Transport minister expects a difficult summer as national rail operator CFR won’t have enough train carriages to meet demand

Anca Alexe 02/07/2018 | 08:12

Transport minister Lucian Sova said in an interview with Agerpres that this summer will be difficult for rail transport as CFR Calatori doesn’t have enough train carriages to meet the demand, especially for the seaside, as 400 of the 1,200 carriages CFR owns are unavailable due to technical issues.

Sova says that an auction has been launched for the purchase of 100 new railcars, but that they won’t arrive in time for the summer season.

The minister also said that he believes that the liberalization of rail transport in Romania would directly and immediately benefit the public, while he still thinks that some advantages should be maintained by the state company on the internal market.

Asked about the Drumul Taberei subway, Sova said that the most optimistic scenario would mean that it will be open in January 2019, while the more pessimistic, but also more realistic one would get the opening date closer to March 2019.

Sova said that offering free rail transport to all students, no matter their age, is probably too much and that some optimization is expected for this measure, but that the principle of encouraging the young generation to travel by train is good, and that the measure also increases access to education.