The European
\nCommission has approved the allocation of over 226 million euros to upgrade two
\nrailway segments connecting Bucharest to Constanta, on the Romanian Black Sea
\ncoast. The project is included in the EU Operational Programme Transport for
\n2007-2013, under Priority 1: Upgrading and Development of the TEN-T railway
\nnetwork, in view of developing a sustainable transportation system and of its
\nintegration with the EU transportation networks. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The upgrading of
\nthe over 80 km of railway on the two segments, namely Bucharest North to Bucharest
\nBaneasa and Fetesti-Constanta, was initially financed by the Romanian state, in
\na project with a total budget of nearly 475 million euros. According to the
\nEuropean Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the European
\nCommission thus refunds some of the initial expenses incurred by the Romanian
\ngovernment for the rehabilitation of the two railway segments. She explained
\nthe decision was in line with the European Commission’s decision on
\nretrospective project co-funding, in view of improving Romania’s absorption of
\nEuropean funds. The EU official added that other projects dealing with the
\nRomanian transport infrastructure were approved as well, and the nearly 450
\nmillion euros earmarked for these projects would come from the Cohesion Fund
\nand the European Regional Development Fund. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The upgrading of
\nthe railway section connecting Bucharest to Constanta is primarily designed to
\nreduce the duration of the trip between the two cities, to facilitate the shift
\nfrom the mainly road traffic between the Romanian capital city and the sea
\ncoast to a safer, more modern form of transport, as well as to reduce air
\npollution. Thanks to the rehabilitation project, an estimated 3.7 million
\npassengers are expected to travel from Bucharest to Constanta by train by 2030,
\nwhereas the freight railway traffic is expected to reach 21 million tonnes a
\nyear. At present, passenger trains travel on the Bucharest-Constanta route at
\n160 km\/h, and freight trains at maximum 120 km\/h. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The current
\nabsorption rate for the Operational Programme Transport for the 2007-2013
\nperiod stands at over 81%. Until 2020, Romania is allocated 9.4 billion euros
\nfor the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme, with the money coming both
\nfrom the European Regional Development Fund and from the Cohesion Fund. More
\nthan half of the sum, namely 6.8 billion euros, including the national
\ncontribution, is earmarked for the transport infrastructure, 37% for the
\ndevelopment of the environment protection sector, and 5% for the energy sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission has earmarked funds for the rehabilitation of Romanias transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[19347,38666],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-70463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-romania","tag-transport-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n