NEWS

Romanian Railways Heading Towards…Europe
The American company Eurail Group has announced the inclusion of Romania in the Eurail Selectpass program, offering to the tourists that are visiting Europe the possibility to travel by train in three, four or five countries included in the program: Austria (and Liechtenstein), Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France (and Monaco), Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Hungary.
Eurail Group maintains collaboration relationships with 34 railway transport companies from Europe and offers to the interested tourists travelling programs by train (Eurail Pass), as well as travelling tickets between the destinations of 26 European countries (Eurailtickets). The Eurail Selectpass program, valid for these countries, can include, for example, Austria, Hungary and Romania. For the price of 304 USD, the beneficiaries of the program could travel by train, for five days, for maximum two months, on any route in the countries included in the program.
A Gallup poll achieved on August of the current year among over one thousand American touring agents has indicated that Romania is situated on the second place among the most promising new European touring destinations; the selection of the American touring agents has been confirmed through the inclusion of our country in the Eurail Selectpass program. The Management of Eurail Group has voted the acceptance of Romania in this program because, according to the declaration of Mr. Erik A. Mollen, the general director of Eurail Group, "this has been a necessary measure meant to answer the increased number of demands that have been received in the last years, from the tourists overseas, who have expressed quite often their interest to travel by train in countries from Eastern Europe."
Starting with January 1, 2004, the tourists who will choose the Selectpass program will be able to include Romania among the three, four or five coterminous countries that they could visit when travelling by train. Our country is known to the North-Americans through Transilvania, Carpathian Mountains, Black Sea, Danube Delta etc. They also know that Bucharest is one of the largest European towns, with a population of 2.2 million inhabitants.
The Romanian Railways operates on an important railway network that is in full modernization process of the locomotives and the coaches for passengers, representing another trump for the integration in this program. Through the decision of Eurail Group to confirm the fact that the railway transport from Romania is getting close to the level of the countries of the Central and Western Europe.
Eurail Selectpass comes to support the marketing program of the Tourism Office from New York, suggesting to the American and Canadian tourists to take advantage of the proximity of Romania, of the destinations that are more accessible and more popular from Central and Western Europe and to visit our country.
The price of the air transport between Romania and other European destinations is still prohibitive for the market segments allocating a relatively reduced budget for the transport expenses. That is why the inclusion of Romania in the Eurail Selectpass program will make the trip by train from the Central Europe to our country easier and more convenient as price.

