French group Alstom recently signed a EUR 69 million contract for supplying electrical and signaling systems for Romania's railways company CFR SA, on the track connecting the Western border to Curtici and Arad. Alstom Transport Romania will be part of a consortium which will modernize the track, together with companies Swietelsky Bau Gesell Sachaft, Astaldi, Euro Construct Trading and Dafora. The total value of the contracts with these suppliers is of EUR 248 million excluding VAT. CFR announced the contract with the consortium earlier in February this year.

They should carry on work for the next one year and three months, adding a two-year guarantee period. CFR will use financing from the EU to cover 85 percent of the sum, the rest coming from the state budget and the Romanian Government.

Alstom will develop the first centralized traffic control in Romania, which will be placed in Arad and manage the traffic from the Hungarian border to Curtici, Arad, Savârşin and Timişoara, according to Gabriel Stanciu, general manager of Alstom Romania.

The selected consortium will supply new train tracks and make structural changes to the track on 41 kilometers. Alstom will deliver the electricity system for 100 kilometers of railway track.

The Romanian Government will turn railway company CFR SA’s EUR 900 million debt into shares which will be taken over by the Transport Ministry, as sole shareholder. Most of the debt consists in unpaid taxes to the state budget, social insurance budget and special funds, but does not include taxes on salaries. According to the Government, this kind of support for CFR, which is the only company in Romania that manages the railway infrastructure, does not represent state aid.

CFR SA is made of CFR Marfa (Freight) and CFR Calatori (Passengers), and is one of the companies closely monitored as part of the financing deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Corina Saceanu/Romania-Insider.com)