Drobeta-Turnu Severin Railway Station,
a Future Eurostation of Romania

In year 2010, according to the recently performed prognosis, in the railway traffic through Drobeta - Turnu Severin railway station will be registered approximately 2,500,000 passengers/year, figure which compared to the one of the year 2000 (1,200,000 passengers/year) shows a significant increase of the passengers number.

The railway station of the residence town of Mehedinti district has been included in the Rehabilitation and Modernization Program for the transport infrastructure from Romania. One of the objectives of this program is the rehabilitation of the important railway stations from our country, that are going to be brought this way to the level of eurostation.
In order to meet this objective there should be taken into consideration the requirement of the European standards regarding the improvement of the services provided to the passengers and, there should be also respected the norms issued by the International Union of Railways which establishes the measures for the enhancement of the travel on the railways and the standard framework for arranging the European railway stations (UIC 413 and UIC 410) in order to provide certain appropriate endowments, of a homogenous aspect and of a good accessibility, especially for the persons with reduced mobility.
Consequently, the railway stations situated in the important cities from our country have been included in a vast study, achieved by ISPCF, through which there has been analyzed the situation of each station and there have been made proposals regarding the works necessary for meeting the European requirements. Due to the large number of locations and to the volume and to the complexity of the works that should be performed, there have been established the priorities and there has been achieved the stringent planning. Therefore, there has been decided that the feasibility studies for 18 stations, among which Drobet-Turnu severin is also included, will be drawn up in a first stage here.

Modernity guiding marks…
And here it is, in the next lines, the way in which this station will look like according to the projects achieved by ISPCF. But let's start with a short presentation…
Drobeta-Turnu Severin railway station is located on Craiova Rail Region territory and it is situated from the railway point of view at km 363 + 764 on Main Section 300 (Bucharest - Craiova - Timisoara).
Presently, the passengers traffic unfolded through this railway station consists in 15 pairs of trains/day on Drobeta -Turnu Severin - Filiasi relation and 13 pairs of trains/day on Drobeta-Turnu Severin - Orsova relation, with a daily structure of four pairs of Intercity trains, 13 pairs of express trains, two pairs of fast trains and nine pairs of slow trains. With respect to the freight traffic, we can take as reference the situation of year 2002, when in this station have been registered 9,1111 discharged wagons and 3,296 loaded wagons.
The building where presently operates the railway station from this town next to the Danube river has been built at the beginning to the last century, according to the requirements of those years: it has only one floor, portent walls made of masonry, wooden boards, roof with wooden framework and roof made of thin iron. Moreover, the whole location is situated in cutting, subsided with almost six meters against the main floor. The building did no longer correspond from the structural point of view and, not being designed and executed with measures against earthquakes, it has been affected by the earthquakes during the time, and also by the inappropriate exploitation.
The current device of the tracks from Drobeta-Turnu Severin Railway Station is divided on the following groups:
· Tracks 1-5 are for receptions-expeditions, have 416 m - 1,222m serviceable lengths, being electrified;
· Tracks 6-13 are used at shunting and the expedition of the freight trains and they are electrified;
· Tracks 14 and 15 are only for shunting.
The station is endowed with electro-dynamic centralization equipment, has a main platform (in a length of 320 m), located between the passengers building and the track 1, and a normal platform, between tracks 1 and 2 (in a length of 445 m) being still quite far away from what stipulate the UIC norms; it does not have available sufficient spaces for passengers and for the unfolding of the technical and commercial activities, the platforms are low, there are no pedestrian tunnels for persons with handicaps, the arrivals and the departures are not separated and, not at last, the building is not representative for the district capital. Presently, the area around the railway station is completely inappropriate to its destination: the access road is strangled, in front of the building there are no sidewalks the railway market square has no appropriate space for the unfolding of cab services, parking and public transport.
As a conclusion, as the study achieved by ISPCF shows, from the structural point of view, the current passengers building did not correspond as quality, functionality and aesthetics to the current requirements".

… and of the future
The project for the future eurostation from Drobeta-Turnu Severin proposes the building of an assembly made of three buildings of various heights. The building area will have 1,500 m2 and the developed one of 4,700 m2. The passengers building (U+G+2F) will have in the underground the ALA shelter, at the ground floor - technical spaces, tickets counters and commercial spaces, at the 1st floor - waiting rooms and commercial galleries and at the 2nd floor - spaces for crossing the platforms 2-4 and commercial galleries. The 2nd floor will also be stipulated with two trestlework bridge providing the link of the passengers with the railway tracks.
The second building (G+2F) will have at the ground floor the corridor meant for passengers' transit to the platform from the track 1, and at the 1st and 2nd floors, commercial spaces. The third building (U+G+5F) will shelter at the inferior levels technical spaces and depositing spaces and the transit areas for the passengers, and at the superior levels the technical and exploitation spaces, the offices of the Railway Transport Police and the ML bedrooms. There should be also noticed the fact that all the precincts will be endowed with rolling stairs, elevators and special routes for persons with handicap.
Pursuant to the modernization works that are going to be performed in the railway station there will be also achieved a systematization of the tracks and the platforms, as well as of the railway station market square, fact that will be advantageous from the economical point of view, and well as from esthetical point of view. Consequently, the track 3 will be annulled on a 700 m length in order to enhance the building of a high platform between tracks 2 and 4. The track 1 will be shifting of the track with almost 2 m to the opposite side of the passengers building, the tracks 1, 2 and 4 will be generally overhauled on a 700 m length, and between the first two lines there will be built a protection fence.
In front of the passengers' building there will be a wide platform, covered on its entire length, as well as the one between the tracks 2 and 4. For the access of the passengers to the tracks, at the end of the platforms there will be built a level pedestrian tunnel. The railway station will be endowed with two electronic table in order to display the trains and an adequate sound system.
As we were saying, the surrounding area will have a different aspect. In the railway station market square there will be arranged paring spaces, there will be built outside stairs, sidewalks, the driveway will be improved and there will be arranged green spaces.
Therefore, the old railway station of Drobeta-Turnu Severin town, known today among the railway men under the name of locomotive-station due to its architecture (from the distance, the tower of the building seems a steam locomotive smoke stack), will gain a new status: will be one of the first European railway stations from Romania.
The first step has been performed: presently, the feasibility study is in finalization stage, and the drawing up of the technical project will take three months. The achievement time of the works has been calculated, according to the volume of work, to a 36 months period, namely three years.

Silvia Mirea