For years there have been talks about new electric trains, which the country really needs. We finally have a clearer timetable and passengers will be able to travel on Alstom trains in the first half of 2024. In the article, you can read about how many things need to be done correctly in order to meet this deadline.

The long journey of Alstom trains to Romania

The first long-distance electric trains from Alstom will arrive in the country in the summer of 2023 for tests and authorization procedures. If everything goes well, the procedures should be completed in the fall of 2023, and the first trains will be able to receive passengers in the public service at the end of 2023.

• New trains in Romania – A contract was signed with Alstom for 20 electric trains. What they look like and where they will go

It is realistic to assume that the first passengers will board these trains in the first months of 2024, initially on the routes starting from Bucharest, but it is planned that the trains will also be placed on the longest routes (eg Iasi – Timisoara).

All the trains will be delivered in 2024 and are scheduled to arrive in the country within the first nine months of this year.

“We hope that the issues brought to our attention by the supplier, especially in the area of ​​electronic components, will be overcome and have as little impact on the project as possible,” says Stefan Rosianu, president of the Railway Reform Authority.

Why is everything taking so long and where will the trains run?

Why does it take several months from the arrival of the first train to its readiness for passengers? Alstom officials say these trains must be tested for several months, either at the Făurei test site or on the current line, so that they work according to Romanian signaling systems.

Routes that will be served by intercity electric trams: Bucharest North – Constanta, Bucharest North – Brasov – Arad – Timisoara, Bucharest North – Brasov – Cluj, Bucharest North – Brasov – Deda – Cluj, Bucharest North – Brasov, Bucharest North – Iasi, Bucharest -North – Suceava, Bucharest-North – Galați, Bucharest-North – Craiova – Tirgu-Giu- Petrosany – Cimmeria, Bucharest-North-Craiova-Timişoara-Arad, Cluj-Timisoara, Cluj-Suçava-Iasi.

Around 40% of the CFR network is electrified, so trains will not have access to many routes, including Oradea – Cluj or Constanta – Mangalia.

Obviously, trains will run on all these routes, most likely in 2025, and the speed will not be much higher than now, because we have many restrictions, especially between Bucharest and Timisoara.

In 2023, tenders will also begin in late April or early May to select three operators who will receive service contracts to operate these trains for five years and, according to the delivery schedule, services on the main lines will begin electrification in 2024. The three largest passenger operators in the country are CFR Călători (state-owned company) and Regio Călători and Transferoviar Călători (private).

The value of the contract is 2.42 billion lei, including 15 years of maintenance, and of this contract the supply of trains is 370 million euros.

Data about the train and contract

ARF officials say that these trains will be comfortable even during long journeys and promise that the air conditioning systems will also cope with the heat wave.

Alstom representatives say that delays in production due to the crisis of electronic components and due to the war are not excluded. For example, there are problems with obtaining inert gases used in welding operations, gases that come from Ukraine and Russia. Production flows are turned upside down by these crises, Alstom representatives say.

The maximum speed of electric frames is 160 km/h, they consist of six cars (two end cars with driver’s cabins and four intermediate ones) and provide 351 seats. The units are equipped with ERTMS level 1 and 2 signaling and security systems, the national PZB90 system and are equipped with air conditioning systems, Wi-Fi, bar/bistro and disabled spaces, as well as an area dedicated to automatic ticketing. and composters.

On September 16, 2022, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI), the Railway Reform Authority (ARZ) concluded an Additional Act to the Contract for the purchase of 20 interregional electric trams (RE-IR), between the Railway Reform Authority, as the customer, and Alstom Ferroviaria SpA , as a supplier.

The additional act provides for supplementing the contract concluded by ARF with Alsom Ferroviaria SpA on March 25, 2022, with 17 more long-distance electric frames and ensuring their maintenance period for 15 years from the date of delivery of each electric frame. , to which are added services for training operating personnel, train operation and the use of software applications provided by the supplier.