“For 2018, CFR Marfa’s plan of approved investments is of RON 81 million (EUR 17.4 Million) of which 90% will be used for the modernisation and repair of rolling stock,” declared Marinica Voicu, General Manager CFR Marfa, during the Rolling Stock Conference organised by Club Feroviar with the support of the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) on 25 and 26 April in Iasi.
In 2018, the company plans to modernise 13 locomotives of which 6 LDE, 6 LE and a LDH locomotive and to repair 40 locomotives. The project will help increase the quality of the operator’s rolling stock fleet and their availability. Currently, CFR Marfa has a fleet of 907 units of which 422 are active. 193 of them are electric locomotives, 138 are diesel-electric and 81 are diesel hydraulic locomotives.
This year’s investment programme also includes the modernisation of 600 cargo wagons of different types. At present, the active fleet of vehicles includes 13,000 wagons for the transport of coal, ores, bulk cargo, cereals and chemical and oil products. Moreover, CFR Marfa hopes to access RON 20 million (EUR 4.3 million) for the RO-LA project. “By the end of the year, we hope to access this amount through the Environment Fund Administration (AFM)”, said Marinica Voicu.
Since October 2017, the Romanian Government has announced the allocation of RON 10 million (EUR 2.15 million) to support the launch of the RO-LA programme. In November 2017, AFM launched the RO-LA programme to stimulate the attraction of freight flows to railways to decongest roads in order to reduce CO2 emissions generated by road transport. By launching the RO-LA programme, Romania aligns to a small group of EU countries which implemented the RO-LA system, such as Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary. The aid scheme for combined RO-LA transport has been extended until 2020 to encourage the development of this transport segment.
At the beginning of the year, the Romanian Ministry of Transport, CFR Marfa, CFR Calatori and CFR SA tested this service on Curtici Terminal – Simeria – Petrosani – Craiova route. Carrying 8 trucks, the train covered the distance in less than 12 hours.
In the national freight transport market, road transport has a share of 61% while railway transport has a share of around 15% of which CFR Marfa 6.8%, while private railway operators have a total share of 8%.
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