ROMANIA
and the Railway Link between Europe and Asia

In a wide Euro-Asiatic framework where there will be included several railway companies, is delineated the New Railway Links Plan for Europe-China, achieving the intercontinental railway section Paris - Shanghai, the longest in the world, being of 11,500 km, that is operational on the middle corridors from Europe, namely Paris - Vienna - Budapest, through Romania, on the northern route: Oradea - Cluj, Vatra Dornei - Suceava - Cernauti (normal line), and further on from Ceranuti - Jmerinka - Vapniarca - Dnepopetrovsk railway section, from Ukraine, then through Russia, to Volgograd, the line where the gauge is going to be normalized, either by making a new line, or a parallel line with the existing one.
In Asia, the new, normal railway will be located on the middle corridors, from Volgograd, from Russia, to the localities Emba - Mojynty - Druzhba, through Kazahstan, reaching then to Urumqi, in China, where the line is normal, and continuing to the locality Wuwey, where it is divided in two: one to Shanghai, to the Pacific Ocean, and another one to the capital of China, Beijing.
The new Asian line, crossing the south of Ukraine, of Russia and Kazahstan, will have no links with the current trans-Siberian line, where in the winter, when the temperatures of -450 C, the rolling stock (locomotives and coaches) hardly operate, with a reduced tonnage and with reduced speeds, of almost 60 km/h. On the new, normal line, situated at distances of around 1,000 km against the wide, trans-Siberian line, the freight lines will operate with higher speeds, of 120 km/h, at winter temperatures of - 200 C. This plan is proposed by the experts of the European Union enlarged starting with year 2004, in direct correlation with EU - Russia and EU - Ukraine relations, plus Kazahstan and China, pursuant to a new strategy on the naval, railway and air transports between the two continents. Obviously, modern planes of high capacity will perform the long distance passengers trains between the two continents. In Europe, there is stipulated the achievement of new railway routes, using electric train sets of very high speed, in multi-power system.
Currently, the transport of the goods is performed on water, with 60,000 tdw ships, in average, crossing the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Channel - route that, due to the large number of ships transiting it, gets crowded day by day -, then, through the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Malaca Strait, and it also gets crowded, Singapore, having an entrance in the Southern China Sea, up to Shanghai, a naval route that is crossed in minimum 40 days.
Mr. Hans Herrman, the EU expert which has proposed the PS Rail Paris - Shangai, considers that, after the termination of the works, the new normal line that are crossing through the middle of Europe and Asia will allow that a freight train of 3,000 tons will cross the distance between Paris and Shanghai in minimum 18 days (and that is after year 2015), and the speed of the trains will be higher, providing the possibility of serving certain important centers on the new intercontinental railway route.
For this international route, in Europe, between Paris - Vienna - Puspokladany
(Hungary) there is a normal, double and electrified railway line on the entire railway section. Between Puspokldany (Hungary) and Episcopia Bihor (Romania), 63 km, there will be necessary the doubling and electrification of the line. While crossing Romania, on the northern railway main section of the country, there is imposed the doubling of the line between Oradea Est and Poieni, on 75 km, crossing through Apuseni Mountains, where there are necessary heavier works (tunnels and cleaning the rocks ), plus the electrification of the doubling of Episcopia Bihor - Baciu Marshaling Yard line, on 154 km, that should be followed by the doubling of the line between Beclean on Somes - Ilva Mica and the electrification of 48 km, on Cluj Rail Region.
On the territory of Iasi Rail Region, the route between Ilva Mica and Mestecanis, through the Mountains of Bargaului, there are necessary heavier works (tunnels and bridges), and on a length of 91 km the line will be doubled and electrified; then, between Pojorata and Campulung Moldovenesc, on 6 km, there will be proceeded the same, the doubling and the electrification of the line being also stipulated between Campulung Est and Gura Humorului (Paltinoasa), on 33 km; therefore totaling 253 km of doublings.
In order to continue the route it is better that from Gura Humorului this should be led to Darmanesti, where the line is also electrified, then to Vicsani - Vadu Siret, on this route, of 86 km, Vadu Siret line to Cernauti being normal, and between the kilometer 40 there is going to be completely normalized and electrified on the 81 km in CFR system.
