Romanian railway company CFR announces new PNRR-modernized train on Bucharest-Constanța route

CFR Călători, the state-owned railway company for passengers, announced that the first train entirely made up of rolling stock modernized with funds from the EU-backed Recovery and Resilience Fund (PNRR) was introduced on the Bucharest North – Constanța route.

The train, which is already running, consists of a locomotive delivered by the Softronic factory in Craiova and four carriages, of which two are first class, one made in Bucharest and another in Cluj-Napoca, and two are second class carriages.

These units of rolling stock modernized with PNRR funds will form the composition of four trains (2 outbound/2 return).

The first PNRR train, IR 1687, departs from Bucharest North at 11:30, arriving in Constanța at 13:47. The return, IR 1688, departs from Constanța at 15:25, arriving in Bucharest North at 17:49.

From April 17, 2025, an additional pair of PNRR trains is scheduled to operate on the Bucharest North – Constanța and return route.

The 4 PNRR-funded trains will run daily on this route, including during the Holy Easter Holidays and the May 1st mini-holiday, according to a press release. The first-class carriages have a seating capacity of 52, and are capable of running at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The second-class carriages seat 64 people.

Subsequently, depending on the delivery of modernized rolling stock through the PNRR by the contracted companies, as well as the provisions of the Public Service Contract concluded by CFR Călători with the Railway Reform Authority, these types of completed locomotives and carriages will be predominantly assigned to IC train compositions, without excluding their operation on IR trains and other routes such as: Brașov, Arad, Cluj, Iași, Galați, Timișoara, etc.

In December 2023, CFR Călători signed a financing contract under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to modernize 55 electric locomotives intended for towing passenger trains, the conversion of 20 hydraulic diesel shunting locomotives into electric battery-powered locomotives, and modernization of 139 passenger carriages. The project is worth RON 2 billion or EUR 417 million.

(Photo source: Softronic on Facebook)