"Although separated from CFR,
we have remained railway-men"

Interview with Mr. Cezar Ivana, the manager of the Institute for Railway Studies and Projection

Railway Journal: Please, present briefly the Institute for Railways Studies and Projections (ISPCF).
Cezar Ivana: ISPCF was set up in December 1947 as a necessity of CFR to rebuild the railway works destroyed during the war. Until 1991 we were part of the railways structures and then of the SNCFR structure. Starting in 1991 like other companies which belonged to SNCFR we were changed into a company where the State Ownership Fund held 70% from the shares and SIF (former FPP) 30%. We execute mainly projects for the railways. We are so organized that we can offer all services necessary for the modernization, rehabilitation and development of the railways, but also for the projection of rolling material, wagons and locomotives.
We have in our structure over 20 polytechnic specialization.

R.J.: What did the separation from the guardianship of SNCFR mean to you?
C.I.: A very difficult period of about 2 years followed, when we had to learn to maintain ourselves on the market as a company, which meant for us the improvement from the professional and relational point of view. At the same time we have diversified our activity. We also started to take over works for the Communications Ministry, more precise we accomplish projects for the execution of constructions necessary for the television relays, telephone networks, post-office constructions and telecommunications. In regard to the volume of our activity, 80-85% are destined to the Railways, 5-5% to the Communication Ministry and the rest to others.

R.J.: How did the restructuring of the former SNCFR affect you?
C.I.: The good part is that now we discuss directly with the beneficiaries of the projects, such as CFR-SA, CFR Goods, CFR Passengers. Until the restructuring, everything was centralized, but nowadays problems are solved quicker. The least pleasant part is that we have more beneficiaries and from here started additional activities to carry out the contracts, etc.

R.J.: Being an institute for studies, which are the main works accomplished in the field of the railways?
C.I.: We have been engaged since 1991 in the program of rehabilitation and modernization of the railways and especially on the pan-European corridors which cross Romania. We have executed several studies for these corridors, from the preliminary ones till the feasibility studies and technical projects. We have issued the “Technical conditions regarding the projection of rehabilitation and modernization works of the railways for the traffic of trains with maximum speed of 160 km/h. The feasibility study regarding the rehabilitation of the interval Bucharest-Brasov, drawn up by ISPCF and analyzed by the specialists of the European Investment Bank were the basis of a credit to the Transport Ministry, CN CFR SA, necessary to accomplish works of rehabilitation on this railway interval.
The credit was granted without asking an external neutral audit from a consulting company from abroad.
I must also mention the feasibility study for the interval Bucharest-Constanta, for which the Japanese government intends to grant a partial credit. The more conservative Japanese have requested an audit from a consulting company from Germany. We have worked “side by side” with German specialists to draw up the estimation report of the feasibility study made by ISPCF. The favorable report was forwarded at the end of March to the Japanese government. There are real chances that the Transport Ministry and CN CFR SA obtain for this work a part of the necessary credit.
I use “we” all the time as we are still railway-men in spite of the separation from SNCFR.

R.J.: If you wish, could you tell us something we haven’t asked you and that could be important. Eventually something linked to “us” (CN CFR SA and ISPCF).
C.I.: Yes, there would be something else to say. Soon, we shall be undergoing privatization. An institute of the size of ISPCF, unique in Romania, can be considered a strategic institute taking into account that everything we have accomplished on the CFR network (new lines, doubling, electrification, CED, BTA, etc.) was projected here. The data bank of the last 52 years is under our custodianship. Due to these reasons, the privatization process must be performed with discrimination. I have tried to explain these projects to our shareholders (FPS and SIF) and I think they understood. I have proposed several variants. One of them could be the setting up of a holding with the National Railway Company CFR-SA, the variant discussed also with the management of CFR-SA. Another variant could be that CN CFR SA buys the majority share parcel from the ones set for sale by FPS.
In this way we can go on to be very close and the railway projection activity will continue to be benefic for CFR. It is not easy, but I wish a lot that we accomplish one of the variants we have presented. I had the opportunity to discuss with the representatives of several consulting companies similar to ISPCF and the external examples are compatible to our thinking.
In Germany, for example, D.E.Consult together with EDVR (the former projection institute of the GDR) and the German railways have created a holding. Italfer from Italy is working with the railways which holds 95% of the shares and the rest of 5% belongs to the bank the two institutions work with. At TRANSURB from Belgium, the Belgian railways obtained all shares. And the examples could continue.
In 1994, D.E. Consult in its study referring to the restructuring of SNCFR, noticing that ISPCF was taken off the structures of CFR declared that it was a mistake and the railway projection activity must not be separated from CFR. I consider that the affirmation is justified from several points of view. Even before being separated from SNCFR we worked on basis of a contract. We have never been sponsored by the state. In cases of natural calamities or accidents, we answer promptly to the summoning of the beneficiary.
There is another fact that must be reminded. We have very good cooperation relations with the newly set up companies, but there are moments when the financing bodies from abroad require it or when there occur urgent problems; we have never failed to work in a team with the specialists of CN CFR SA and the results where to our expectations.
I want to highlight by this that although we work on basis of a contract we are a very good team with CN CFR SA and we continue to consider ourselves railway-men.

. Aurelia Nicolae