Radio România Internațional

Tag: railway

  • August 30, 2022 UPDATE

    August 30, 2022 UPDATE

    Transport – More than 260 kilometers of highway and expressway are now under construction in Romania, and contracts have been signed for another 131 kilometers of highway, with works being about to begin. The announcement was made by the Transport Minister, Sorin Grindeanu, in a press conference during which he presented the situation of the first eight months of this year, for large infrastructure projects. Regarding the railway system, the official announced investments for the modernization of 250 kilometers of railway. Grindeanu also stated that, from the beginning of the year until August 1, financing contracts for all types of transport worth approximately 4.7 billion Euros were signed at the transport ministry.



    Population — On January 1, 2022, Romanias resident population exceeded 19 million people, a decrease by 163,000 people as compared to the beginning of last year, data provided by the National Institute of Statistics – INS show. Romania loses annually a number of people equal to the population of a city like Arad or Piteşti, say the representatives of the Institute. The main cause of this decrease is the negative natural population growth, the number of deceased persons significantly exceeding the number of live births. The INS data also show that the demographic aging process has deepened, with Romania registering, in early 2022, a number of 123.6 people over 64 for every 100 young people.



    Ukraine — The defense ministers from the European Union reached an agreement on the creation of a military assistance mission for Ukraine, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday. “It is not just about the war, but also about the way it is being waged, about the training of the military”, he declared after an informal meeting in Prague. On the ground, the Ukrainian army launched a vigorous counter-offensive against the invading Russian troops in the country’s occupied south. The Ukrainian counterattack is mainly aimed at retaking control of Kherson, a city of 280,000 inhabitants before the war started, which fell in the Russian hands at the start of the invasion on February 24. “Today there have been strong artillery attacks on enemy positions (…) throughout the territory of the occupied Kherson region. This is the announcement weve been waiting for since spring. It is the beginning of the end of the occupation in the Kherson region” – deputy Serghei Klan announced on the Ukrainian television. The Ukrainian military are already talking about the withdrawal of a unit of pro-Russian separatist fighters from the region. On the other hand, Russia claims that it rejected the attempts of the Ukrainians to advance into the regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv, also in the south.



    EU — Germany and France reject, in a joint position paper, the proposal of some member countries to ban entry into the European Union for all Russian citizens, dpa reports. Even if it accepts that visa applications made by Russian citizens should be examined carefully for potential security risks, the document warns against underestimating “the transformative power of experiencing life in democratic systems first-hand.” A general ban could lead to the amplification of the nationalist and anti-European sentiment in Russia, the French-German paper also states. Romania will support the suspension of the Agreement with Russia to facilitate the granting of visas, which is one of the topics of the meeting of the European foreign ministers that began on Tuesday in Prague. The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, will plead for restricting the movement of Russian citizens in the community space, even for tourist purposes. The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating six-month presidency of the Union, hopes for a consensus of the 27 member states to implement this measure, requested by Finland and supported by the Baltic countries, by October.



    Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Elena-Gabriela Ruse (24 years old, 101 WTA) qualified for the second round of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, after 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 with the Australian of Russian origin Daria Saville, ex Gavrilova (28 years old, 58 WTA). In the second round, Gabriela Ruse will meet the American player Coco Gauff (18 years old, 12 WTA). The former world leader Simona Halep, currently world no. 7, was surprisingly defeated by the Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Jaqueline Cristian (24 years, 77 WTA) was also eliminated as she was defeated by the Estonian Anett Kontaveit (26 years, 2 WTA), 6-3, 6-0, in 66 minutes. (LS)

  • Extreme heat and traffic restrictions

    Extreme heat and traffic restrictions


    Romania is struggling these days with a new wave of extreme heat, which is expected to hold the country in its grips until early next week. Thermal discomfort is severe, and temperatures are reaching as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Weather experts warn that temperatures will not go below 20 degrees Celsius even at night, in some parts of the country.



    The southern regions are subject to a code orange alert for extreme heat, particularly difficult to withstand, according to experts, as the temperature-humidity index is predicted to go above the critical 80-unit threshold. Also, until Sunday night, except for the northern parts of the country, a code yellow alert against extreme heat is in place in all regions, with highs expected to hit 39 degrees Celsius.



    The bad news is that the first part of August is likely to be as hot, with highs predicted to stay around 37-38 degrees Celsius in the first days of the month as well, especially in the south and south-east.



    The brutal heat pushed the countrys electricity consumption to a record 8,865 MW on Wednesday. Given the current weather forecasts, the National Power Dispatch estimates similar electricity consumption levels for the coming days as well.



    With the heat persisting in the next period, the interior ministry has instructed its local structures in the counties subject to the code yellow and orange alerts to take measures to mitigate the effects of the rising temperatures. Interior ministry personnel will support local authorities in managing risk situations.



