The private Romanian rail sector wants to establish an advisory council to get the country’s rail back on track. The Employers’ Organization of Private Railway Companies in Romania (OPSFPR) and the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) are spearheading the initiative, saying that it should be an independent, honorary and consultative body intended to contribute to the revitalisation of Romanian rail.
The rail sector in Romania is in a precarious position. The country’s freight branch complained in 2024 that trains took “a week to travel 200 kilometres”. Its national freight operator, CFR Marfă, is bankrupt. To add insult to injury, the company’s successor Carpatica Feroviar is already mired in illegality controversies before operations have even started.
Unsurprisingly, market parties are rather dissatisfied with how things are going. They now want to establish an advisory body that has the ear of the transport ministry, according to Romanian publication Club Feroviar. Such a body could give the sector the opportunity to impact policy-making and bring much-needed improvements.
Best practices
The council is supposed to facilitate consultation with specialists from the private sector, academics and research centres. The hope is that it will lead to efficient solutions, for example to reduce bottlenecks.
OPSFPR says that Romania needs to take various steps to improve the quality of rail. Infrastructure needs to get a boost, with fewer speed restrictions. Bucharest needs to renew legislation, with simplified regulations, fewer bureaucratic barriers and the adoption of European best practices. Lastly, it calls for an investigation into infrastructure manager CFR’s expenditures in order to reduce waste.
What the advisory body should help achieve, according to AIF:
– Coordinating a strategic vision for revitalising the railway sector and aligning with European policies on green and digitalised transport
– Creating a collaboration forum between authorities, public and private operators, academia and the railway industry
– Identifying and removing bottlenecks in the rail system, such as underfunding of infrastructure and excessive bureaucracy
– Improving railway safety by modernising infrastructure and strengthening regulations
– Prioritising infrastructure investments and efficient use of available European funds
– Promoting green rail transport, through electrification and digitalisation
– Stimulating the competitiveness of the railway sector on the European market