Around 10 million Romanians – the equivalent of half the country – are fare dodging when riding the train, which causes the Romanian Railways Company CFR a loss of up to RON 40 million – or some EUR 8.8 million a year. Around 15 percent of CFR's clients, a total of 53.4 million a year did not pay for tickets for riding the train in 2011, choosing to pay something on the train, to the ticket controller.

CFR estimate the fare dodging at some 15 to 20 percent of the number of clients a year, according to Stefan Roseanu, general manager of CFR Calatori, quoted by Gandul.

CFR is in a dire financial situation. Earlier this year, the state decided to turns its 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.

CFR Calatori, the passenger transport arm of CFR SA, was to axe over a 1,000 jobs in March this year. The measure follows the agreement between the Romanian Government and the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the World Bank. Laid off employees will receive six months redundancy pay.

CFR Marfa, CFR’s freight arm, is due to be privatized this year. Romania plans to sell a stake of 20 percent in CFR Marfa, either through an Initial Public Offering, or with a strategic investor, by October this year. The company posted losses of EUR 31.3 million last year, 68 percent higher than the level approved by the Government. CFR Marfa’s last profitable year was 2007.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)