    In turn, the National Motorway and Road Corporation announced traffic restrictions up until Saturday night, for the period between noon and 8pm, for vehicles larger than 7.5 tonnes across the country except for the counties Harghita, Neamţ, Suceava and Botoşani, in the centre and north-east. The restrictions were introduced in order to help protect and preserve bitumen road segments and to prevent asphalt distortion caused by heavy duty traffic.



    The National Railways Corporation also announced that the speed of passenger and freight trains will be 20-30 kmph lower until the end of the week, to ensure traffic safety in areas where temperatures will reach 39 degrees Celsius. The measure will only be in place where rail temperatures exceed 50 degrees, to prevent rail dilation. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • The railway accident in Ciurea

    The railway accident in Ciurea


    Romania took sides with the French-Anglo-Russian
    alliance in August 1916 and formally entered World War One. In the wake of
    nearly four months of violent fight, on December 6, 1916, the German army
    occupied Bucharest. The Romanian authorities fled the capital city withdrawing
    to Moldavia, in the north, but their withdrawal was simply chaotic. All
    throughout that chaotic period of time, in the last night of 1916, nearby Iasi,
    the most serious railway accident in Romanian history happened. About 1,000
    people lost their lives as an oversized and overloaded train derailed in the
    locality of Ciurea.


    The historian Dorin Stanescu specializes in the
    history of Romanian railways. He made an in-depth research of the great
    accident. According to Dorin Stanescu, along a railway network of 1,330
    kilometers in Moldavia, 1,000 locomotives and roughly 25,000 railroad carriages were
    pulled over, that is Romania’s entire railway fleet, which literally blocked the
    railroad lines, while the rolling of trains became very difficult.

    Dorin Stanescu:


    As the Romanian army was withdrawing to
    Moldavia, a train was departing from Galati on December 30, 1916, at a time
    when the city of Galati was under the German bomb-shelling and the German
    occupation of the city could hardly be avoided. The train was overloaded,
    heading for Iasi. There was a couple of hours’ delay in the scheduled departure
    of the train. It was an overcrowded train, since many civilians wanted to go to Iasi.
    Joining them were GIs who were on leave and obviously had to return to their
    military units, there were also several Russian soldiers on board the train. We
    must say that among those who boarded that train there were such personalities
    as that of former finance minister Emil Costinescu, then there was the daughter
    of former French ambassador to Bucharest, Yvonne Blondel as well as the geographer
    George Valsan.


    Dorin Stanescu:


    The train became overcrowded as
    other carriages were added along the route, while people were literally storming
    those carriages. Very many people opted for boarding the train at all costs,
    using event the rooftops of the carriages. So from one railway station to the
    next the train was getting longer and got more and more crowded. Now, if we
    think of the size of the carriages that were rolling at that time and their
    available space and if we check the number of passengers as against the
    available compartments, the buffers-and-chain coupling system of the carriages
    and the rooftops, and examining the accounts as regards the number of carriages,
    we may find out that no less than 5,000 people were on board the train, whereas
    the train had a seating capacity for no more than 1,000 people. Everybody was desperate
    to flee Galati, while the GIs were desperate to make it to their military
    units.


    On December 31, 1916, the train departing from Galati
    and having Iasi as its destination point was reaching its final leg. But this
    final part of the journey would be a tragical one.

    Dorin Stanescu:


    On December 31, 1916, the train
    reached the town of Barlad and was stationed there during the night of December
    30 to December 31. The following day the train rolled on, there were 120
    kilometers to roll before reaching Iasi. The train hit the railway station of
    Ciurea at about 12 am, the locality and the railway station were just a couple
    of kilometers away from the city which was lying along a valley. It was a harsh
    winter and the snowfalls had been abundant. When the train began rolling
    downward along the slope, the mechanics activated the brake system.
    Unfortunately, the train was so crowded that the people who were responsible
    for that could not activate the proper mechanism of the carriages which had
    hand brakes that were manually operated for each carriage, so that the train could
    be slowed down. The train was rolling at high speed and ran off its rails.


    In the railway station of Ciurea, all the rails were
    full of passenger carriages and cistern tanks with a liquid cargo of oil. When
    the train ran off its rails it bumped into other carriages which caused a terrible deflagration. According to eyewitness accounts, the explosions were quite like
    a small-scale earthquake. Many people were thrown off in the snow but many more
    died because they were crushed between the carriages, while others got killed
    in the explosions. Estimates of that time reported as many as 1,000 deaths.


    The aftermath of the terrible accident was
    predictable, and the survivors and their descendants claimed justice.

