Căile Ferate Române

History

The 19th century

The first line open on the current territory of Romania was it in the Banat, on August 20th, 1854 in the railroads, between Oraviţa and Baziaş, port on the the Danube on the level of the Portes of Iron. This line, as a 62.5 km length, only served to transport the coal to supply the steamers. Starting from January 12th, 1855 in the railroads, the line was exploited by the Austrian railroads, Banat forming at that time part of the Empire Austro-Hungarian. After several months of work, the line also was opened with the movement of travellers on November 1st, 1856 in the railroads. Consequently, all the railway lines of these areas, belonging previously to the Austria-Hungary or the Russian Empire, were placed under the administration of the CFR. This event was important for the Rumanian railroads because it meant that the large factory of railway construction of material and iron and steel products Astra of Arad, which was before in Austro-Hungarian territory, was from now on in Romania, and made it possible thereafter to produce a broad range of rolling stock and Locomotive S for the CFR.

Vis-a-vis the increase in the traffic, the setting with double track of the principal arteries was considered as of the end of the 19th century, then gradually carried out; a second way being parallel to built the first to increase the capacity of traffic flow. As of 1912, a first line was doubled on the whole of its course, that of Bucharest - Ploieşti - Câmpina. During the time of the inter-war periods, various other routes were put at double track, of which:

Constanţa - Cernavodă (1931)
Adjud-Tecuci (1933)
Teiuş-Apahida (1940)
Câmpina - Braşov (1941)
Buzău - Mărăşeşti (1942)

During the Years 1920 and 1930, the CFR acquired many Locomotive S and cars and Wagon S, engaging in a modernization plan generalized. The diesel traction was introduced, and the oars fast diesel Malaxa (of which a modernized version is still in service for the suburban trains in the Banat) were built.

An big event of the history of the Rumanian railroads was the Griviţa strike of 1933, which was held during the Grande Depression and gave place to violent one confrontations between the Rumanian railwaymen and the police force.

The Second world war was less destroying for the Rumanian rail network than for a certain number of its European counterparts. The attitude of the Rumanian State, initially combined of Germany, under the capacity of Ion Antonescu, in the war against the Soviet Union, then passed in the camp of the Great alliance against the Fascism starting from the coup d'etat of Michel Ier of August 23rd, 1944, made it possible to limit the engagements on the national ground. The reversal of alliances proceeded before an offensive of great scale of the Red Army and the Bombardement S combined on the Romania more struck the oil installations which fed the armies of the Axe that the means of communication.

The communist time

After the advent of the communist mode in 1949, very important investments were carried out in the railway infrastructure, often with the detriment of the other forms of infrastructure, in particular of the Route S. For this period, the railroads were regarded as the symbol of the fast industrialization of Romania under the direction of the Communist leaders like Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceauşescu. In addition to the increase in the rail traffic and the construction of various new lines, in particular in the rural regions, the large one of the electrification and the settings with double track was carried out under the communist era .

The first electrified line of the Rumanian network was the line Bucharest - Braşov, which had a significant traffic as well travellers as goods. Work of electrification started in 1959, and the first electrified section, between Braşov and Predeal, was brought into service on December 9th, 1965 in the railroads. April 20th, 1966 in the railroads, an additional section, of Predeal with Câmpina was electrified and the very whole line was to it on February 16th, 1969 in the railroads. This electrification was done in running industrial alternate 25 Kv 50 Hz.

Various lines were also put at double track. The fifth autonomous division appeared in 2002: the Societatea Informatica Feroviara SA . After this reform, the economic situation of the Rumanian railroads significantly improved, stimulated by the growth of the Rumanian economy since the year 2000, which made it possible to carry out important public investments in the railroads and led the CFR to become again one of the railway owners most lucrative of the area. A policy of reduction of the costs, of optimization of the material, increase in the tariffs (the CFR Călători increased the price of the tickets of 9%, on March 1st, 2007 in the railroads) will allow, afterwards successive deficits (still 100 million euros in 2006 for a turnover of 1,1 billion d'€, the goods subsidiary company having CA higher than that of the travellers, 538,7 d'€ million for the CFR Marfă against 468,6 d'€ million for the CFR Călători), a return to balance for the year 2007 and even a personal benefit of 4,4 d'€.Le million paid a heavy tribute with modernization and with research of profitability; if manpower were stabilized since the beginning of the Années 2000 around: 45000 employees, at the end of the Years 1990: 26500 people were laid off. The return to financial balance, the year of the accession of Romania to the European Union, lets hope with the CFR and their managing director, Constantin Axinia, of the Community subsidies to continue their modernization, as well on the level of their infrastructures as of their material.

