that until recently I thought were impossible. Ever since I finished college, I heard that a subway line should be built from the North Station to the Otopeni Airport, and now they are working on it. In the railway field, the country is under construction, many investments are being made in infrastructure, and here I would mention the fact that the modernization and electrification of Constanța-Mangalia will soon begin. Important things are also happening in the field of rolling stock procurement”.
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