    Dorin
    Stanescu:


    Quite a few of the victims or their successors tried to file lawsuits
    against the Railway Company and the Romanian army to receive compensations. The
    case stalled, obviously, and the legal conclusion was that the territory was
    under the jurisdiction of the army and the damage fell under the category of
    war damage. Oftentimes the dead person takes all the blame, in Romanian
    society. All the inquiry committee chose to say was that, because of the people
    on board who blocked the maneuvers the personnel was supposed to make, the
    train could not be stopped. There is a similarity with another accident that
    happened in a similar context, this time in France. On December 12, 1917, in
    the region of Savoy, a train loaded with French soldiers who were on leave, as it was
    rolling along a hill, ran off its rails; the aftermath of that accident was
    about the same, and so were the conclusions of the inquiry. Nobody was held
    accountable for that tragedy. That train was also overcrowded and 400 people
    died. Scapegoat hunt back then was purposefully avoided, and it was the war
    that pleaded guilty.


    The accident in Ciurea, on the New Year’s Eve of 1917,
    was quite uncommon at that time. However, the war itself is something which is
    quite uncommon.


    (Translation by Eugen Nasta)





  • Seeing the world by train: accounts by Romanian travellers

    Seeing the world by train: accounts by Romanian travellers

    One of the greatest inventions of mankind is the railway, and the changes it brought about in modern world have been outstanding. Even after other means of transportation were discovered, railway remained the favourite way to travel for many, and, improved from one generation to the next, it still has a great future ahead of it.



    In Romania, railroads were first built after the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 and entailed a radical change in the way the world was perceived. Romanians started to travel increasingly longer distances and to write about what they saw.



    Historian Radu Mârza is a professor with Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, and author of a book entitled “Romanian travellers looking out the train window: a tentative cultural history (1830-1930). We asked Radu Mârza what would Romanian travellers see out the train windows?



    “They would see lots of things. At first sight, they seem to be very interested in landscapes. But after I went through a lot of sources, I reached the conclusion that their primary interest is not so much the landscape, but the people. They look out the window at the people outside, the people in railway stations, and, not least, the people travelling alongside them on trains. They would take an interest in the places they visit, but the concept of a natural landscape, which was the starting point of my research, only catches the Romanian travellers attention later on, around the turn of the 20th century. For instance, A. D. Xenopol wrote beautiful pages about the Semmering railroad in Austria, or about his crossing the Alps by train. I could also mention Mihail Sadoveanu, who travelled to the Netherlands in the 1920s and was interested not so much in nature, but in the human presence: from the people working their gardens to the very modern image of the Dutch towns where railroads cross roads and canals. He was interested in the Dutch plants, electricity networks, railway stations.



    What railroads brought about was mobility: the movement of commodities, of businesses, and, above all, of people.



    “Mobility grew spectacularly compared to previous times and previous means of transportation. For example, the train journey from Bucharest to Karlsbad, Karlovy Vary in todays Czech Republic, would take around 72 hours in the 1920s, as compared to a week or two on the road in pre-railway times. So mobility simply exploded. And obviously this increased mobility helped people travel longer distances, more easily and comfortably. The railway car is at the same time a place of interaction and non-interaction. People can engage in a dialogue, in an interaction with their fellow passengers, but there are also travellers who are unwilling to interact, who just want to be left alone. Sadoveanu has a paragraph about how much he longed to be left alone, while the great novelist Liviu Rebreanu also tells us about the insistence with which another train passenger asked him to engage in conversation.



    But trains can also be dark places, places of crimes and even murder. We asked Radu Mârza whether Romanian travellers talk about this side as well:



    “I havent seen accounts of this kind, but I do remember a story by George Bariț, about a very interesting experience during his travels in Germany in 1852. He says in the Magdeburg railway station, where the train arrived at night, he was amazed to see 4 tracks going to 4 different directions, which was absolutely astonishing for him. And one of the funny things he noticed written on the walls of the station was a warning saying, ‘Beware of pickpockets!



    Railroads connected not only people, but also provinces, countries and continents. Radu Mârza told us that this connection was not only political in nature:



    “In the Old Kingdom of Romania, this was quite evident, and 19th Century travellers say that themselves. They understand that the railway is a means of connecting the country, not necessarily for political or sentimental reasons, but for the purpose of mobility and communication. And while in the West, in the beginning there were some reservations and criticism concerning trains, this was not the case in our part of the world. This is confirmed by the number of passengers, the number of tickets sold, which is quite relevant because it proves that from the very beginning the Romanian public welcomed train traveling with open arms.



