Many people were surprised, and some laughed, that the first electric train from Alstom arrived in Romania in the form of a freight train. There is nothing unusual about this, and in the article you can read why it is done the way it is and what will happen in the coming days with the newly arrived electric frame.

When the demonstration TGV was brought to the Czech Republic in June 2022, it arrived as part of a freight train and did not move using its own engines. The same thing happened in December 2019, when a high-speed train from Siemens crossed Romania on its way to Turkey.

Why did the Alstom train arrive from Katowice (Poland) integrated into a freight train? The train was delivered as a freight train and could not be driven separately, and mechanics on the railways of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary or Romania were not authorized to drive it separately.

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This Alstom Coradia Stream train was manufactured for Romania and the trains are authorized for each national railway network separately, explained to HotNews.ro Štefan Rosianu, director of the Railway Reform Authority (ARF).

It is not possible to issue a multi-country permit because rail safety regulations are country-specific, such as electricity systems. There are also a number of parameters that vary from country to country depending on the terrain, so it is not possible to issue a permit that covers several countries.

You can draw a parallel with the transportation of new cars. If you order a new Volkswagen car made in Germany, it will NOT be delivered by a driver who brings it to Romania, the same applies for example if you order a Škoda car made in the Czech Republic or any other car.

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The train ran with its own engines inside the factory in Katowice, and quality tests were carried out there, but the train did not run on the Polish rail network and was not tested at high speeds.

The permit granted by AFER states that the Alstom electric train can run “cold and escorted”, meaning it can only be transported by freight train.

However, it is not enough to have just one locomotive to pull the electric frame, other cars were needed to provide what the specialists call “braking percentage”. This means that the train must have a certain weight behind the locomotive and the number of cars allowed so that the train stops on time in all situations as specified in the instructions.

The train is now in the CFR Grivița Workshops, it has been approved for testing in Romania, after which there will be static tests, and in a few days the dynamic tests will also begin, which means that it will be taken out of the depot, it will be Tested on the Făurei ring , and then it will be taken to the national CFR network and tested at different speeds to check the braking distance, Stefan Rosianu, director of the Romanian Railways Authority, explained to HotNews.ro.

And to the test center in Feurey, the train will be towed, and the tests can start next week. Until then, Alstom Romania must carry out inspections and modifications, install the seats, and then issue an official notification that the train is ready for delivery.

The people at Alstom have to install a few more seats because the supplier Alstom was working with had delivery delays. “Alstom has informed us that there is a major problem in the supply chain and this is also the cause of the delay in the whole series. But in order to support us and have this train under the financial contract with the European Union, they made an effort to deliver it to us at the beginning of December in order to complete the procedures during this month,” he explained to Stefan Rosean.

The Alstom Coradia Stream is currently licensed to operate in Italy (4-car configuration), as well as in the Netherlands and Belgium (5-car and 8-car configurations). Coradia Stream trains, capable of reaching speeds of 200 km/h, will also arrive in Denmark, but with a delay of two years.