Since 1989, many small lines were closed, in particular of the industrial lines or with Narrow gauge railway. That was generally the consequence of the increased competition of the private lines of Bus and of the low number of travellers on these lines. Other closings of lines must still intervene in the future, in particular on the secondary lines of the province of Timiş, which generally very old, are attended little and, moreover, strongly damaged by the floods of 2005 in this area. On the whole, 75 km of lines must still close from here the end of the year 2007 (approximately: 1000 to 1500 km of lines were closed since 1990, all in rural regions). Certain narrow-gauge lines were recently reopened by the SFT or Societatea Feroviara de Turism , the tourist branch of the CFR, but they are exploited only episodically, in general twice per month, more the summer (these lines include/understand in particular the Abrud-Câmpeni sections, Târgu Mureş - Band and Moldoviţa-Canton). All the forest railroads ( căi ferate forestiere in Rumanian) still exploited after 1989 were privatisés and sold at forestry companies. Some, like the Railroad of the valley of Vasser , became of important tourist attractions since then.

Modernization

At the beginning of the Years 2000, the CFR were committed in a total modernization program improving their image which was, so much with the internal plan than international, marked by a poor service and an obsolete material. The first phases of modernization consisted in modernizing a great number of oars of the trains Rapid and InterCity , like extending the services InterCity to form a network express train on a country scale.

To reinforce the growth of the network Rumanian InterCity , the CFR acquired in December 2002 several oars Desiro of Siemens, of which some were assembled with Arad. Called Sageata Albastră (blue Arrow), they ensure of the services Accelerat , Rapid and InterCity with short and average distances. The Desiro oars were shown like the symbol of the modernization of the CFR, in spite of the critics considering that the CFR should not have used Desiro oars, with traction Diesel, on express services of broad outlines, whereas they are conceived mainly for services of Banlieue at short distance, with their relatively hard seats, their low speed and their bad soundproofing. The CFR reacted by bringing into fine service 2004, a certain number of new Desiro oars isolated better and equipped from 70 seats instead of 110, thus allowing an increase in the width of the seats and their step. To date, the CFR continue to exploit Desiro oars on relations with average outdistances, even if they were replaced on several lines with long distance by other modernized oars.

In addition to Desiros, the CFR also acquired, during the last years, 80 news sleeping cars (standard WLABmee), of the cars berths, the cars InterCity , as well as cars on two levels with great capacity for the trains Accelerat and Rapid . The new sleeping cars of the CFR currently appear among most modern of Europe; they are equipped with the Climatisation, screens LCD and modern Douche S in each compartment. In addition to the improvements of the towed material, the CFR acquired also or renovated several series of engines, of which the very widespread series 40 and 41 of locomotive electric. Ten new engines Taurus (Siemens) were also acquired for the trains Rapid and InterCity . The modernization program of the CFR also includes/understands the project XSELL, which aims at introducing into the whole of Romania a system of electronic ticketting. It should be said that while the Rumanian railway service significantly improved during the last decades and competes now with the European standards, the system of ticketting and of reservation remained really antiquated, still using tickets out of paperboard instead of electronic tickets. Project XSELL was launched to the station of the North of Bucharest in November 2004 in the railroads and was extended to all the large stations of the country during the year 2005 In 2003, the operator of Mobile telephony Connex GSM Romania made an agreement with the CFR to provide mobile services associated with the system with schedules and reservation with the trains. Currently, a phone line is available 24 hours a day, and makes it possible to the customers of Connex to obtain, by composing the 652, of information in real-time on the routes of the trains, the schedules, the trains in departure, the delays, the tariffs and all information on the purchase of the tickets or the reservation of the places in the trains on the basis of the station of the North of Bucharest. Orange Romania concluded an similar agreement with the beginning of the year 2004.

