Romanian rolling stock procurement programme will receive EUR 470 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Railway Reform Authority (ARF) announced.
This new proposed investment will be used to acquire 62 electric trains with the aim to increase rail transport attractiveness and to reduce 12.014,7t CO2 emissions annually, translating into 29.2% less emissions each year.
Following EIB’s decision, the Romanian Reform Authority will start to prepare the investment project and the train procurement process expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2024.
The new EMUs will be put into passenger service on eleven rail routes, mainly focusing on the connections with the Romanian capital Bucharest:
- R1: București Nord – Ploiești Vest – Brașov;
- R2: Brașov – Gheorghieni;
- R3: București Nord – Ploiești Sud – Adjud;
- R4: București Nord – Roșiori Nord;
- R5: București Nord – București Obor;
- R6: București Nord – Fundulea;
- R7: Arad – Timișoara – Caransebeș;
- R8: Huedin – Cluj – Bistrița;
- R9: Iași – Pașcani – Suceava;
- R10: Bacău – Pașcani;
- R11: Fetești – Constanța
The project “Supporting the reduction of energy consumption through energy efficiency in the transport sector – sustainable rolling stock” is financed through the Modernisation Fund leading to the achievement of the priority objectives of the relevant ministry in terms of improving the railway infrastructure, through Romanian rolling stock procurement programme. The Modernisation Fund to be implemented until 2030, is one of the key instruments that will contribute to the achievement of the European Green Deal to reach a zero emission transport sector by 2050.
The project is expected to be completed in 2027 and will promote rail transport as the main mode to reduce emissions and its ability for modal shift, according to the European Commission’s objectives to decarbonise transport sector and to encourage the development of railway sector.
In September, Pesa Bydgoszcz was selected to supply 20 EMUs for medium and long distance services including the provision of maintenance services for 15 years. These new trains will enter services on seven electrified rail routes and other routes will follow after construction and electrification works will be completed on the Cluj Napoca – Oradea and Craiova – Calafat main lines.
Another train contract has been signed with Alstom in March 2022 covering the delivery of 37 electric trainsets including an option for 17 additional inter-regional EMUs, which was exercised in September 2022. For this contract, Romania has received a EUR 52 million co-financing from the European Commission through the Cohesion Fund.
The Coradia Stream EMUs to be delivered by Alstom are currently in an “advanced stage of production which, after static and dynamic tests, will be handed over to the Railway Reform Authority.
During a technical visit of the authority’s representatives at Alstom Konstal plant, near Katowice, Poland, the manufacturer and ARF established concrete aspects regarding the schedule of the train delivery, authorisation and testing process, in the context that the supplier underlined a series of difficulties thatencountered in the supply chain, which led to some delay.
As a result of the decisions, it is expected that, on November 25, 2023, Alstom will deliver to Romania the first train of the 37 electric multiple units, which are expected to arrive in Bucharest, between December 2-3, 2023, after which it will enter the takeover procedures by the ARF, with the aim to enter commercial operation. When this stage is completed, the train will be operated by the company that wins the contract following a competitive procedure.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Railway Reform Authority will launch a public consultation to establish the commercial brand of the new passenger train service. ARF says that after Alstom will deliver the trains, they will be put into commercial operation on the main electrified lines across the Romanian rail network.
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