Romania's Railways under Transition: Reorganisation Rehabilitation and Regional Development
Abstract
The paper attempts a review of the Romanian Railwaysduring transition. The first half of the paper considers the fall intraffic and the resulting financial problems which have made itdifficult to maintain the system and continue with any development.The organisation has been restructured so that separatefreight and passenger companies can now concentrate on specificbusiness and compete on the market while the infrastructurecompany is catching up on the maintenance backlog andis proceeding slowly with further electrification. The secondsection concentrates on the European project for high-speedtransport corridors and especially the interest of Romania'srailways in Corridors Four and Nine. Although there have beendelays over several years in starting the complex work of upgrading,contracts for the first phase of Corridor Four (Bucharest-Ctimpina) have now been signed, a new passenger coachrunning 200 km/his in service and locomotive upgrades are underway.The significance of all this for regional developmentlies in the fact that remarkably little of the 1989 network hasbeen closed and the system has remained basically intact tocope with the upswing in the economy that has taken placefrom 2000 onwards. The high-speed corridors, which include anumber of variants, comprise suffteient axes to afford directlinks with the economic macro regions while additional projectsare on hand to improve cohesion on the eastern frontier wherethe most serious development challenges exist.References
Agentia Nationala pentru Dezvoltare Regionala
(ANDR) 2000, Planul national de dezvoltare 2000-2002
(Bucharest: ANDR).
Anon 1993a, 'Refeaua feroviarii austriacii §i Europa de
Est: proiecte §i perspective', Revista CFR 80( 4), 25-7.
Anon 1993b, 'Transporturile romdne §i integrarea europeanii',
Revista CFR 80(4), 28-30.
Anon 1995a, 'Strategia de restructurare a SNCFR', Revista
CFR 82(4) 3-7; (4) 3-5.
Anon 1995b, 'Terminalul ferry-boat Constan{a-Samsun ',
Revista CFR 82(6), 3-6
Anon 1996a, 'Intercity Bra§ov-Chi§iniiu', Revista CFR
(3-4), 15
Anon 1996b, 'Pendolino: rezultatul incerciirilor la
SNCFR', Revista CFR 83(5-6), 31-8
Anon 1996c, 'Restructuring of autonomous administrations
in transport', Romanian Business Joumal3(11)9
Anon 1997a, 'Coridoarele europene de transport: reabilitarea
§i modernizarea componentei feroviare romane§ti
a Coridorului W Helsinki', Revista CFR 84 (5-6), 3-10.
Anon 1997b, 'Reforma ciiilor ferate fn economia {iirilor
din centrul si estul Europei (CEE)', Revista CFR
(5-6), 60-8.
Anon 1998, 'PHARE funds for railways infastructure
updating', Romanian Business Journa15(32-33), 9.
Anon 1999, 'Economic corridor between Central Asian
countries and Europe transiting Romania', Romanian
Business Journa16(6), 4-5; (7), 10-1.
Anon 2002, 'Romanian railways on their way towards
European standards', Romanian Business Journal
(10), 13.
C. Barbacioru 1983, Rationalitate In repartizarea tentoria
lii a forte/or de producfie: studiu comparativ pe exempluljudefelordin
Oltenia (Craiova: Scrisul Romanesc).
R. Bello 1996, 'Lucriiri de arta din refeaua SNCFR: scurt
istoric', Revista CFR 83(1-2), 12-6
R. Beier & H. Hufnagel1993, Wiilder und Dampf Bilder
aus vergangenen Tagen der CFF (Gablitz: Otto Novacek).
B. Berindei & A. Dinescu 1995, 'Aspecte tehnice §i economice
ale sistemelor de transport combinat', Revista
CFR 82(3), 36-8.
C. Botez 1977, Epopeea feroviarii romaneascii (Bucharest:
Editura Sport-Turism).
D. Buga 1984, 'Geografia ciiilor de comunicatie §i transporturilor':
V. Cucu ed., Geografie Romaniei: geografia
umana §i economica (Bucharest: Editura Academiei
RSR) 420-8.
G. Buzuloio 1990, 'Consideratii cu privire la oportunitatea
realiziirii unor noi traversari permanente pe sectorul
romanesc al Duniirii', Revista Transporturilor 17(5)
-29
0. Craciun 1997, 'Modemizarea retelei de telecomunicapi
a SNCFR', Revista CFR 84(4), 3-10.
Dinescu 1995, 'Parametrii de performantii ce se fmpun fn
transporturi combinat european', Revista CFR 82(4),
-9
V. Dincescu 1996, 'Dezvoltarea refelei de mare viteza fn
zona europeanii de sud-est: lucriirile grupei UIC', Revista
CFR 83(3-4), 7-9.
M. Dinu 1996, 'Strategia dezvoltiirii materialului rulant
motor §i remorcat de mare vitezii la SNCFR', Revista
CFR 83(3-4 ), 9-11
M. Dinu 1997, 'Modificiiri ale mediului produse sub influen{
a activitiitilor umane: cateva cazuri din SubCarpafii
Valcii', Analele UniversiHilii din Timi§oara: Geografie
, 129-38.
