Calafat-Vidin Bridge, inaugurated on middle of July, is the second bridge between Romania and Bulgaria, after Giurgiu-Ruse Bridge. The new bridge linking Calafat (Romania) and Vidin (Bulgaria) also benefits from railway crossing, being a part of the pan-European Corridor IV.
Considering the acute lack of fast crossings across the Danube, the construction of the Vidin-Calafat Bridge mainly aimed at facilitating the combined road and railway transport on the southern branch of the pan-European Corridor IV, located on the Dresden – Prague – Vienna – Budapest – Arad – Craiova – Sofia – Thessaloniki – Istanbul axis, as well as at the faster interconnection of transport axes in the South-Eastern Europe to great European transport corridors.
We cannot neglect the regional role of the bridge, namely that of connecting south-western Romania to north-western Bulgaria, EU member states, through a modern and fast connection. The total cost for the new bridge with an approximate length of 2 km amounted to EUR 236 Million, the EU contribution reaching EUR 70 Million. Out of the total amount, the Romanian state invested EUR 48 Million, among which we can also mention ISPA pre-accession funds.
Romania and Bulgaria signed the agreement for the construction of Calafat-Vidin Bridge in March 2000, but works have been delayed because of poor financing. Even if it was inaugurated two years later than the estimate date, namely in 2011, it is estimated that the new bridge across the Danube, intended for the road-railway traffic, will ensure a vital connection on a highly important route in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
The construction of this bridge creates favourable conditions for promoting the combined transport by applying the environment-friendly river-road-rail logistical solutions.
Calafat-Vidin Bridge will facilitate the development of the long-distance traffic and trade between South-Eastern Europe, Turkey and Central Europe. In 2012, EU exports to Turkey reached a total of EUR 75 Billion, while the EU states imported from this country merchandise worth of over EUR 47 Billion.
Before the construction of this bridge, regular journeys were performed by ferryboat between Vidin, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Romania. However, this service could not meet transport needs between Bulgaria, Romania and the countries located on this route.
One of the main objectives of this project consisted of the reestablishment of the cross-border railway connection between Bulgaria and Romania. The specialists in the field consider that the new bridge, which is only the second bridge built on this Danube sector common for the two countries, will also ensure a better integration of the Bulgarian road and railway transport networks into the pan-European transport networks – connecting Germany to Greece and Turkey.
For the moment, no railway traffic is performed on the new bridge. One of the reasons would be that after crossing from Bulgaria in Romania, the electric trains become useless since the section between Calafat and Craiova is not yet electrified. Subsequently, the transporters have to replace electric trains by diesel trains, which increases the price of transport services.
The railway track on the Calafat-Craiova section, a part of the pan-European Corridor IV- southern branch, is not yet electrified but will be in 2020, when the first phase of rehabilitation and electrification works is estimated to be completed. At present, the feasibility study for this first phase is being completed. The estimated value of the works for the first phase amounts to EUR 500 Million. In the second phase to be carried out after 2020, works are foreseen for the purpose of doubling the railway line on the mentioned sector. According to the estimates provided in the Financing Memorandum of the project, the bridge should be crossed by 8,400 vehicles and 30 trains a day by 2030.
The Bulgarian authorities have expressed several times the wish to build another two bridges across the Danube, one between Bechet and Oreahovo and another one between Silistra and Călăraşi.
By the middle of June, on the 470-kilometer section of the Danube which represents the Bulgarian-Romanian border, a single bridge was operational between Ruse and Giurgiu. The latter could be closed in the future for rehabilitation works, but for the moment there is no official data to confirm it.
Newer bridges will be rehabilitated, old bridges will become operational again
Another important objective to be initiated aims at rehabilitating the Danube bridges Cernavodă (with a length of 1.5 km) and Feteşti (970 meters), the one that crosses Borcea branch. The value of the investment was estimated to EUR 54 Million. The Government Decision related to this objective has been approved and at present the financing application is being prepared for the obtaining of European funds. The deadline for offer or participation application submission is the first part of September. In case the project will be executed under normal conditions, the two bridges would become operational in the second quarter of 2015. The financing will be ensured from the European Cohesion Funds and from the state budget.
Commissioned in 1987, the two bridges of Cernavodă and Feteşti have overtaken the railway flow which was executed by then on the bridges inaugurated in 1895 and built by the engineer Anghel Saligny. However, with the passage of time, the degradation of Cernavodă and Feteşti bridges became more and more accentuated due to the lack of the funds necessary for maintenance, so that the running speed on the bridges is now limited to 15 km/hour.
True engineering jewels and at the same time historical monuments, the Danube bridges inaugurated in 1895 by the engineer Anghel Saligny could be recommissioned once the modernisation works begin for their younger “sisters”, Cernavodă and Feteşti.
“Under the circumstances, in order to maintain normal conditions for the execution of the railway traffic, the old bridges (Anghel Saligny) shall be commissioned for the period of execution of works to the new bridges”, mentions the participation announcement issued by the National Railway Company, CFR SA, in the middle of July.
Even though it will take a while before we could see the Danube bridges completely rehabilitated and operational, the intention to initiate their modernisation can only make us happy after many years during which these important bridges have suffered from the lack of funds for serious investments.
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