Romanian transport minister Lucian Sova says trains in Romania sometimes travel at the same speed they were travelling in the 19th century as there are over 500 speed restrictions in the local railway network.

“There’s almost more railway with restrictions than without restrictions,” he said, local News.ro reported.

He added that his goal is to bring the local railways at least to the 1989 standards, using EU funds and the budget of the state company CFR Infrastructura.

Sova said that all civilized countries invest in railway infrastructure and don’t rely exclusively on EU funds for this, as Romania has done in recent years. He added that he was the first transport minister in recent years to allot budget funds for railway infrastructure work.

The transport minister also spoke about the much-awaited Pitesti-Sibiu highway. He said this highway could be finalized in 2023, in a moderately optimistic scenario.

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editor@romania-insider.com