Transport minister: We want rail transport to be at least as good as it was in 1989

Transport minister Lucian Sova said on Wednesay that trains in Romania are sometimes travelling at speeds used during the 19^th century and that there are over 500 speed restrictions in the country. He also said that he wants to bring rail infrastructure back to the level it was at in 1989, using both the CFR Infrastructure budget and European funds.

“All civilized countries are investing in rail infrastructure and aren’t just waiting for EU funds. We’ve been relying on EU funds exclusively in the past few years. I have promoted the idea of allocating funds for upgrading rail segments or at least bringing them back to the 1989 level by removing restrictions. If you can believe it, it’s not a known fact, there are over 500 speed restrictions today on Romania’s railways. With its own resources, CFR Infrastructure has eliminated until today 192 restrictions. I could even say that we have more restricted railways than good ones. CFR Infrastructure has the capacity of working on these issues with own resources, and then you eliminate the time wasted with auctions and appeals,” the minister said.