RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE REMAINS A CINDERELLA OF TRANSPORTS

The Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) vainly asked for a revision of the State budget law by the Parliament last month, stating that Government has failed to earmark enough money for railway infrastructure AIF addressed an Open Letter to the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, emphasizing the indifference towards the Romanian railways, but despite this the budget of the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure passed without major amendments.
The Parliament sanctioned this way a five to one score for roads vs. railways: as stated by AIF, the allocation for the development and modernisation of the road infrastructure is five times higher (6 billion Lei) than the budget allocation for the railway sector (1,2 billion Lei). The Railway Industry Association asked for a redistribution of these amounts in order to provide passengers with a modern public transport system and undertakings with the possibility to identify the best transport solutions for their freight and. Last but not least, a further argument was that more money for railways would contribute to maintaining and creating new work places in the Romanian railway industry and transport system. Despite these strong arguments, the budget treats railway infrastructure as a Cinderella of transports and the only hopes are linked with future budget revisions.