International Relationships at CFR - SA

 

    In view of improving the quality of railway transportation and in the spirit of the well-known relationships CFR - SA has with the other countries’ railway administrations, a meeting of this kind was held in Arad, on October 17, 2000. Experts from Austria (Osterreichische Bundesbahenen - OBB), from Hungary (Magyar Allamvasutak- MAV) and from Romania (CFR) met together to share their experience in the field. The subject of the meeting was the improvement of railway connections and of the exploitation conditions of 4 pane - European Corridor on Viena - Budapest - Arad - Bucharest sector. In this sense, the constancy firm, Austria Rail Engineering (ARE) also participated at the debates.
    The program was split in three chapters, each of them including the issues that were to be discussed:

I. Rail Infrastructure:
1. Modernizing the infrastructure on route Viena - Budapest - Arad, 2000/2001ISPA program addressed to Hungary and Romania;
2. The feasibility study for ETCS implementing on the rail -track leading to Viena - Budapest - Arad;

II. Freight Railway Transportation
1. Evaluation of the possibility for freight traffic increasing between Austria, Hungary
and Romania;

III. Euro-regions - Expanding of the European Union
1. Implementing new measures for the modernization of all control procedures at the borders, for public transportation on route Austria, Hungary and Romania. Letter of intent between Romania and Hungary;
2. Possibilities for disbursement in order to finance projects related to railway systems on the sector Viena - Budapest - Arad - Bucharest, as part of the 4 pane-European Corridor (SECI, the Stability Agreement, BEI, ISPA, PHARE):
    a. frontier control equipment, PHARE;
    b. frontier control station, PPP;
3. Evaluation of the possibility for public traffic increasing on route Viena - Timisoara (in a first stage), on route Viena - Gyor - Budapest, before the expanding of the European Union; cancellation of the obligatory speed between European Union’s countries and Romania.

The three delegations included the following members:
- from Austria: diplomat engineer Helmut Hainiz - general director of OBB, diplomat engineer Karl Peter Mayer - Rail Cargo Austria, Paul Weiss - Rail Cargo Austria, diplomat engineer Steindl - OBB infrastructure, diplomat engineer Rolf Vinzelj - ETCS consultant, diplomat engineer Rudolf Koller - OBB infrastructure, diplomat engineer Fauland - Viena City Hall, doctor Helmut Meelich - ARE;
- from Hungary: dr. Janos Benedek - second general director for MAV strategy, Laszlo Fulop - second director in telecommunication, signaling and electrification MAV systems, dr. Laszlo Mosoczi - ETCS MAV expert, Peter Kaposvari - second director in RCF Szeged, MAV, Jeno Surany - consultant for frontier problems, dr. Tibor Kaizinger - Custom Office, Gyula Kovacs - Frontier Crossing Control Office;
- from Romania: Emanoil Culda - director with the Maintenance Department of CFR, Iulian Stefanescu - director of RCF Timisoara, georgel Victor Dragota - chief of the European Routes Service of CFR, Zoltan Marossy - Installations Chief Department with RCF Timisoara, Wilhem Szocs - expert in signaling systems, Daniela Cucu, translator with CFR -SA.

    Representatives of OBB and MAV presented their own projects regarding the modernization activities of the 4 pane -European Corridor, insetting on the issue of Viena - Budapest - Bucharest sector. Romania’s representatives presented and sustained the priorities of CFR as related to the modernization of the Romanian sector belonging to the 4 pane - European Corridor.
    Ample debates were hold also about the introduction of ETCS system by CFR in a similar variant to that proposed by OBBa and MAV, in order to insure the inter-operability on this important pane -European Corridor. They reached to the conclusion that, in a primary phase, it is necessary to elaborate a feasibility study, which should valorize the experience gathered so far from OBB and MAV; on this occasion, the two foreign administrations’ representatives expressed their disposability of sustaining CFR in completing such study.

Reporting Silvia Mitulescu