Radio România Internațional

Tag: road

  • Money for the modernization of transport infrastructure

    Money for the modernization of transport infrastructure

    Over 12 billion lei, about 2.4 billion Euros, were allocated by the Romanian Government for the rehabilitation of the country’s transport infrastructure. The executive met on Thursday to approve, among other things, two major investments in the railway and road sectors. The first project is that of rehabilitating the railway line that connects Focşani, the Vrancea county seat, located in the southeast of the country, to Roman, a city in Neamţ county, located in the northeast. The route, almost 150 kilometers long, is part of the Pan-European Corridor 9, which is 3,400 km long and connects the capital of Finland, Helsinki, located on the Baltic Sea, with the Greek city of Alexandroupoli, a port on the Aegean Sea in southern Europe.

     

    The project, included in Romania’s General Transport Master Plan, received a little over 11 billion lei (about 2.2 billion Euros). The government has shown that the money comes from external non-reimbursable funds, through the Transport Program 2021-2027 and the Connecting Europe Facility, from the state budget, from the own revenues of the National Railway Company, as well as from other legally established sources. The works, that will last 36 months, aim to increase safety in the area where the railway lines intersect with the road network, to significantly improve transport conditions, to build passages and modernize level crossings, objectives which, according to the authorities, have an important role in the sustainable development of the localities on the route by reducing polluting emissions, travel times, as well as by increasing the number of passengers and the amounts of transported goods.

     

    The second project that received funding from the Bucharest administration aims to rehabilitate a sector between kilometers 44 and 86 of the A1 Bucharest-Pitesti Highway, the busiest in the country. The works will aim to rehabilitate the road surface and the bridges on the 42 kilometers of the segment and, according to the Ministry of Transport, this will lead to an increase in the degree of traffic safety, to a reduction in travel times, a reduction in the cost for preventing environmental pollution and an increase in the duration of operation. For achieving this project, the Government allocated 1.1 billion lei (approximately 221 million Euros) from the state budget, and the duration of works is 48 months.

     

    Romania has an outdated transport infrastructure that has turned into a veritable bottomless coin sack in recent decades. Of the more than 22,000 kilometers of railway that cross the country, just a little over 8,500 are electrified. As to roads, Romania has almost 90,000 kilometers of public roads, but less than half are modernized. As far as highways are concerned, last year Romania exceeded 1,000 kilometers, below Hungary and Croatia, above Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia, but Romania’s surface area and population are much higher than those of the above-mentioned states. (LS)

  • A new bridge over the Danube

    A new bridge over the Danube

    Romania and Bulgaria
    will together build a third bridge over the Danube. The two countries submitted
    to the European Commission a joint project for a preliminary blueprint study
    and at this stage, its implementation has already begun. The location of the
    new road-rail bridge will be close to the cities of Giurgiu and Ruse and
    Romania is going to support this technical solution. The European Commission is
    also supporting the project, as the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina
    Valean has explained. Romania is the only EU country that gets money for the construction
    of roads through the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, the European
    official went on to say.




    The support
    comes against the issues currently faced by the Friendship Bridge, the main
    connection between Romania and Bulgaria, which is 70 years old and extremely
    overcrowded. At present, roughly 2 thousand lorries and over 4 thousand cars
    are crossing the bridge on a daily basis. The second bridge over the Danube, at
    Calafat-Vidin is also very busy.


    State
    Secretary with the Transport Ministry, Ionuţ Săvoiu, has offered details about
    the new project.




    Ionut Savoiu: Talks are underway these
    days for the construction of bridges between Romania and Ukraine, between
    Romania and Bulgaria. We enjoy the support of the European Commission for
    another bridge over the Danube at Giurgiu-Ruse. And we are going to do anything
    we can so that this one will be a road-rail bridge. I am convinced the
    feasibility survey will enable us to make the right decision in this respect
    and I am looking forward to getting this survey. We know the two sides want
    this survey to be launched a.s.a.p and I am pretty sure the outcome of this
    process will be a good bridge. And I say this from my perspective as an expert
    in the field.