    Romanians discovered the world from the train window and enjoyed it greatly. And the world, in turn, became smaller, more familiar, and more welcoming. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • May 8, 2020 UPDATE

    May 8, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID-19. A total of 923 people infected with the novel coronavirus have died in Romania since the start of the pandemic. The number of confirmed cases is over 14,800, while more than 6,400 people have recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, the number of infections reaches 2,444, mostly reported in Italy and Spain, while the death toll is 96. Meanwhile, a new, state of the art modular hospital was opened in Bucharest, able to treat 500 Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms.



    ECONOMY The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis Friday said the countrys budget deficit will be larger than expected and will have to be financed. The head of state had a meeting with PM Ludovic Orban, the finance minister Florin Cîţu, and the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, to assess the economic situation in the context of the crisis generated by the Covid-19 outbreak. Klaus Iohannis said that very coherent measures are required to help restart the economy, which is currently in a crisis situation. He argued that solutions have been identified, which can be implemented if all stakeholders work together. Previously, PM Ludovic Orban had another meeting on Friday with cabinet ministers in the economic sector, to put together a post-crisis recovery plan.



    GDP Romanias contribution to the EU GDP was 1.6% last year, the same as the Czech Republics but higher than Portugals (1.5%) and Greeces (1.3%), according to data released on Friday by Eurostat. Romanias GDP stood at around 223 billion euros, while the overall EU GDP was 13,900 billion euro. Around one-quarter of this was generated by Germany, followed by France, Italy and Spain. Eurostat warns that a sharp drop in the Unions economy is expected this year, following the restrictions aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.


    TRANSPORT The European Commission will carry on investments in railway infrastructure “across the European Union, because this type of transport is the most sustainable, said the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean, in an online dialogue with EU citizens. She emphasised that railway transport produces low carbon emissions, carries large volumes and is a type of infrastructure that only requires upgrading. Vǎlean added that some of the money for economic recovery should be channelled into such projects.



    VE DAY Against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, European countries Friday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg thanked the Allied armies that continue to play a key role in fighting current security threats, including the ongoing pandemic. NATO was forged on the ruins of the war, built on the unbreakable bond between Europe and North America, and cemented by our solemn promise to protect each other. One for all, and all for one. 30 friends and allies, stronger together, Stoltenberg concluded in a video message. On Thursday, the foreign ministers of nine European countries, including Romania, as well as the United States signed a joint declaration on this anniversary in which they paid tribute to the victims of war and the soldiers who fought to defeat Nazi Germany and put an end to the Holocaust.




    PANDEMIC The number of coronavirus infections worldwide is now over 3.9 million, while the death toll is 270,000. Over 1.3 million people have recovered, according to Worldometer. The United States is the worst hit country in the world, with 2,400 deaths reported in 24 hours, taking the death toll to more than 75,500, Johns Hopkins University has announced. In Europe, the UK remains the worst affected country, with over 30,000 deaths, followed by Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Russia, where 10,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, is now fifth in the world in terms of the number of infections, with over 187,000, overtaking Germany and France. Meanwhile, restrictions are being eased in Norway and Denmark, where schools and shopping centres are reopening. In Bulgaria, domestic tourism will resume on May 13, when the state of emergency ends, but authorities are yet to decide when foreign tourists will be allowed in the country. Over half of Japans prefectures have decided to lift some of the restrictions, whereas Kuwait introduces a state of emergency and a 20-day lockdown.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 22, 2018

    April 22, 2018

    EARTH DAY – Earth Day is celebrated today in Romania as well, with cleaning projects, flower planting and hikes organised by schools, NGOs, associations and political parties. Climate changes are a clear proof that the Earth is suffering and each and every one of us can end this suffering, provided that we all work together, reads a Facebook post of the Romanian Ministry for the Environment. In 2018, events focus on containing plastic pollution. The Earth Day network, which has offices in over 175 countries, intends to raise awareness on the risks entailed by the use of plastics for peoples health as well as for the oceans and wildlife. Hundreds of millions of tons of plastics are sold around the world every year.




    PROTESTS – A new large-scale rally of railway workers is scheduled for Monday, April 22, at noon, in Bucharest. On Friday more than 2,000 unionists picketed the Transport Ministry and the Government head offices. Dumitru Costin, leader of the National Union Bloc, believes all-out strike to be the only solution. Railway sector unions want a special law to regulate professions in the sector, including salary rights, and demand solutions for the Freight Transport Corporation and investments in the maintenance and development of the railway network. Romanias railway network, the 7th longest in Europe, is subject to over 700 speed restrictions, and the 1,200 trains of the public railway corporation only total 300 cars. Transport Minister Lucian Şova said in a news release that he supported the adoption of relevant regulations and that increasing investments in the sector was a priority.




