The Railway Reform Authority (ARF) and the Romanian-French Association TTL Planning SRL - Systra have signed the contract for the acquisition of the scheduled train service around the major cities in Romania, ARF announced on Monday in a press release.

The project is co-financed by the European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund, within the Transport Program (PT) 2021-2027.

'The main objective of the project, carried out under Financing Contract no. 64/2024, consists of developing the technical and economic documentation necessary to adapt the railway offer to the real demand for mobility. The project aims to substantiate the introduction of scheduled trains around the major cities in Romania and between them, by integrating short-distance commuter transport with medium- and long-distance transport. At the same time, the project will support the clear definition of the public service obligation (PSO) related to public passenger rail transport at the national level, for the period December 2027 - December 2042, contributing to increasing the attractiveness, efficiency and predictability of railway services offered to the population,' the ARF press release reads.

The six tasks of the contract that the provider must fulfill are: collecting new data from the field, by carrying out traffic questionnaires; updating the National Transport Model (NTM) with socio-economic and transport data for the base year 2023, as well as detailing the NTM for growth poles, urban development poles and the main railway connections between them and the county capitals; establishing specific parameters, verifying infrastructure capacity and simulating costs and revenues related to rail transport services; establishing the PSO and the timetable in rail transport for each growth pole and urban development pole, as well as for the nearby large cities and county capitals; providing ARF with a license for the transport planning and modelling software; training of ARF personnel in the operation of transportation planning and modeling software for the use of MNT.

Target cities include: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Constanta, Craiova, Brasov, Galati, Ploiesti, Oradea, Braila, Arad, Pitesti, Sibiu, Bacau, Suceava, Targu Mures, Baia Mare, Buzau, Botosani, Satu Mare, Ramnicu Valcea, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Piatra Neamt, Bistrita, Targu Jiu, Targoviste, Deva, Focsani, Tulcea, Alba Iulia, Slatina, Vaslui, Resita, Calarasi, Giurgiu, Zalau, Sfantu Gheorghe, Slobozia, Alexandria and Miercurea Ciuc.

The total value of the contract is 10.485 million lei (excluding VAT) and the project implementation period is 24 months. AGERPRES(RO - writing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)

Display count: 379