The Government, next to MTCT
On Friday, October 10, 2003, the prime minister of Romania, Adrian Nastase, the minister of Public Finances, Mihai Tanasescu, the delegate minister for the General Secretariat of the Government, Serban Mihailescu, and Miron Mitrea, the minister of Transports, Constructions and Tourism, have checked the stage of the works from the Brancusi houses ward, from Bucharest, situated in Valea Oltului area - Drumul Taberei, on a surface of 63.7 ha, ward where there will be built 4,695 houses for young persons, meant for being rented.
It will be the largest ward for young persons in the country and the first of this kind from Bucharest. The total value of the investment for the building of this ward is raised up to 134 million Euro, out of which 105 million Euro for the building of the houses and 29 million Euro for the town inclusion woks. The works will be finalized in year 2005.
"I would like to congratulate the minister Mitrea for the permanent efforts to invest in houses for young people. It is a very clear policy of our government, even if we have, as it is natural, financial issues for finalizing the assembly of investments from this field. We are fighting, that each time when we propose the budgets and we are looking for external financing, to find the financial resources necessary to make as many social houses for young people and for those that have a difficult situation, who need an apartment to live, by paying a rent until they will have the necessary money to make a house by mortgaging credit. As you can see, the first 1,000 - 1,100 houses are already built, and the concrete structure is extremely solid. The construction is made with extreme foresight; it is not about huddling, there are works that take into consideration all the earthquake conditions and, in the same time, the urban conditions necessary for Bucharest. We will try to accelerate the works as much as possible. If the last board will be infused before the snowfall, up to December we will be able to perform the works from the next period. There should be fully cleared the utilities issues, and they are quite easy to solve. I consider that in the first semester of the next year the works could be concluded, and in the next spring there will be lucky young people from Bucharest who are going to move in here and will be ready to live in these apartments", the prime minister, Mr. Adrian Nastase, has declared.
"You joined us two months ago and you can see now that the site is complying with the graph, and that it is very important. Up to the end of the year, there will be infused the last board an there will be approached the framework. The repartitions will be performed by the city halls. We gave to the city halls a few advice referring to the way in which there should be performed the repartitions - namely, only according to the law, the young people under 35 years old, mainly married, with children.
They should be able to pay the utilities in these blocks, which will be smaller, and the rent, generally, will be of 100-200 thousand ROL.
We currently have in execution or handed over 18,000 houses for young people all over the country. This year, we have handed over a number of approximately 4,000 up to the present time and we will hand over 7,000 locative units during the current year. There will remain in execution stage around 12,000 houses, because this is a continuous process: some of them will enter in execution, other are handed over to the beneficiaries. And here, where we are now, we will start the execution of other 1,100 houses during this fall", Mr. Miron Mitrea, the minister of Transports, Constructions and Tourism has declared.
The representatives of the government have left, further on, on the margins of Bucharest municipal, in order to check the way in which there have been rehabilitate the 6.5 km of road on Bucharest - Bragadiru highway (DN6). "We have succeeded, this year, to modernize half of margins of Bucharest, that you know very well that was in absolutely miscreant conditions.
We have proposed to repair and to modernize the second segment and to start the enlargement works in order to have four lanes of the marginal roads during the next year. In perspective, we would like to make a margin ring with highway regime, but this work will surely take a while and will need large amounts of money. For now, as there has been seen, we kept our word: we are complying with the graph with the overhauls works. There will be further on an issue that we should solve: the penetration of the last segment of a few kilometers on the area from Chitila, so the marginal ring will be perfectly closed, but the works will be performed in more difficult conditions, because there it is a swampy area.
Up to the present time, there have been spent around 400 billion ROL for this road section, and the next year we will probably spend around 700 billion for the finalization of this work. What it is important, from my point of view, it is the number of direct investments, the number of investments that have occurred, the production halls, which are achieving in fact and due to the effort that we are making for the modernization of the infrastructure. In fact, this is our work philosophy, lately: we want to take care of the infrastructure and the conditions that allow us to continue the investments and to let to the private initiative the possibility to look for investments which will create places of work", the prime minister of Romania has also added.
Concluding, the minister of Transports has also informed about the great effort that the government is making with respect to the improvement of the transport conditions and living condition from Bucharest. "This year, we have rehabilitated half of the marginal road, the other half we will approach next year, when we will also put into operation the first section of the highway, of 60 km at least, between Bucharest and Constanta. Still the next year we will start the fluidization of DN1 from Otopeni to Ploiesti. There are many investments in the infrastructure and houses stipulated for the next year. We have seen how is currently presented one ward of the three others that will be built in Bucharest, so the effort that the government is making for Bucharest should be appreciated", Mr. Miron Mitrea, the minister of Transports, Constructions and Tourism, has declared.

State Secretaries on Field
On Friday, October 17, 2003, exerting the attributions issuing from the positions they are assigned to, the state secretaries from the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism, have performed visits in territory.
Therefore, Mr. Traian Panait has visited Pitesti Municipal, where he presented, within a press conference, the strategies of the ministry in the transports field. On his turn, Mr. Sergiu Sechelariu, the state secretary, has performed a visit in Neamt district, where he was informed about the stage of the most important infrastructure projects in the field of house building and the rehabilitation of the national roads in the district territory. Mrs. Ileana Tureanu has been present in Targoviste town, and also in other localities closer to Dambovita district, where she met the local officials and she insisted on the projects specific to the activity field that she is coordinating, which are presently developed in the district.
Mr. Sorin Bota, the state secretary, has discussed with the authorities of Oradea Municipal about the projects developed by the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism in Bihor district.
During the press conferences organized on the occasion of these visits, the state secretaries have discussed with those present there about the revision of the Constitution and about the special importance of the new provisions of this fundamental normative act, they have answered the questions they were addressed and they have presented the points of view of the management of the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism with regard to the discussions held.