From Cernauti Nord station, Ukraine can lead the trains towards Lvov, in west, and Ternopol, in north, on wide line, and on the new intercontinental route that will be achieved to the east, through Ocnita - Jmerinka - Vapniarca - Dnepopetrovsk, will be maintained a new, normal, transcontinental line, either simple, or double, instead of the wide one, which will be later on electrified. By this approach, the equipment for changing the bogies of the wagons will be moved from Vadu Siret to Cernauti station.
There will be also created the railway route from Eastern Europe between: Athens - Salonic - Sofia - Bucharest - Cernauti - Jmerinka - Kiev (in the case of normalizing the line Cernauti - Jmerinka - Dnepopetrovsk from the intercontinental route, with a special railway section to Kiev), route necessary in the future in the conditions of admitting Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and even Ukraine in EU.
The international railway version through Suceava - Pascani - Iasi - Chisinau leads to Tiraspol, then to Odesa Harbor, at a closed sea, the Black Sea, but the version Cernauti - Ocnita - Jmerinka, crossing through the middle of Europe and then of Asia, leads to great industrial centers and a capital Kiev -, it is more indicated in this complex of situations and through the fact that there are many beneficiaries and large railway companies (SNCF, DB), plus the middle companies (as OBB, MAV, VFR and UZ). This railway section through Cernauti - Jmerinka is less crowded with trains in operation from the countries crossed by the new route Middle Euro - Asian Railway proposed by the EU and China experts. This way, the international railway route Paris - Viena - Cernauti will include 2,420 km of double and electrified railways (with small exceptions).
In Ukraine, and less in Russia, in Kazahstan (where the normal line will be achieved with the help of EU) and in China, where the railways is normal, there could be used the hauling with electrical Diesel locomotives on 9,080 km, and after the staged achievement of the electrification there will be also used electric locomotives. More powerful, for the increase of the freight trains speed up to 120 km/h, in 2025. Some of the most difficult areas for achieving the new, normal, simple and double lines (on certain sections), from Asia will be for crossing the Altai Mountains, in north, and Tarbagatai, in south, from the east of Kazahstan, to the borders with China, as well as the North Plateau of China, towards the borders with Mongolia.
Through the achievement of this new intercontinental route, China, which has huge resources of raw materials, especially ores, absolutely necessary for the industrialized European countries, would be able to transport, in the future, in Europe on this new route, for processing, on the shortest way, put in containers, in trains of 40 wagons that should be hauled by a locomotive with six hauling axles in each end of the train. A wagon will weight the maximum of 80 tons, out of which the net weight would be of 50 tons. There should be mentioned that Romania is included among the first European countries owning such locomotives (CoCo), which can be modernized up to the year 2015, having the weight of 120 tons each. Any vehicle from the composition of these trains for long distances will have the minimum of 20 tons/axle, and the maximal ramps should be of 55, for the maintenance of the speed, each train having a system of four computers for communications.
The trains will operate completely automated on the PS Rail lines, as commuter, and will be adapted in order to be hauled by locomotives of high power on the "no owner" lines.
The inside equipment will permanently monitor the state of the locomotives and the wagons, knowing the position of the trains during the operation, in automatic and semi-automatic exploitation, with controlled re-filling and with automatic, selective coupling-uncoupling. The exchange of information of the next exploitation center will monitor the railway with respect to the track brakes, the skating of the wheels, the vibrations and the temperatures in the axle boxes, being endowed with photo-electrical cells for localizing the train through satellite.
Knowing the fact that in China 50% of the necessary of petrol is imported from the Middle Orient, this country is also interested by the Caspian oil, which can come on the new railway route, crossing the Caspian Sea, in Kazahstan. The oil obtained from the north of Caspian Sea will be transported on this new railway route and westwards, in Europe, and eastwards, in China, or even Japan, through RoRo system, motivating once again the necessity of this conditions, the oil obtained from the Near and Middle East will be transported with maritime ships on the Black Sea, to Constanta, being then sent through the pipe-line or by train to the south of Europe, to the center and the west of Europe, or it will cross directly by ships, through the Bosfor and Dardanele Straits, in the Mediterranean Sea.

Magdalena Fedeles
Eng. Dumitru Ciocoreanu