Railway`s safety does not satisfy the European authorities

At the end of September, the European Commission published a report regarding the implementation of the communitarian directive for the rail safety and interoperability, which, together with the legislation on the access on the market provide the legal frame for an integrated European rail area. The need for change in the legislation was issued following the accident in Viareggio, Italy, at the end of June, when 31 people died in the burst of the petroleum products.

The regulations regarding the rail infrastructures’ and operations’ safety provide the necessity that the rail enterprises and the infrastructure managers should assume the responsibility for the system’s safety.

While the European forums are trying hard to improve the rail infrastructure, in Romania, the warnings of the rail market engender no response. Even more, a series of rail incidents (amongst which the most serious involved a fast passenger train of CFR Calatori and a goods train of a private operator) have shown that the eternal grieves related to the railways’ financials is deeply rooted.

Although the derailments on September 21 have not resulted in casualties, the goods train jumped the tracks near Cluj had a similar scenario similar to the one in Italy.