CER: Romania, last in railway investments. Romanian Government supports the road sector

03-05-2010 15:23

Out of all the EU member states, Romania is last in railway investments. “In 1006, Romania invested EUR 147/track km”, said Johannes Ludewig, Executive Director CER, during the conference “Project and solutions for building an interoperable railway network in Central and Eastern Europe”, organised by Club Feroviar and the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF), during February 25-26, 2010.
Luxembourg invested over EUR 636.000/track km, being top of the list in terms of railway investments in the EU. If we were to draw a comparison, although Romania and Luxembourg are both EU member states, Romania invested EUR 0/track km. This contravenes with the EU policy in the field. 
Ahead of Romania we can find Lithuania, with an investment of EUR 853/track km and Estonia, with EUR 7.581/track km. Bulgaria invests EUR 8.453/track km and “it is not fair to compare Bulgaria with Romania in terms of railway investments”, added Ludewig.
Johannes Ludewig said that road transport benefits from more government investments than railway transport, which is not fair. Moreover, the government is obligated to support the railway and to compensate the difference between the ticket sales revenues and the actual transport costs,  but the results are nowhere to be seen. In Romania, the government invests only 50% of the total amount required. 
Seeing as railway traffic in Eurasia will increase significantly in the following years, Ludewig said that “considering the difficult situation, especially during these times of crisis, how could Romania face the international market? It's impossible to see any positive short term results.”
During the Romanian Railway Summit held in October 2009, Johannes Ludewig talked about the situation of the Romanian railways: “this sector is in a critical situation, and the Romanian government should admit the fact that the EU objectives are not met. The government should also say that t doesn't want to support the railways, but that instead it supports the road sector, because that is in fact the truth. The government supports the road sector to the detriment of the railway sector, and this is not the strategy imposed by the European Union”.

Photo: CER

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