    According to
    the authorities, a survey will be conducted on the various routes leading up to
    the new bridge. The greenlight for funding the new project is expected in early
    2024. The timetable also includes a contract to be concluded with the European
    Commission until mid-2024, and its implementation until the end of 2026 with
    the two sides deciding on the location and the ways of funding the new bridge.
    Besides the European funds available, the possibility of using the mechanisms
    of the private-public partnership is also being considered.




    This would
    lead to a significant reduction of the implementation deadlines and is expected
    to attract additional funds. In another development the railway linking the
    Romanian city of Giurgiu to the Bulgarian city of Ruse, which has been
    non-operational since 2005 will be reopened at Gradistea over the Arges River,
    where a 1.3 km bridge is being constructed. At the same time the national
    company CFR Infrastructure has obtained roughly 500 million Euros worth of EU
    funding for the streamlining and electrification of the Bucharest-Giurgiu railway.


    (bill)

  • Via Transilvanica and the Romanian identity

    Via Transilvanica and the Romanian identity


    “Tasuleasa Social” is an NGO that has been founded more than 20 years ago. Its care and concern for the environment, for culture, go hand in hand with the organizations social involvement. Having its headquarters on a mountain peak, in Eastern Carpathians Tihuta Gorges, “Tasuleasa Social” predominantly focused on volunteering programs targeting the preservation of nature or the promotion of the national cultures richness and diversity.



    “Tășuleasa Social” has helped youngsters understand that doing volunteer work comes out as something normal, that mentalities can be changed through education or that the civic spirit is crucial for the community. “Tasuleasa Social” has made a name for itself through such activities as afforestation, in a country where, in utter defiance of the law, logging has quite often been carried chaotically. Youngsters learned how to plant saplings, they learned about the role of the trees and the forests, but also why it is necessary for river beds to remain clean or what the solutions were for the selective collection of waste. The wide range of Tasuleasa Socials activities also includes the social undertakings, carried in support of several underprivileged communities.



    However, the epitome of Tasuleasa Socias category of activities is their most recent and project, a wide-scope undertaking, at that, Via Transilvanica. Were speaking about a circuit that can only be taken by foot on horseback or by like. The road starts from Bukovina, from Romanias picturesque north-western part it crosses the country through Transylvania and ends on the banks of River Danube, in Drobeta Turnu-Severin. In brief, Via Transilvanica is an audacious itinerary, with 1,400 kilometers marked with milestones and signposts. According to the organizers, those who are going to take that itinerary are sure to discover, or rediscover, Romania as it really is.



    The president of “Tasuleasa Social”, Alin Useriu, has been a guest on one of Radio Romanias programs. First, he spoke about how the idea of Via Transilvanica came about:



    “Tășuleasa Social” is a label including the word “social” and we have been keen on finding a solution to pump fresh blood into the villages that were about to be deserted. Thats what we had in mind when we got it all started! Then, when we came up with the proposal and we had the early signs of a project that was so good, we had a closer look and saw that the number of people taking up long-distance trekking routes saw a hundredfold increase…Pacific Trail, Appalachian Trail, Camino de Santiago…That particular kind of tourism was a great party Romania can now take part in, the party of sustainable tourism, which, if you ask me, is an incredibly interesting and healthy trend. Romania is a country which is very well prepared for that! It is incredibly well-stocked, and competitive, as regards the rural heritage, the natural heritage, just like any other country in the world, with no great effort, on our part, to do something we cannot do. I think that, as we speak, we have a 1,400 km-long national infrastructure, which can be a landmark project, mainly for Eastern Europe. And, perhaps, all things going well and provided the Useriu brothers can take it beyond intention level, worldwide it is sure to be one of the important trails. “



    For four years and a half, Alin Useriu and his brother, Tibi, an endurance runner and an ultra-marathonist, had more than 10 thousand volunteers on their side, in their great adventure dubbed Via Transilvanica. As of late, the AFP wrote that, coming put of nowhere, this trail pumped fresh life into the Romanian depopulated villages, being an unprecedented initiative in eastern-European Romania, which despite its strong economic growth, has never ceased to face an exodus of the younger generations and the void they leave behind them, especially in the rural areas with breathtaking landscapes. However, we might add that there were also Romanias youngsters who, through volunteer work, have as of late dedicated themselves to revitalizing that rural space, which was so very special.