V. Drgona, G. Nagy, D. Turnock & V. Urucu 1998,
'Maglev in East-Central Europe': W. Tietze ed., Transrapid-
Vehrkehr in Europa: eine Vision fur das 21 Jahrhundert
(Berlin-Stuttgart: Gebriider Borntraeger)
-80.
G. Floricel 1992, 'Introducerea vitezelor mari la Ciiile
Ferate Romane', Revista CFR 79(3), 15-9
G. Floricel 1994, 'Linia de feribot Constanta-Samsun: o
linie de transport bimodal a§teapta de 50 de ani', Revista
CFR 81(3), 31-4.
G. Floricel & S. Petrean 1993, 'Pentru un program de
viteze mari la CFR', Revista CFR 80(4), 21-4.
0. Groza 2001, 'Regiuni de dezvoltare si 'path dependency'
in Romania: popularia §i transporturile rutiere',
Geographica Timisiensis 10, 41-53.
0. Groza & I. Muntele 1998, 'L'efficacite du reseau
ferroviaire et l'accessibilite territoriale en Roumanie', Revue
Roumaine de Geographie 42, 15-28.
H. Holban 1991, 'Pagini din istoria industriei romane§ti:
Uzinele 'Malaxa'', Magazin Istoric 25(5), 33-6; (6),
-8; (7), 38-41
L. Hutanu 1997, 'Extinderea spre est a refelei trans-Europene
de mare vitezii §i preocuparile SNCFR', Revista
CFR 84(2), 3-9.
G. Iacob 1987, 'Potentialul forestier al bazinului hidrografic
Liipu§ §i valorificarea lui', Lucrarile Seminarului
Geografic 'Dimitrie Cantemir' la§i 8, 277-84.
ICCE (Institutul Central de Cercetari Economic) 1983,
Progresul economic a Romaniei socialiste fn conceppa
pre§edinteliu Nicolae Ceau§escu (Bucharest: Editura
Politica).
Ion-Tudor 1996, 'Railway transport attractive for foreign
investors', Romanian Business Journal 3(39), 8.
Iordanescu & C. Georgescu 1986, Construcfii pentru
transporturi fn Romania (Bucharest: Centrala de Constructii
Cai Ferate)
H. Kleinschmidt 1996, 'Modemizarea ciiilor ferate prin
reconstructia vehiculelor feroviare', Revista CFR
(5-6), 28-30.
Firma Fiat Ferroviara 1996, 'Pendelino: rezultatul incercarilor
la SNCFR', Revista CFR 83(5-6), 31-8
Mironescu & G. Mitroi 1998, 'Informatizarea Ciiii Ferate
Romane: cea mai buna sau pentru imbunatatirea calitiitii
transportului ferovia ', Re vista CFR 85(1 ), 3-6.
Moldovan 1993, 'Considerapi geografice asupra vitezei
de circulape a trenurilor de ciiliitori pe magistralele feroviare
ale Romaniei', Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai:
Geographia 38(1), 106-12.
N. Popa 1993, 'Dezvoltarea infrastructurilor de transport
in Europa ', Analele Universitatii Tirni§oara: Geografie
, 173-81.
L-E. Radulescu 1995, 'Politica transporturilor fn cadrul
uniunii europene', Revista CFR 82(4), 35-7.
Spack 1997, 'Preocupiiri actuate §i de perspectivii fn electrificarea
ciiilor ferate din Romania: linia de contact',
Revista CFR 84(2), 37-40
D. Stanescu 1995, 'Probleme actuate §i tendinfe fn electrificarea
ciiilor ferate romane', Revista CFR 82(5), 6-10.
Talaba 1991, Turism fn Carpafii Orientali (Bucharest:
Editura pentru Turism).
C. Talanga 1994, 'Considerapi geografice privind punctele
de convergenfiiferoviara din Romania': I. Zavoianu
ed. Lucrarile sesiuni §tiintifice anuale 1993 (Bucharest:
Academia Romana Institutul de Geografie) 272-5.
V. Tufescu & C. Mocanu eds. 1985, Atlas geografic RSR
(Bucharest: Editura Didactica §i Pedagogica).
Turbot 1981, Sistemul unitar de transportal RSR (Bucharest:
Editura Tehnica).
D. Turnock 1979, 'The Romanian railway debate: a
theme in political geography', Journal of Transport History
, 105-21.
D. Turnock 1987, The development of the Romanian
railway network since the First World War (Leicester:
Leicester University Geography Department Occasional
Paper 16).
D. Turnock 1990, 'Transport for Romania's Carpathian
forests: improved accessibility through technological
change', GeoJournal22, 409-28.
D. Turnock 1991, 'Railway passenger services in Romania
-1990: a preliminary survey'. Revue Roumaine:
Geographie 35, 89-103.
D. Turnock 1994, Regional development in the new Eastem
Europe with special reference to Romania (Leicester:
Leicester University Social Sciences Faculty Discussion
Papers in Geography G94/1).
D. Turnock 1995, 'Aspects of the railway geography of
Banal', Analele Universitatii de Vest din Tirni§oara 5,
-27.
D. Turnock 1999, Railways and economic development
in Romania before 1918 (Leicester: University of Leicester
Faculty of Social Sciences Discussion Papers in
Geography 99/1).
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
