Report finds Romanian railway lines in "deplorable to reasonable" state

Romanian railway lines are in a state that varies from deplorable to reasonable, their traffic management continues to be done by radio and telephone, and the average commercial speed at which they are run is 30-40 km/h, reveals a recent sustainability and efficiency study of the Romanian railway network, unveiled on Tuesday in a videoconference by the Authority for Railway Reform (ARF).

According to the conclusions, the existing signalling systems on the Romanian railway are outdated, mechanical, and key operated. At the same time, the systems are electro-mechanical or electrical centralised.

Also, few of the level crossings are provided with protection, while many of the speed restrictions are caused by the condition of the bridge line, visibility or embankments.

The study also shows that on the railway lines operated by private companies use is being made of used diesel units purchased from France, the Netherlands and Germany, and frequency oscillates between 6 and 10 train sets per day.

At the same time, on the lines operated by CFR Calatori, old or very old diesel units run, namely a locomotive with one or two cars, at an operation frequency of between two and seven sets of trains a day.

Regarding the technical conditions of the Romanian railway lines, data centralised by the study show that the rail is in a state that varies "from deplorable to reasonable," and in the case of bridges and drainage systems there are very high maintenance arrears. At the same time, the railway stations and stops are said to be in a state ranging "from primitive to good."

The purpose of the study was to analyse the future use of 113 lines and line sections of a total length of 3,852 km. Out of the total lines analysed, 97 are part of the non-interoperable infrastructure, and 16 are part of the interoperable infrastructure.

The value of the project for carrying out the specialist study amounted to 5,259,531 lei, with the funds being allocated from non-repayable external funds under the financial framework 2014 - 2020, of which 85% under the Operational Programme Large Infrastructure (POIM) and 15% from the national budget.

On Tuesday, ARF representatives presented the conclusions of the study on the sustainability and efficiency of the Romanian railway network, together with members of the multinational consortium that carried it out, composed of SC Synergetics Corporation SRL (Romania), Panteia B.V. (Netherlands), Railistics GmbH (Germany) and AV Transport Planning SRL (Romania).