    HUMAN RIGHTS – Corruption remains widespread in Romania, and bribe-giving is still common practice in the public sector, reads the 2017 Country Report on Human rights issued by the US State Department. Laws were not always implemented efficiently, and officials, judges included, sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. Immunity from criminal prosecution held by existing and former cabinet members who were also members of parliament sometimes blocked investigations, the report also reads. The same document notes that some Romanian politicians own or control media organisations, influencing their editorial policy. As regards prisons, the report mentions that they remained overcrowded and in breach of international standards, although the authorities took some steps to address the situation. In Romania, the US State Department says, some cases of police abuse were reported in 2017 as well, most of them going unpunished. So were cases of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and discrimination against the Roma, people with disabilities and sexual minorities. Child abuse and neglect cases were also reported.




    HUNGARY – Tens of thousands of protesters marched the streets of Hungarian capital city Budapest to protest governmental control over the media. This was the second consecutive Saturday of protests against PM Viktor Orban, recently re-elected to office. According to the BBC, the protesters accuse the Government of high-jacking the public and private mass media and using them in order to win the recent elections through anti-immigrant messages. The participants in the rally also criticised opposition parties and called for a new opposition movement. The PM Viktor Orban has dismissed the protests as “irrelevant, BBC reports.




    TENNIS – Simona Halep, no 1 in the world, secured Romanias qualification in the Fed Cup World Group, with a decisive win in the playoffs. Halep defeated today in Cluj (north-west), the veteran Patty Schnyder, 39, who replaced Timea Bacsinzky, on the second day of the Fed Cup World Group playoffs. The fourth singles match, between Irina Begu and Viktorija Golubic, was therefore cancelled. In the doubles event, Simona Halep and Irina Begu face Patty Schnyder/Jil Teichman. So far, Romania is ahead, 3-0, Halep having defeated Viktorija Golubic on Saturday 2-1, while Begu outplayed Bacsinzky 2-0.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 20, 2018

    April 20, 2018

    EMBASSY — Relocating Romania’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would represent, at this stage, a violation of international law in the filed, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said, adding that he has not been informed or consulted about this decision. Such an important decision must be taken only after consulting with and getting the approval of all institutions with attributions in the field of foreign policy and national security. Also, in keeping with the Constitution, it is the head of state that takes the final decision. President Iohannis’s reaction comes a day after the Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Liviu Dragnea, announced that the Government adopted a memorandum through which it green lighted the start of the procedures for the relocation of Romania’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Iohannis, in his capacity as decision maker in Romania’s foreign policy matters, and in keeping with the Constitution, reiterates the fact that Bucharest’s stand as regards the status of Jerusalem is the one decided under the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly resolutions. President Iohannis has again emphasised the need for a fair and long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through the implementation of the ‘two-state solution’, Israel and Palestine, coexisting in peace and security, as the only viable solution able to guarantee the fulfilment of the two parties’ aspirations.




    PROTESTS – The Romanian healthcare trade unions have announced the protests timetable to be held in the upcoming period against the background of discontent with the employees’ salaries. A rally is scheduled for April 26 in Bucharest, then a token strike is to be held on May 7, with a 2-hour suspension of work, while and all-out strike is scheduled for May 11.




    MOLDOVA — The Romanian Government will continue to support the country’s Strategic Partnership with the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, Ministers for the Romanians Abroad, Natalia-Elena Intotero has said on the occasion of her first working visit to Chisinau. The Romanian Minister met with representatives of the central administration, religious denominations and local authorities. Natalia-Elena Intotero discussed with the Moldovan Minister of Education, Culture and Research, Monica Babuc, about the projects conducted jointly in the Diaspora. The Romanian language is a heritage of both Romania and the Republic of Moldova, Minister Intotero has said, adding that Bucharest counts on Chisinau’s support to promote the study of the Romanian language in all regions of the Republic of Moldova.




    RAILWAY — Over 2,000 trade unionists in the Romanian rail transport sector are protesting today in Bucharest. They ask for solutions to avoid the insolvency of the National Rail Freight Company CFR Marfa, for support for the endorsement of a law on the status of the railway personnel and also for the multiannual investment in infrastructure. Romania has the seventh longest rail network in Europe, but the lack of funds for upgrading works has triggered the instatement of hundreds of speed limits, that extend a lot the duration of a trip by train. Transport Minister Lucian Sova says that solutions are being looked for so that the railway administrator retrieves the debt of over one hundred million euro from CFR Marfa, money that could be used for repairing works.




