After 140 years on the route Cernavoda-Constanta

 

On the beginning of October, railway men celebrated 140 since the first railway function in Dobrogea, namely Constanta Port-Cernavoda. Among them there were present many personalities of the railway life: Miss Anca Boiagiu, Minister of the Ministry of Transport, Mihai Necolaiciuc, General Manger of CFR-SA, Valentin Bota, General Manager of the National Public Transportation Company, George Buruiana, General Manager of the National Freight Transportation Company, Ioan Simion, Director of Zonal CFR –Constanta Department, directors of CFR-SA, local councilors, mayors, etc. Each of them tried to express with their words what they think about this event, not forgetting to mention the most important moments in the history of the railway.

Back in time

In 1853, England’s interests turned to the Balkans. After the Crimea’s war, England had become the most important power in the Balkans. In the meantime, it brought the entire ships to the Black Sea, even to the Danube .In favor of the services brought to the Ottoman Empire, England received from Abdul medjid Sultan a parcel of land long of 62 Km which represented the necessary wood from Dobrogea’s forests and stone quarries from Constanta. They also permitted for England to use the labor force of the area in order to build the Cernavoda-Constanta railway, the first of this kind in the West of the Ottoman Empire.

Works took place in hardware conditions and it was finalized in just two years. On October 4, 1860, the first train left Cernavoda toward Constanta, and the first passenger was Alexandru Ioan Cuza, sovereign of Romania, to whom Barkley, the English chief of the railway company provided the sultan’s carriage. From Constanta, Cuza went to Constantinopole in order to obtain from the sultan the acknowledgment of the Unification. During spring of 1861, water gathered in the wholes shoveled during railway works, transformed in swamps filled with mosquitoes that cause an epidemic that killed thousands of people in just a few months.

In 1877, Dobrogea and its inhabitants become again a part of the country of Mircea cel Batran.

On December 10, 1882, the Romanian State bought from the English men the above-mentioned railway plus eight engines, 30 passenger wagons and 100 freight engines, paying for them the amount of £ 300.000.

Today, walking along this route, we noticed that numerous generations of railway men re-built it. Nothing of the old structures were the same, i.e. railway stations from Constanta and Cernavoda.

Initiative of the railway men of celebrating this important moment shows their respect they have for the railway appeared in Romania.

In 1869, the Romanians, helped by the English railway men, the rail route Bucuresti-Giurgiu. I say this in order to remind you the fact that between Alexandru Ioan Cuza and Barkley there was born a special relationship. Rumors have it that, during the trip to Constantinopole, the two of them decided on the construction of the railway route Bucuresti-Giurgiu.

 

Anniversary moment

 

We left Bucharest with a special train and the party took place in Cernavoda –Pod station.

After the national hymn, Mis Anca Boiagiu, Minister of the Ministry of Transport together with the Manager of CFR-SA, Mihai Necolaiciuc, revealed the commemorative marble list placed on the red-brick wall, marking thus those 140 years since the commissioning of the first railway in Dobrogea. Then the priest made the religious celebration of the railway station that hasn’t been holy-watered for 150 years.

In the applause of everybody present there, there came an 40 year Malaxa engine accompanied by five wagons that once used to be attached to the Orient-Express train while the latter circulated on route Constanta-Paris. Kept and maintained in the CFR Iasi, the train induced us special emotions. For me, and probably for all people present there, it was a privilege to travel with this special jewelry-train, all the way to Constanta.

I am sure that all those people left behind felt sorry about not having the chance to get in that train. After a few “whistles” we set off. Up to Medgidia we had a speed of 30 km/h, fact that made possible for us to see the and admire places and spots like Danube-Black Sea Channel, where thousands of people left behind the history of their work.

In Medgidia Station took place the same ceremonial: a new commemorative list with the same message on it, a few statements and a numerous enthusiastic public. After another hour trip on the railway, we reached to Constanta, the place where the final festivities for the this important event took place. On the platform, our representatives were welcomed by the major of the county and other important personalities in the force. Before leaving Constanta, Anca Boiagiu made a statement: “I would like to say that for me this moment has an emotional significance since I belong to these city – Constanta. It is an honor for me being with you here. I appreciate very much the efforts you make for the railway system and for the national transportation in general. We relieved together historical moments, we were on places where great characters of cultural, spiritual and political life once to used to visit.

We all know that the railway network is now confronting with an ample restructuring process. The final results will already show after dozens ofyears when the train we came here today probably would no longer exist.

To conclude with, I would like to tell you that for the next year, Constanta railway station will enter into a modernization process and to assure you all, that Constanta it will be a railway station up to the European standards.”

 

….And now, we have to have a good thought for all those who created our railway system.

 

Reporting Oana Bran