    Alin Useriu:



    “We have been working for two years now, we have as many volunteers as you can imagine, as society has already been drawn by thatform of manifestation, by this particular way of life, and “Tășuleasa Social”, purposefully working in so many fields and us trying really hard to do our best, we have obviously gained many adepts and fans with whom we are no longer afraid to propose all sorts of projects. So I think that our way of life, our way of doing our job brought us, like, more than 150,000 fans who participated in our activities. Yet we have a hardcore body of volunteers, made of several hundred people, who are ready to travel places with us and do the things the right way.”



    The very moment you start your walk around the country, that including Via Transilvanica, somewhere bread is baked, elsewhere a tumbledown house can have a new destination, a heritage item can be saved or a tree can be cut down legally and sustainably…says Alin Useriu, who also admitted there was still a lot more to be done until Romania was permanently put on the world map of the countries with long-distance trails. Alin Useriu:



    “We have been celebrating the finalizing of our project internally, in our team, then we realized that, in fact, that was the beginning, so we changed the means of communication completely. Therefore, in the coming years, we shall be on that kind of path, the quality, the safety, the maintenance path. The domestic and the international promotion are very, very important. We need to take that step together, we need to take that path to see what it is all about, perhaps to create that new kind of tourism, the active tourism, which, in Romania, has a tremendous potential. So we still have this project, but fear not, we have a great many news project ideas. We have always tried to be one step ahead of all the other organizations, and everything has played in our hands, so far. “



    Trekkers can take the entire length of Via Transilvanica in a couple of weeks, or they can take it only partially, according to everyones strength and wish. And we should overlook the fact that, for many people, Romanians including, that could be an initiatic road they can take through Romanias nature, culture, history, ethnicity, traditions and cuisine, in one words, through Romanias identity. (EN)




  • EU assistance for road transport operators

    EU assistance for road transport operators

    With fuel prices steadily rising recently, the European
    Commission has decided to provide support to Romanian road transport operators,
    which have repeatedly asked for assistance.


    The commission
    approved a EUR 60.7 million Romanian scheme to support companies active in road
    transport of goods and passengers. The
    Commission found that the Romanian scheme is necessary, appropriate and
    proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a Member State.


    The scheme was
    approved as part of the Temporary Crisis Framework for state aid, adopted by the
    institution in March this year, in line with the Treaty on the Functioning of
    the EU, which admits that the Union’s economy is facing major disruptions.


    According to
    an EC news release, under this aid scheme Romania will support its road
    transport sector, severely affected by the fuel prices increase caused by the
    current geopolitical crisis and the related sanctions. This is an important
    step to mitigate the economic impact of Putin’s war against Ukraine,ˮ said
    Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president in charge of competition policy.


    The measure
    will be open to companies of all sizes active in road transport of goods and
    persons with a valid community license that are affected by the current crisis.
    The beneficiaries will be entitled to receive limited amounts of aid in the
    form of direct grants of maximum EUR 400,000 per company, paid by the end of
    this year.


    With a view
    to ensuring legal certainty, the Commission will assess before that date if the
    scheme needs to be extended. Moreover, during its period of application, the
    Commission will keep the content and scope of the Framework under review in the
    light of developments regarding the energy markets, other input markets and the
    general economic situation.