    FED CUP — The most important sporting event of the weekend is pitching the Romanian women’s tennis side against Switzerland in a match counting towards the Fed Cup. The games are to be taking place in Cluj, northwestern Romania, and the winner is to qualify for the competition’s World Group. Unfolding after the “best of five” formula, the competition will see its first two singles on Saturday, while two other singles and a double match are to take place on Sunday. For the matches in Cluj, Romanian skipper Florin Segarceanu has summoned the world’s number one player, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea (WTA 34th), Irina Begu (WTA 38th) and Mihaela Buzarnescu (WTA 40th). (Translated by Elena Enache)

  • February 19, 2018 UPDATE

    February 19, 2018 UPDATE

    PARLIAMENT – The Chamber of Deputies Monday discussed a simple motion tabled by the Liberals in Opposition against the Labour Minister, Lia Olguta Vasilescu. The Liberals criticise the drop in salaries for certain employee categories further to the introduction of the unified wage scheme and the transfer of social security payments from employers to employees. In turn, the Labour Minister says there are no statistical data to verify the claims that 2 million Romanians have seen their incomes drop further to the “fiscal revolution. MPs will vote on the motion on Wednesday.




    EIB – Romania is interested in further benefitting from the variety of financing instruments offered by the European Investment Bank, especially those that help improve the absorption of non-reimbursable EU funding, the Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici said in Bucharest on Monday, after a meeting with the EIB vice-president Andrew McDowell. In turn, the EIB official pointed out that the banks products are designed to reduce the investment deficit in Romania, to contribute to the countrys economic growth and to help create new jobs. According to an EIB report made public on Monday in Bucharest, over the past 25 years the group has granted loans of over 13 billion euros to Romania. Official data indicate that in 2017 alone, the EIB Group, which comprises the EIB and the European Investment Fund, provided support to Romania amounting to 1.9 billion euros.




    TRANSPORT – The European Commission announced on Monday that 1.3 billion euro in cohesion funds will be invested in upgrading a section of the railway corridor connecting Curtici, on the Romanian – Hungarian border, to Constanta on the Black Sea Coast, reads a news release issued by the EC Representation in Bucharest. The works will target a significant improvement of speed and safety on the segment between Curtici and the town of Simeria, where 13 railway stations will be upgraded, the improvement of the signalling and passenger information systems and the building of related infrastructure, such as bridges and tunnels.




    FLU – Another 3 people died from the flu in Romania, with the death toll reaching 35, and more than 500 cases reported, the authorities announced on Monday. Most of the cases are reported in Bucharest, followed by the counties Constanta (in the south-east), Olt (south), Brasov (centre) and Iasi (north-east). The authorities recommend vaccination, and the Healthcare Ministry announces around 80,000 shots are still available. So far more than 920,000 people have got flu shots. The Healthcare Minister Sorina Pintea says Romania is not facing a flu epidemic. She added that prevention measures are of the utmost importance, while hospitals and public health authorities must implement all the necessary measures.




    JUDICIARY – The High Court of Cassation and Justice will pass a final ruling on March 5 in a case where Ludovic Orban, the president of the main Opposition party, the right-wing National Liberal Party, was tried for influence peddling with a view to obtaining undue benefits. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate is seeking a one-year imprisonment sentence in the case. Orban was found not guilty by the court of first instance, but an appeal has been filed. According to prosecutors, in March 2016 Orban contacted a businessman requesting financial support for the local election campaign, in which he was running for Mayor General of Bucharest.




    DEFENCE – The Senate of Romania Monday endorsed a bill on the procurement of multiple rocket launchers for the Romanian Army. Under the document, the Government of Romania is awarding to the US Government the contracts for the procurement of 3 sets of 18 launch systems each, including the ammunition, control elements, sensors, logistic support as well as personnel training. The funds will be taken from the Defence Ministry budget. The Chamber of Deputies is to make the final decision on this bill.




    AmCham – Investments must be a priority in this years public budget, the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania states in a report made public on Monday. According to AmCham, it is only through investments that economic growth can translate into wellbeing, modern infrastructure, high performance administration and high quality public services. The report says that in 2017 compliance with the deficit target was the main concern in public budget execution, but this was at the expense of investments, which hit a 12-year low. AmCham argues that authorities have sacrificed public investments in order to be able to increase public sector salaries and pensions. AmCham also recommends better absorption of European funds, fiscal stability, increased productivity and a focus on high value-added economic activities.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The First Railway in the Romanian principalities

    The First Railway in the Romanian principalities

    Train rides today are often a good opportunity to reminisce over times gone by. However, when it was first introduced in Wallachia and Moldova, two of the Romanian Principalities in mid-19th century, the railway produced quite a scare. And yet, people started to grasp its economic potential soon enough.



    It was against the backdrop of a full-scale process of modernization that the first railway segment was introduced, linking Bucharest to the port of Giurgiu, measuring 67 kilometers in length. Mircea Dorobantu, the director of the Romanian Railway Museum in Bucharest, spoke about the importance of this first railway in Romania.



