Rail transport in Romania


Rail transport in Romania goes back to the Austrian Empire, when in 1857 the line between Timișoara and Szeged opened. The first railway line on territory of the Kingdom of Romania opened in 1869. It linked Bucharest and Giurgiu. Electrification of the Romanian railway network was expedited during the 1950s and 1960s while the country was under a communist regime.
In 2007, based on data from 2005, the CIA World Factbook listed Romania 23rd of the largest railway networks in the world. the length of the Romanian railway network was. The total length of all tracks was, which made it the fourth largest in Europe, of which were electrified. the total route length was, of which were electrified. However, Romania's railway system is inadequately-connected and one of the least durable railway systems globally.
Between 1880 and 1998, the national carrier was Căile Ferate Române. It was divided into several successor companies, including among others CFR Marfă. Current passenger train operators include Grup Feroviar Român, Regio Călători and Transferoviar Grup.
Push-pull operations on the electrified standard gauge lines are often carried out using locomotives of the Electroputere LE5100 family. DMUs include the X 4500 and X 72500 and CFR Class 96. Previously operating EMUs included the CFR Class TEA.
Romania is a member of the International Union of Railways. The UIC Country Code for Romania is 53.

Partial privatisation

Although passenger railway services are not a state monopoly in Romania, CFR remains the only passenger carrier operating at a national level. However, after the reorganization of CFR in 2011, around 15% of Romanian railway tracks have been leased to private companies. These are known as "non-interoperable tracks". The main operators are: S.C. Regional S.R.L., S.C. Transferoviar Grup S.A., S.C. Regio Călători S.R.L., and S.C. Servtransinvest S.A., which now operate a significant number of routes. Early transfers to these companies included Zărnești–Brașov, Brașov–Întorsura Buzăului, Sfântu Gheorghe–Brețcu, Sighișoara–Odorheiu Secuiesc, Șibot–Cugir, Blaj–Praid, Galați–Bârlad, Buzău–Nehoiașu, Iași–Dorohoi, Timișoara Nord–Nerău, Satu Mare–Bixad, Arad–Nădlac, Bistrița Bârgăului–Bistrița Nord–Luduș, Arad–Brad, Roșiori Nord–Piatra Olt and many others lines. On these lines, CFR is not allowed to operate its trains—companies which have leased the tracks have a virtual monopoly on their usage. Aside from CFR Călători, twelve other companies provide local passenger services, on non-interoperable tracks, even though none of these services exceed in line length. Twenty-eight private companies, including Petromidia and Servtrans, operate freight transport services on main lines with their own rolling stock, leasing usage rights from CFR.

Future changes

September 2014 saw the publication of the government report Master Plan General de Transport al României.
On the face of it the lengthy report envisages reduction of passenger services on 25% to 40% of the lines. The 'small print' reveals however that closures will not happen overnight or even over the next few years ; and closures will only occur if private operators or local authority/perhaps EU financial support cannot be obtained. In addition the report has costed major improvements to the long-distance network considerably to reduce journey times. These projects include recommencing work on the abandoned construction of the link line from Râmnicu Vâlcea to Vâlcele which will reduce the journey from Bucharest to Sibiu by some 78 km and journey times by at least 90 minutes.

Operators

The network used to be operated by Căile Ferate Române, the state railway company, but since 1998, a number of private companies have begun operations in passenger and/or freight transport.
CFR's rail freight division became CFR Marfă.

Rail links with adjacent countries

Urban rail

Urban rail transport in Romania consists of two metro systems and town tramway systems.