Fewer people in Romania chose to travel by train in the first quarter of 2024

Romanians have chosen to travel less by train so far this year. According to data compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the number of passengers who traveled by train in the first quarter of 2024 was 17.408 million, down 3.6% from the same period last year.

Almost all passengers, save for 62,000, traveled domestically. Rail passenger transport accounted for 16.8% of total passenger transport in the first three months of the year, far surpassed by road transport, which accounted for 77.8%, according to Agerpres.

Regarding rail freight transport, the volume decreased by 11.3% compared to the first quarter of 2023 due to negative developments in all components. A total of 11.086 million tons of goods were transported, of which 79.6% were in domestic transport. The tariff distance for goods decreased by 3%, with an increase only in domestic transport by 4.6%, according to INS.

Petroleum products, coal and lignite, crude oil, and natural gas had the highest shares of the total transported goods on record.

The INS also mentions that most of the technical-economic indicators for the utilization of the vehicle fleet in rail transport recorded a negative evolution compared to the first three months of last year. The average running time of freight wagons (days) increased by 14.5%, and the average daily mileage of freight wagons (km/day) increased by 3.3%.

On the other hand, loaded wagons entering from abroad decreased by 16.7%, and the average daily mileage of locomotives used for freight transport decreased by 12.7% (km/day). The average gross weight of freight wagons (tons/train) decreased by 6.8%, and the average commercial speed of passenger trains (km/h) decreased by 3.8%.

Romania’s National Railway Company "CFR" recently announced that it will reduce train speeds while the red code warning for extreme temperatures is active. According to the source, reducing train speeds by 20-30 km/h below the normal speed across the entire railway network is a necessary measure to maintain safety.

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