A New Blue Arrow, to Cluj
Starting with October, CFR Calatori has put into operation, on Sibiu - Vintu de Jos - Alba Iulia - Razboieni - Cluj-Napoca railway section and back, a pair of intercity trains Blue Arrow, made of the Desiro motorcars. They will operate according to the following timetable: IC train 523/528 leaves Sibiu at 6:30 a.m. and arrives in Cluj at 9:52 a.m and the IC train 526/529 departures from Cluj - Napoca at 5:32 p.m. and arrives in Sibiu at 8:48 p.m.
Since November, there will be also introduced another intercity train of the same kind on Cluj-Napoca - Targu Mures railway section.

Work Protection at the Railways!
The last year, we were informing you that the tome that we called "The Yellow Book" of the Romanian railway men has been issued: Instructions Specific to the Work Protection on the Railway Infrastructure. The work elaborated by the General Inspectorate of Safety Traffic and Control, within CFR SA, has taken advantage of the experience and of the effort of a large number of railway specialists, from all activity sectors, information obtained by the inspectors all over the country being structured in a collection of very useful articles.
Now at the end of the first year since the Instructions Specific to the Work Protection on the Railway Infrastructure is in use, it has become imperative the modification of certain provisions, because since its issuance and up to the present time there have been issued new norms and laws (General Norm for Work Protection, Labor Code, certain chapters from the road code, to which there it is also added the modification of the Constitution), fact imposing the performance of certain changes in the railway infrastructure.
Mr. Erold Gadea, the central inspector on work protection, informed us that during October 6-9, 2003, in Galati, and October 13-17, in Constanta, there have been discussed the modifications that will be brought to the instructions specific to the Equipment fields, respectively Tracks and Traffic fields. These will be also followed, at the end of October, by a training meeting organized at the Ministry of Labor, where there will be presented the above-mentioned modification proposals. Each regional inspector SC-PM (safety traffic - work protection) will debate, on the occasion of these meetings, their own modification proposals, others should come from the specialized divisions from each rail region. Consequently, up to the end of the year, the Romanian railway men will take advantage of a new set of Instructions Specific to the Work Protection on the Railway Infrastructure, completed with the new regulations in force in our country.
Still on behalf of the central inspector on work protection issues we have received a first information, which represents the pride of RGSCC: one of the vastest actions performed at the beginning of this summer by the railway men, the one of "general" cleanliness on the railways, there was developed without any accidents, fact proving that the purpose of this prevention activity and the provision of work protection has been fulfilled!

Top Changes, within MTCT
On October 21, 2003, Mr. Mihai Necolaiciuc has filed his resignation from the general director of the National Romanian Railway Company "CFR" SA position, out of personal reasons, the position being assigned to Mrs. Florentina Stan, former director of Real Estate Department. Starting with October 23, the current year, Mr. Mihai Necoaliciuc has been assigned on the position of expert of the General Department for Railway Transport, within MTCT.
The minister of Transports, Mr. Miron Mitrea, has also dismissed Mr. Florin Suciu from the general director position of the Romanian Road Authority, assigning him as the deputy general director of the General Department for Road Transport, within MTCT. In the position of general director of the Romanian Road Authority has been assigned Mrs. Maria Luiza Lupascu, former deputy general director of the General Department for Road Transport, within MTCT.
Another change has occurred at the National Company of Investments, where the position of general director has been taken over by Mr. Gheorghe Stan, who has replaced the former director Dan Durleci, assigned as the deputy general director of the same institution.

Oana Branzan
Silvia Mirea