    Mircea Dorobantu: “Back in the 1860s the authorities were talking about the introduction of the railway, as southern Bucharest was one of the most important hubs on the map of regional trade. The Danube linked the city to many European capitals and was the main transport route at the time. Talks referring to the building of a railway went back to the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, but the problem at the time was that Romania faced a shortage of rail experts. In this context, the British Railways, which were represented by various railway companies at the time, were eager to develop trade relations in this part of Europe. One of these companies belonging to entrepreneur John Trevor Barkley offered to build the rail segment from Bucharest to Giurgiu in exchange for a concession agreement with the Romanian state.



    The agreement was signed over a period of 99 years. Barkley’s company built the railway observing typically British building patterns. To this day, a train ride on this route allows travelers to admire the water towers in Comana and Giurgiu stations, which look much like they did back in 1869. You can still see the original plates”.



    “John Trevor Barkley & John Staniforth” started building the railway in 1866, and on October 31, 1869 the Bucharest-Giurgiu railway was inaugurated. The engines and cars, both for freight and passengers, resembled their British counterparts, of course. Mircea Doborantu:



    Mircea Dorobantu: The first engines were for both passengers and freight. The engines for passengers had one free axle and two driving axles putting the cars in motion as they had wheels with a big diameter. They had to run fast reaching the maximum speed of 83 km per hour. The engines for freight trains had three driving axles to haul freight wagons, which were heavier than the passenger ones. In the beginning, a passenger train on the Bucharest-Giurgiu line was made up of two first class carriages, two second class carriages, three third class carriages and two luggage vans. Passengers were very frightened by the train. To travel by “the fire carriage” was very weird for them; some of them did not keep away from the train as they were used to the horse drawn carriages by-passing them. That is why accidents took place. Those standing on the railway line or close to it were run over by the train and for this reason, when the first trains started running, a rider would ride ahead of the train blowing a horn to warn people to keep away from the train.”



    The next railway in the Principalities was built in Moldavia, being an extension of the existing line on the Lemberg-Cernauti-Suceava-Roman route. The Romanian extension covered the Roman-Bucharest route. The terminus in Bucharest was not the Filaret Train Station, but a new station for the Bucharest-Targoviste route, which subsequently became the main station of the capital, the North Train Station, inaugurated in 1872. In the beginning, there was no communication line between the Filaret Train Station and the North Train Station, as Mircea Dorobantu, the director of the Romanian Railway Museum explains.



    Mircea Dorobantu: “A communication line was then built between the two train stations because due to the great importance of the railways, in 1880, the problem of establishing a sole, well-organized administration was posed. So, in 1880, the Princely Department of the Romanian Railways was established. Meanwhile, the Romanian state bought back the lines from the concessionaires who had built and managed them and included them into a unitary system run by a sole administration.



  • The train stations of Bucharest

    The train stations of Bucharest

    The railway was the first modern means for transporting passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails that eased freight transport, facilitated mobility of people and labor and centralized states. The railway had an essential role in the formation of the modern Romanian state as it gave cohesion to the union of Moldavia with Wallachia in 1859 and to Greater Romania after 1918. Bucharest thus became an important railway hub.



    Bucharest had several stations, important landmarks in Bucharest’s daily life. Along the years, the railways technology developed and was modernized. The train stations of Bucharest are located in all 4 cardinal points, each station providing rail transportation to Romania’s regions in the 4 cardinal points.



    The history of the Bucharest stations starts in 1869 with the Filaret Station that was opened at the inauguration of the first railway linking Bucharest to Giurgiu. The building of the station is U-shaped and has one story. Three trains could pull up on the stations’ three terminals. In 1960 Filaret Station was closed down and turned into a bus and coach station, which is still operational today. The building was declared a historical monument.



    On the route between Filaret Station and the future North Station there was the Dealul Spirii Station, which no longer exists today. The location can be found at the intersection of two big boulevards of Bucharest, Calea 13 Septembrie and Progresului Street, in the west of the city. Another station that is no longer operational today is the Cotroceni Station. It used to be located near Cotroceni Palace, now the headquarters of the Romanian Presidential Administration. The station was used by the royal trains. It was shut down in 1960 just like Filaret Station, the station’s building now serving as an entry gate to the Cotroceni Park. A second station with the same name operated at a distance of 1.5 km from the first, in the west of the city. It is still functional today but traffic is limited to two freight trains per month, supplying the two malls in the area. Herăstrău Station is another station that no longer exists today. It was located near the biggest park of Bucharest, Herăstrău. The respective railway used to link the north to the south of the capital.