    The
    Temporary Crisis Framework includes a number of safeguards, such as proportional
    methodology, requiring a link between the amount of aid that can be granted to
    businesses and the scale of their economic activity and exposure to the
    economic effects of the crisis. Member States are invited to consider, in
    a non-discriminatory way, setting up requirements related to environmental
    protection or security of supply when granting aid for additional costs due to
    exceptionally high gas and electricity prices. (AMP)

  • Ultramarathon on Via Transilvanica

    Ultramarathon on Via Transilvanica

    To run an
    ultramarathon is a real challenge. But the opportunity to run an ultramarathon
    for eight days on Romania’s most beautiful road on Via Transilvanica can be
    possible only by means of ‘Transylvania Legends’. A story as a life experience,
    as Florin Alexandru, an organizer of the event, has confirmed it to be.




    Florin Alexandru: The idea came after Tibi and Alin Useriu had made this wonderful
    project called Via Transilvanica. The first moment when we saw this project I
    realized it was a great opportunity for us, for every Romanian actually, to
    promote Romania. Because, Via Transilvanica is actually magic as it is a time
    capsule of what Europe used to be long time ago. The region has practically remained
    unchanged and it’s actually a joy to get a glimpse at old-time Romania by
    simply taking a trip on Via Transilvanica.




    Via
    Transilvanica is Europe’s only region that has been preserved exactly as it was
    back in the 19th century. Runners and mountain lovers can now start
    off on Via Transilvanica in their second ultramarathon race, as Florin
    Alexandru says:




    Florin Alexandru: We are at the second edition. Last year we had a first wonderful edition
    in which we were like a family, had a lot of fun together. This year we are
    going to have a second edition, which is to start on May 13 and end on May 21.
    We are going to run for eight days, take one day off and spend some time
    together like a family, Transylvania Legends.

    Florin
    Alexandru, organizer of the event told us a couple of things about this
    ultramarathon race.


    Florin Alexandru: This ultramarathon
    has 8 legs, which means a minimum of 80 kilometers per day. We are starting on
    May 13 as I said with a first leg of 80 kilometers from Putna to Mestecanis.
    Then we have a second leg up to Tăşuleasa, also 80 kilometers and after that we
    are going to have a third one from Şieuţ to Câmpul Cetăţii, which is of almost
    90 kilometers. This place is breathtakingly beautiful, it has a lot of forests
    with many bears roaming. We are going to have four more legs with that day off
    like I mentioned before. All these legs are covering almost the same number of
    kilometers.


    We asked Florin
    Alexandru about the participants in this special race.


    Florin Alexandru: They are
    runners who like the mountains as well and they want to set out on an adventure
    like this and run in this marvelous region, which consists not only of
    mountains but also of beautiful hills. Most of them are experienced
    long-distance runners but the race is not only for them, because there are also
    participants who may want to run only for 20 and 40 kilometers. The good thing
    with mountain running is that you do not need to run all the time. Some people
    believe that you must cover all those 40 kilometers in continuous running. It
    is not like that at all. We have checkpoints along the track and runners can
    stop and walk if they want to. Because the places are so breathtakingly
    beautiful, we sometimes forget that we are actually in a race and stop to enjoy
    the view. When we run we aren’t actually doing it for a result, you know, we
    enjoy the experience in itself. The participants of last year are also running
    this time but anybody can join the race. They are free to submit their
    applications until April 30 and a couple of days in May. So, you’d better hurry
    up if you want to join Transylvania Legends. The atmosphere here is great, we
    are like a family and besides running we spend the nights around a bonfire
    telling stories and enjoying life in the mountains and what it has to offer.




    So, we’ve figured
    out that Transylvania Legends is a story about life, mountain, family and
    friendship. And the fact that we should promote Romania. Here is Florin
    Alexandru at the microphone again:




    Florin Alexandru: I believe we have a moral duty of promoting Romania. I think that we
    haven’t done that for quite some time now and it’s our duty, the duty of our
    generation to do it. And from my point of view, Via Transilvanica is a journey
    back in time and part of our patrimony of what we call Romania. It’s enough to
    take only a short trip down this this road to actually realize what beautiful
    country we have. We’ve noticed that Romania is a superb country and for this
    reason we need to promote it as it is!


