Romanian railway passenger transport operators will benefit from 16 new locomotives and 119 new trains after the contracts worth a total of RON 9.9 billion (EUR 2 billion) are completed by the contractors, transport minister Sorin Grindeanu announced.

Contracts for 16 locomotives and 62 regional trains were signed earlier this year.

All the contracts financed under the Resilience Facility and the Modernisation Fund (except for the H2-fueled trains) were already awarded, he stressed.

“This means a profound renewal of the entire fleet of trains in Romania, [which is] absolutely necessary. The fact that no new trains have been bought in Romania for over 20 years can be seen in the [poor] comfort of the passengers. The RON 9.9 billion contracts will lead to a major improvement,” minister Grindeanu said, quoted by Bursa.ro.

According to him, the new trains will run on 10 electrified routes serving cities like Constanţa, Ploiesti, Buzău, Focşani, Bacău, Iaşi, Suceava, Braşov, Sfântul Gheorghe, Miercurea Ciuc, Bistriţa, Cluj, Arad, Timișoara, and Reșița, in addition to Bucharest.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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