The services of the CFR continue to improve, the company having reached a point of inflection in its sales strategy and a level of service among best in the area. However, certain concerns appeared on the fact that the CFR, which did not reach the economic equilibrium yet, do not have the means of financing the modernization of the Infrastructure to come, especially in the context of a more inclined government to currently develop the road infrastructure (the highway network particularly) at the expense of the railroads. The medium-term main objectives of the CFR are to continue the modernization of the network, rolling stock and to accelerate the mean velocity of the convoys still relatively modest. In 2005, some of these agreements were denounced and the lines passed by again under exploitation of the CFR. In August 2005 in the railroads, the CFR announced to their intention of privatiser their specialized subsidiary in freight, CFR Marfă. Delayed by the authorities, this Privatization should be concluded its with the end of the year 2008.

Network and traffic

Today, the Rumanian ways iron manage 11053 km of lines including 10914 km of ways with standard spacing of 1435 mm, 78 km of narrow gauge railways (metric spacing), 61 km of broad ways with spacing of 1520 mm; these last allow a connection with the railway whole of old the Soviet Union, namely the networks Moldavian and Ukrainian. The Romania has a railway density slightly lower than the average of the European Union, of 46.3 km lines for 1000 km2 against 51 km/1000 km2 in Community space. The Rumanian network counts 3965 km of lines electrified in running industrial alternative 25 Kv 50 Hz, that is to say 35,8% of the network compared with 48% on the scale of the European Union. The mileage of lines with double track is established to 2965 km (either 26,9% of the network compared with 41% in Community space).

The whole of the network is organized around 9 Masterly (major lines and structuring network around of which come to flow of the minor roads).

Passenger services

CFR Călători, the travellers subsidiary company of the CFR (managing director: Valentine Bota), exploits seven types of passenger trains, as well on the Rumanian territory, with his clean Locomotive S and towed material, as abroad with his towed material. The CFR tractor draw also the international trains in Romania with their own engines. The various types of trains are different by their speed and the type of cars used.

The categories of trains of CFR are the following ones:

Personal (P) - numbered of 2000 to 9999
Accelerat (A) - numbered of 1000 to 1999
Rapid (R) - numbered from 200 to 499, 600 to 999 and 10000 to 14999
InterCity (IC) - numbered from 500 to 599
EuroCity (EC.) - numbered like trains IC from 500 to 599
EuroNight (IN) - numbered like trains IC from 500 to 599
Special (S) - tourist trains circulating on picturesque lines with old material, numbered of S1 with S9

In addition to these seven principal categories, the CFR also use night trains, which can have various statutes (in general Rapid , InterCity or EuroNight ). The goods trains, exploited by CFR Marfă, follow a distinct system of classification.

Personal

the trains Personal are the most widespread passenger trains on the Rumanian network. They are affected mainly with or shuttle services, Banlieue, connecting cities and the close villages, or cities nearby between them.

They have the lowest mean velocity (45,4 km/h in 2004), the least comfortable material (in general oldest) and have the reputation to be very slow, crammed and generally rather dirty. They circulate in general on local lines, stopping in all the Gare S. the tariffs for this type of trains are the least expensive, without supplement, the price being calculated according to the basic tax and the distance. There does not exist possibility of holding.

The material of the trains Personal is very varied. On the lines connecting of the close cities, (like Bucharest and Piteşti), the quality of the material is much better than on the services between cities and rural areas (like the line Timişoara - Berzovia).

The essence of the park Personal is formed of cars to one or two levels without compartments (type coach ). On some of these trains, in particular in the rural areas, there does not exist first class. Delivered these cars, for the material dating from the years 1970 and 1980 is blue. Certain very short lines of the Bucovine have a material dating from the years 1940 and 1950, re-equipped seats of bus and exploited like Autobus on rail. The CFR are modernizing a series of cars Personal on two levels, which will be assigned to trains Personal or Accelerat . Renovated cars, carrying the same one exactly delivered that the old ones, were introduced since 2003 and are cleaner, although using the same old equipment.