    So, don’t forget
    to join this special ultramarathon list for an unforgettable experience!



    (bill)

  • December 24, 2021

    December 24, 2021

    CHRISTMAS The Western rite Orthodox
    believers, the Greek Catholics and Catholics from the world over, including
    from Romania, a country with an Orthodox majority, on Saturday celebrate
    Christmas, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Today is the Christmas Eve, and
    people all over the country go caroling or get ready to receive carolers, who
    are a symbol for the angels and shepherds who first witnessed Christ’s birth in
    Bethlehem. Christmas is marked through special religious sermons in churches
    and monasteries but also through beautiful traditions and rich meals in the
    family. Old ritualists, who are a majority in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and
    Georgia are celebrating Christmas on January 7th.








    COVID-19 The fifth wave of the pandemic, which is most severe as compared to
    the fourth wave is expected to arrive in Romania in less than three weeks, the
    country’s Interior Minister Lucian Bode has announced. The spread of the
    Omicron variant will be accelerated by the Romanian workers from abroad, who
    are to arrive in large numbers for the winter holidays. The number of the new
    infections is still low in Romania with 717 new cases announced on Friday. 44
    related fatalities have also been announced. Since the beginning of the
    pandemic, 1.8 million Covid infections have been reported in Romania and 58
    thousand related fatalities. Shortly after the authorization in the USA of the
    anti-Covid drug, Paxlovid, Romania’s health minister, Alexandru Rafila is
    making moves to import the new drug as soon as possible. Rafila has already had
    a series of meetings with representatives of Pfizer, the company that produces
    the vaccine. According to the latest surveys, the drug reduces by almost 90%
    the risk of hospitalization and death. The US has also authorized an anti-viral
    pill produced by Merck.










    LIST
    The National Committee for
    Emergency Situations has updated the list of the countries with a high
    infection risk. Malta entered the red tier due to its high infection rate, whereas
    Romania’s neighbour, the ex-soviet Republic of Moldova has become part of the
    green tier. The committee has also approved a series of employees who are
    exempted from the quarantine rules, and these are: the crew members of various
    ships sailing under the Romanian flag, as well as several categories of drivers
    on freighters up to 2.4 tons and passenger buses over 9 seats coming from the
    EU or the EU economic area.










    POLICE Over eight thousand policemen are on duty
    during this mini Christmas holiday in Romania to discourage and prevent any crime.
    Policemen will be patrolling together with gendarme troops and in some cases
    they will be accompanied by representatives of the Food Safety Authority to various
    shopping areas to check on the observance of the prevention rules for the
    Covid-19 pandemic. Road police will be assisted by helicopters in an attempt to
    monitor the traffic and prevent any wrongdoing on Romania’s motorways. These
    structures are going to check the observance of legal rules by a series of
    retailers selling food products as well as by companies involved in money
    transport activities.






    (bill)

  • Road safety classes for children

    Road safety classes for children


    Casualties caused by road traffic accidents still
    place Romania at the top of the table, according to a recent survey carried by
    the European Union in 2019. Also, Romania is at the bottom of the table as regards
    the number of persons who can give first aid. Reason enough for the Association
    for Education Development and Youth involvement, EDIT, to create programs aimed
    at boosting awareness-raising attitudes among youngsters, and not only among them.


    And that is how several initiatives have
    emerged, to that effect. To begin with, one such successful initiative is The Road
    Safety Class, which reached high-schools and secondary schools, under a rather
    off-the-beaten- track form.