    In 1872, Romania’s ruler Carol I inaugurated Gara de Nord (the North Station), the most important railway junction, with an overall number of 14 railways built along the years. In time, larger buildings and outbuildings were constructed there. The initial name was Gara Targovistei, after the name of the town situated northwest of Bucharest, the current name of the station dating back to 1888. It was a U-shaped building, just like the Filaret train station. The largest flow of travellers was registered between 1950 and 1990, but a significant decrease has been reported ever since. The Gara de Nord compound has been declared a national monument.



    One of the most beautiful stations in Bucharest is Gara Obor, or the East Station. It serves the eastern side of the capital city and links Bucharest to the Black Sea port of Constanta. It is used by both travellers and freight carriers. The station is placed within walking distance from one of the oldest and biggest markets in Bucharest, Piata Obor. Its building has also been declared a national heritage building.



    One of the most discreet stations in Bucharest is Gara Baneasa, situated in the northern part of the capital city, close to one of Romania’s main national roads. Built in 1936 based on the blueprints of the famous architect Duiliu Marcu, the station was destined for protocol activities by the Royal House. It also enjoyed the same status of protocol station during the communist regime. Traffic is rather low, as mainly trains linking the capital city to the seaside stop here, particularly in summer.



    More recently built stations in Bucharest are Gara Basarab, Gara Progresu and Gara Titan, which have been constructed after 1945. Gara Basarab is located close to Gara de Nord, the main train station, and it was built in 1959. It is used mainly by trains heading for southwest. Built in 1960, Bucuresti-Progresu had 4 lines and was operational until 2006. It was used by trains going to southern Romania, and further away, to the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Today, it is used only by freight trains. Titan Sud is a small train station situated in the southeastern part of the capital, at the end of the subway line to the Republica plant. During the communist regime, it was called “August 23”. Passenger trains leaving from Titan Sud are headed to the town of Oltenita.




  • July 12, 2016 UPDATE

    July 12, 2016 UPDATE

    VISIT – The PM of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, attended on Tuesday in Hanoi the opening of a Romanian-Vietnamese business forum. He presented to Vietnamese business people Romanias main economic and geostrategic advantages and pleaded for stronger economic cooperation, relying on 66 years of good bilateral relations. PM Cioloş also spoke about the Romanian authorities special interest in developing trade with non-European countries with high potential, particularly south-east Asian states. In the first visit by a Romanian Prime Minister to that country in 21 years, Dacian Cioloş met with his counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Later this week, Ciolos will attend the 11th Europe-Asia Summit, held in Mongolias capital city Ulan Bator.




    STRIKE – Some 30,000 employees of the Romanian local public administration went on a one-day strike on Tuesday. Unionists were angered by the fact that the agreement they were scheduled to sign with the Government had been drawn up without including a minimum 25% salary increase and holiday vouchers, as agreed in previous negotiations. Civil servants also claim to be the poorest paid and the most discriminated against category in the public sector, with most of them earning close to the minimum national wage of 277 euros.




    ZIKA – Romania reported on Tuesday its first Zika virus infection case. A 27 year-old woman who spent a vacation in Martinique was identified with the illness while in hospital. The Health Ministry specified that the case was isolated, with minimal risk of spreading. The virus was identified in 1947 in Uganda, and is spread mainly by mosquitoes. It is able to produce congenital conditions in babies born of infected mothers. At present, no vaccine is available to counteract the virus, which so far has spread in South and Central America mainly.




    POLITICS – After two weeks of negotiations, the Peoples Movement Party headed by Romanias former right-wing president Traian Băsescu and the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) agreed to merge. Traian Băsescu made the announcement on Tuesday, and added that the new party will keep the name and logo of the Peoples Movement Party. The merger of UNPR into the Peoples Movement Party is the de facto dissolution of this small party that failed to set up any alliances with the Liberals and Social-Democrats ahead of this autumns parliamentary election. The founder of UNPR, former interior minister and deputy PM Gabriel Oprea, withdrew from the party after he was prosecuted in two corruption-related cases.




    RAIL CRASH – Romanias consular office in Catania took note of the railway accident in the south of Italy and contacted the Italian authorities to establish whether there were any Romanian citizens among the victims, the Foreign Ministry has announced. Scores of people died or were injured on Tuesday after two passenger trains collided in one of the worst such accidents in Italy in years. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in Italy, around 5,700 Romanians currently live on the Adriatic coast near Bari, where the accident took place.




    BRITAIN – The outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron Tuesday chaired the last meeting of the British Cabinet before handing over on Wednesday to Home Secretary, Theresa May, who will implement the British citizens decision to leave the European Union. Theresa May will be in charge with triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which regulates the procedure for member countries to leave the EU and sets a 2-year deadline for completing the separation. Theresa May will be the second woman nominated as Britains Prime Minister, after Margaret Thatcher.