Romanian Minister of Transport, Lucian Sova, announced that the project of the railway connecting Bucharest’s Henri Coanda International Airport to the city will be completed by 2020. The Minister also said that the tender will rely on competitive dialogue, not on the lowest price criterion, as before.
“During my mandate, we will have a train to Otopeni (…). We are already working to double the track on the existing alignment, so CFR SA will build the double-track all by itself, another segment parallel to the existing one, and when it will have to turn to the airport, the feasibility study will be ready in less than a month, as the solution has already been discussed (…) We are talking about 16 km of railway, but another line is built so that trains could cross. This new line will turn right to the airport overcrossing DN 1 and the entire road infrastructure. I know for sure that in 2020 we will go from Gara de Nord to Otopeni Airport by train”, declared the Romanian Minister of Transport for the television channel Antena 3.
“The DN 1 overcrossing alternatives have the advantages of being cheap, several work sites can be opened simultaneously, and the work technology is much more alert. Moreover, the airport’s activity is not disturbed”, says a presentation elaborated by CFR and presented in August to specialists in the fields and parties involved in the project.
Four project alternatives have been analysed for the modernisation of the railway to Henri Coanda International Airport and for one of them, which seems feasible to achieve, the execution costs have been estimated at RON 95 million.
The feasibility study will be completed this November. The contract on updating the feasibility study necessary to the modernisation of Gara de Nord – Henri Coanda International Airport (AIHCB) was signed in July 2018 between CFR SA and Baicons Impex, for RON 2.5 million.
According to the Romanian Ministry of Transport, the elaboration and approval of the Government Decision for Phase I indicators and expropriations could occur in January 2019.
Moreover, the project financing is also expected to be obtained in January 2019. The expropriation decisions for land access are expected to be released in April 2019.
Minister Lucian Sova said the lowest price would not be the criterion in assigning the contract.
“We will tender the project, but we have a different contracting strategy, we will have a competitive dialogue, we will select the bids but not necessarily according to the lowest price. The execution deadline will be very tight, but achievable”, the Minister added.
Photo: CFR SA
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