    EDIT president Liviu Zorila:


    There is also an interesting
    job that we do, and which is somehow tailored to suit today’s needs: we always
    have a special guest on the premises in high-schools. The guest is oftentimes an
    influencer, or a star enjoying a lot of respect from them and who always turns
    up pro bono, in the support of what we do. As a rule, they’re people with whom
    we’ve worked before, who know us, are aware of what we do, and support our
    activities through their presence on such occasions. And the people we had
    range from stand-up comedy artists to actors, anchor men, singers, vloggers and
    suchlike. We turn up, that’s all right, yet for a child, we are somebody who comes
    over and does a course for them, the very moment we begin the discussion we
    start off by placing ourselves on an equal footing with the school or with the
    Education Ministry. But the very moment we show up and present those modules in
    a non-formal manner, with no classical teaching style but in a practice-centred
    style, including human interaction and questions, and answers, we do that in a
    pleasant way, and for the final part we bring a star they can only follow on
    Instagram and Facebook or only watch them on the telly, and the star shows up
    and, from her own experience, spins the yarn of all sorts of accidents they’d
    been through, all sorts of nasty moments she had in the traffic, by doing that,
    we think the impact we have is much greater.


    Those ideas have been brought together in a program
    run along a couple of years, under the heading Safe Romania. EDIT president Liviu Zorilă once again.


    We have launched that national
    road safety program, Safe Romania. And it has two directions, road safety and
    first aid. If, for the road safety education direction, we’ve had a six-year-long experience, through this project, the Traffic Education Class, we so much
    wanted to do something about the first aid side. We’ve been doing that in
    high-schools, already, teaching this module, where we offer first-aid courses,
    the Emergency Situations Inspectorate trainers are young people, people who
    have a way with words, who take pedagogy courses themselves, I think, they
    surely know how keep the public on the boil and present those techniques.


    Also stemming from the urge to tackle training
    in a friendlier manner, the first-aid campaign was also carried with the help
    of stars.

    Liviu Zorila:


    We started off from the
    idea that we need to do something about the first aid area as well, so showing
    up in one of the high-schools was Serban Pavlu himself, who is an acclaimed film,
    theatre and television actor, he too participated in the class and learned how
    to provide first aid and that very moment an idea crossed my mind, we’d seen such
    a campaign in England, carried just like that, featuring one of their popular
    actors, so I thought what it would be like if, in Romania, we did something similar.
    And that’s how, from one clip we made, initially, we managed to make seven clips,
    and from one star alone we succeeded to have nine stars and, practically, Playing
    Tig for Life, I think it is one of the very few online first-aid campaigns in
    our country, it is a campaign we carried together with the Emergency
    Situations Department.


    The outcome of all that?

    Liviu Zorilă:

    The seven clips present
    separate methods of providing first aid, from hands-only CPR, the cardiac
    massage to the rhythm of a tune, Stayin’ Alive, after you’ve called 112, to what you should do if you get a broken arm, if you get cut, if you get
    burned, all sorts of such activities. The clips are short, one and a half, maybe
    two minutes long, they’ve been made with a lot of humour and a wee bit of
    education, but education is in disguise, somehow, behind the humour, because we
    know our beneficiaries. Romanians react to humour, first of all. So we have
    some funny clips, including very some very useful pieces of information you can
    learn something from, once you’ve watched them. So it takes you one and a half
    minute to laugh and, in the end, to get something out of it as well.


    As for the members of the teaching staff, they also
    wanted to participate in such classes.

    Liviu Zorilă:


    As a result of the campaign, we started providing activities
    physically. That is, sometime ago we went to a couple of high-schools in
    Bucharest to provide first-aid courses to the teaching staff, in the teachers’ common
    room. And that was crucial, and teachers told us they needed something like
    that, as many times they had to cope with various such cases at school, when
    pupils got a burn, or a broken leg or arm, they got cut and the teachers didn’t
    know what to do in such a case. And, as we ourselves were saying in this
    campaign of ours, Playing Tig for Life, it is of utmost importance to be able
    to intervene.


    In the hopes we’ve created a much safer
    environment in all respects, to all those who want to be extremely well
    informed, we recommend the clips presented as part of the Playing Tig for Life
    campaign.


