ROMANIA’s Railway Reform Authority (ARF) has handed over to InterRegional Călători (IRC) the first of 13 Alstom Coradia Stream EMUs allocated to IRC to operate PSO services under the first contract awarded by ARF to a private operator.

In 2022 ARF ordered a total of 37 type RE-IR inter-regional EMUs from Alstom for €490m, which are being allocated to the first three PSO contracts awarded by ARAF through competitive tender. The first of the six-car trains, each seating 315 passengers, was handed over at the Alstom depot within the Grivița workshops of Romanian Railways (CFR).

IRC says that it will start to deploy the new Alstom fleet on services from Bucharest North to Brasov this month, and from the capital to Sighișoara and Cluj-Napoca in May. It will operate these services under its PSO contract running from 2025 to 2028, covering four routes in total:

  • Bucharest North - Brașov - Cluj-Napoca
  • Bucharest North - Brașov
  • Brașov - Deda - Cluj-Napoca, and
  • Cluj-Napoca - Deva - Timișoara North.

At the same time as IRC was awarded its PSO contract in December, incumbent operator CFR Călători was awarded a contract covering four routes that it will operate with 12 of the new Alstom trains. The routes are:

  • Bucharest North - Suceava
  • Bucharest North - Iași
  • Bucharest North - Galați, and
  • Iași - Cluj-Napoca.

CFR Călători has already received 13 of the new fleet to operate the first of the three PSO contracts awarded by ARF. This covers the following routes:

  • Bucharest - Constanța
  • Bucharest - Craiova
  • Bucharest - Ploiești - Brașov - Sighișoara - Alba Iulia - Deva - Arad - Timișoara
  • Bucharest - Craiova - Drobeta Turnu Severin - Timișoara - Arad, and
  • Bucharest - Craiova - Târgu Jiu - Deva.

ARF says that the main objective of tendering the three inter-regional PSO contracts is to improve connections between the capital with Romania’s other major urban centres, cutting journey times and providing a better service for passengers. The project has a total cost of Lei 1.7bn ($US 386.3m), including a non-fund refundable contribution of Lei 1.2bn from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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