In 2007, the situation clearly improved, the majority of the cars were renovated. Motorized electric, bought with the SNCF and CFL and renovated, registered series 58, service entrance on the lines Teiuş- Braşov, Braşov - Sfântu Gheorghe, Cluj-Napoca - Bistriţa, Teiuş- Cluj-Napoca, Suceava - Cacica, while the routes Sibiu - Braşov and Sibiu - Craiova from now on is ensured by oars Desiro.

Accelerat

the trains Accelerat (accelerated trains) are used for the relations with average and long distance, with stops only in certain cities. They are equipped with material of better quality that the trains Personal and are faster. They are also more expensive, a supplement being added to the basic tax and often, the reservation is obligatory. These trains are also used on interregional lines with long distance (like Oradea - Galaţi, on more than 830 km). In spite of these long distances, the trains Accelerat serve each crossed city (but not villages) and are thus very popular, although they are seldom borrowed for displacements between big cities.

The material of the trains Rapid recently was the subject of the modernization plan of the CFR. Several series of cars were modernized and equipped with the Climatisation, ecological toilets, etc However, a weak part of the park Rapid , mainly on the least attended lines, remains rather old and even obsolete. In 2004, oars diesel Desiro of Siemens were brought into service on Rapid relations at average outdistances. The material Rapid is in general painted in red with a horizontal white band. All the cars are with compartments in six places in second as in first class, these last are air-conditioned. sleeping cars, voitures-couchettes and restaurant car equip certain trains on the longest relations.

InterCity

The trains InterCity (IC) constitute the high-end of the service travellers of the CFR and ensure the relations between the main cities, as well as shuttle services between Bucharest and the Littoral of the Black Sea on the one hand, and the stations of mountain of the Carpates of Sinaia and Predeal on the other hand. They serve in theory only the agglomerations moreover: 100,000 inhabitants. They are the fastest trains of all, with a mean velocity of 75 km/h in 2004, and are formed of the most modern towed material and most comfortable, being able to compete with the high-end of other European networks. So the tariff of InterCity includes/understands an important supplement which is added to the basic tariff. However, owing to the fact that services IC are only slightly more expensive as the services Rapid , the trains InterCity became very popular as well for the family voyages as for displacements of businesses. Delivered the InterCity standard is usually gray and red, in particular for the material of the C160 class which is most recent. The majority of the InterCity cars are with compartments, although the recent tendency as regards restoration is to remove the compartments.

The passenger services IC of high-end or international, like the relation Bucharest - Constanţa, use cars of Rumanian construction Astra AVA-200 , of which the speed limit is of 200 km/h and which constitute the most comfortable material of the park of the CFR. In fact, according to the Friends of the CFR , a Rumanian railway newspaper, there was a clear degradation of quality of service on trains IC Bucharest - Vienna when the exploitation ensured by the CFR was taken again by the Austrian railroads (ÖBB) in 2003, causing many complaints in favor of a return of the material of the CFR.

The oars diesel Desiro of Siemens, painted in blue and white, are assigned to services IC at short distance, usually with one or two intermediate stops (for example, the relation Sibiu - Braşov). They also circulate on the not electrified lines. In 2006, the trains InterCity ensure the following relations:

Certain services IC circulate of night and thus comprise sleeping cars. The old sleeping cars delivered one red, while most recent are painted with the colors blue-yellow-white of the delivered news night .

Before the beginning of the year 2003, there existed also a train InterCityExpress (ICE), which connected Bucharest to Constanţa, but it ceased existing in this form and was transformed into IC, while preserving same rolling stock.

EuroCity and EuroNight

The EuroCity (EC.) and EuroNight (IN) are international trains generally used by the CFR in partnership with other national railway companies, according to the origins and destinations of the various lines. These trains belong to the network paneuropéen of express trains. All the international trains forwarding by the Romania are not classified EC. or IN - the majority circulate in Rumanian territory under the statute of the trains Rapid . However, the night train Belgrade - Bucharest circulates under the label EuroNight , and there exists at the same time a train EuroCity and a EuroNight on the relation Budapest - Bucharest via Arad. The trains EuroCity are almost always comfortable and modern, but less perhaps than the InterCity , since they generally use the same type of cars as the trains Rapid . The trains EuroNight are made of modern sleeping cars and are generally of a good security level:

45,37 km/h for the trains Personal
61,66 km/h for the trains Accelerat
68,18 km/h for the trains Rapid
74,95 km/h for the trains InterCity

The longest relation in the train, in 2007, is that connecting Iasi, in the North-East, with Timişoara, in south-west, takes 14:30 hours in the train of the type Accelerat . The longest way in the train InterCity (Oradea - Constanţa) request 12 hours.