    (Translation By Eugen Nasta)

  • Number and severity of car accidents in Romania, on the rise

    Number and severity of car accidents in Romania, on the rise

    Romania ranks first in terms of road accident fatalities in the EU, a Eurostat report has found. According to the European report, the lowest rate of road traffic fatalities caused in 2019 was reported in Sweden (22 deaths per million inhabitants), Ireland (29) and Malta (32), whereas the highest number of cases was in Romania (96) and Bulgaria (90), followed by Poland (77) and Croatia (73).




    With the EU aiming to completely eliminate road traffic accidents by 2050 and to halve their number by 2030, the total number of people killed in car accidents in the Union as a whole was 51 in 2019. However, in Romania, in the first 7 months of this year alone, over 900 people have died.




    The main 3 causes are the failure to adjust the speed to particular traffic conditions, jaywalking and pedestrians using the carriageways. Inspections found countless road infrastructure and signalling issues, such as absent or deteriorated road signs, damages in carriageways, including potholes and road bumps, inadequate signalling in crossroads, the presence of obstacles or vegetation affecting road sign visibility. A major problem is also the absence of separators on 4-lane roads to prevent vehicle crossovers and therefore collision.




    This is a tragedy and there is no doubt that an important element is the lack of roads, president Klaus Iohannis said. People are extremely impatient all the time, and this is another factor causing all kinds of incidents, the head of state added. Iohannis concluded that legislation must be tougher, and drivers need to be more disciplined.




    In a move to address the situation, the interior ministry plans to amend the Road Traffic Code and introduce tougher penalties. “Aggressive driving will thus entail a fine and a 120-day license suspension. Moreover, U-turns or driving backwards on a motorway, and crossing into opposing lanes will also be fined. A 90-day driving license suspension and a fine will also be introduced for the unjustified use of motorway emergency lanes.




    The interior ministry is also considering revising the legal framework regulating driving license tests, so as to improve the theoretical education and practical training of future drivers. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • 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)

  • Romania paralysed by cold

    Romania paralysed by cold

    After a mild December, January came with heavy snow, blizzards and extremely low temperatures. Under the circumstances, schools in Bucharest in 21 other counties, that is almost half of the country, did not open on Monday, and they will stay closed on Tuesday as well in Bucharest and 16 counties. A number of people, in particular pregnant women, sick people and elderly citizens, have requested medical assistance. Doctors have warned people with medical problems to avoid travelling if possible. To reach their patients in areas blocked by snow, tens of doctors and paramedics faced the snow and the blizzard, with journeys of a few tens of km taking them hours to complete. Special attention was given to the homeless.



    In Bucharest and other cities, hot meals, warm clothing and blankets have been distributed to the people without homes who refused to spend the night in social centres. 40 electronic panels put up by the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations in Bucharest warn the population about the cold weather. People are recommended to avoid long journeys, not to expose themselves to the cold, to drink hot tea and use suitable clothing and footwear, while also avoiding overheating the body and calling 112 in an emergency.



    The police have requested motorists to travel only if necessary and if they have no other available means of transport. The heavy snow that fell especially in the east, south and south-east also led to power cuts in many places and disrupted road, rail and naval travel. Roads have been closed, tens of trains cancelled and a number of domestic and international flights have been delayed. The Black Sea ports reopened on Sunday after being closed due to bad weather, including 12-m-high waves.



    There were also problems on the river Danube. Perseus, the biggest icebreaker in Romania, went in action on certain sections of the river, while a tugboat has been patrolling the river to break the floating ice. Because of bad weather, 15 cars registered in Romania were stranded in north-eastern Bulgaria. Their passengers, Romanian holidaymakers, should have been home on Friday, but the roads were closed in the neighbouring country. So they were stranded for three days only 30 km from the border. Many of them ran out of money, food and fuel. After being notified by the authorities in Bucharest, the Bulgarian authorities sent a police crew and a snow removal machine to unblock the road to the border, so the around 100 Romanian citizens stranded in Bulgaria were able to reach Romania. (Translated by C. Mateescu)