Freight services

In Romania, the services of goods transport are exploited mainly by CFR Marfă (managing director, Liviu Bobar), division freight of the CFR, but also by 28 private companies which exploit lines rented by CFR Infrastructură. The field-installed machines of CFR Marfă include/understand 926 Locomotive S, for the majority built in Romania or in the ex- Yugoslavia. The fact that the railway freight preserved a strong market share in Romania, combined with a series of effective reforms, made it possible CFR Marfă to obtain financial good performances, although this subsidiary company still records losses.

The goods trains are subjected to speed limits similar to those of the passenger trains, however the dangerous matter trains (Explosif S, nuclear matters, produced flammable, chemicals…) have a specific regime. The majority of the engines have a speed limit of rather high or high construction of about 120 with 200 km/h, but the goods trains generally circulate between 60 and 100 km/h.

Each one of these four subsidiary companies has its own engines and those are generally not interchangeable. As example, an engine CFR Marfǎ should not be employed to tractor draw a Train CFR Cǎlǎtori. In practice however, this rule does not hold and the various subsidiary companies frequently employ a material not belonging to them into clean by the means of abstract agreements of hiring. Moreover, they employ also material of privately held companies, usually in the event of urgency (for example, when an engine breaks down and must be replaced to ensure the continuity of the service, one can call upon an engine private, unutilised, being in the vicinity).

Electric engines

The majority of the electric locomotive used by the CFR were built by Electroputere Craiova (indicated standard EA) and by Končar Zagreb (indicated standard EC.). All are with standard spacing (1435 mm) and circulate under Caténaire in Alternative course 50 Hz 25 Kv. All the trains are equipped with the electric heating. Currently, the CFR have: 1066 electric engines, including 933 built by Electroputere and 133 by Končar. The oldest electric engines carry one delivered gray, while the modernized machines (after 1999) are painted in red.

Diesel locos

The Diesel loco of the CFR were built by Electroputere Craiova (classes 60 to 68) and Faur Bucharest (classes 69 to 95). A certain number of new engines Hercules ER20 Siemens were ordered for the CFR Marfă (the delivery awaited for November 2005 was delayed and no machine was still delivered). They will be assigned to the services of Fret of CFR Marfă. The new Diesel locos carry one delivered blue, while oldest are in gray. The following series are currently in service:

Motorized oars Diesel

CFR Călători exploits motorized oars Diesel mainly for services travellers with short and average distances, but recently, following the startup of the oars Desiro of Siemens, they are also assigned to relations InterCity with more long distances.

Electric motorized oars

No motorized Rame electric was in service before 2006. This last year saw the arrival of the first electric railcars bought of occasion to the SNCF and CFL, of French Z 6100 tricaisses and their equivalent bicaisses Luxembourg, series 250 and 260, called " p' tit gris" in France and " Moulinex" in the Grand-Duchy. These railcars stainless of suburbs were februarie modified and modernized by the company Remarul 16 Cluj and service entrance (series 58) within the framework of the trains Personal . Moreover, the CFR placed order of 30 electric oars tricaisses Desiro of Siemens (this model is identical to the series 96 Desiro put aside the fact that they are in electric traction and not Diesel) which should be delivered to second half of the year 2007 and during the year 2008. Three other electric oars must be still ordered (perhaps of the type Pendolino) for the InterCity services on the relations Bucharest - Braşov and Bucharest - Constanţa, with a speed limits 220 km/h. A regional electric oar with six cases built by Electroputere remained with the state of prototype since 1990 because of problem of unsolved engines and braking.

Bond with the sport

Many Rumanian sporting clubs, reserved at the origin with paid company, result from CFR . Most known are the football clubs CFR Ecomax Cluj and CFR Timişoara, evolving/moving in the elite of the Rumanian championship for the first, on a lower level for the second.

See too

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