Train in Romania fills with snow after floor breaks, transport minister reacts

The passengers of the only train running between Alexandria and Zimnicea, in Teleorman county, went through terrible moments on Monday, February 26, when the floor of the train’s only wagon broke and the train was filled with snow. The incident occurred amid an alert of extremely cold weather and blizzard. The passengers are now thinking of suing the railway company CFR Calatori, according to local Digi24. A woman posted photos from the train on her Facebook page.

Transport minister Lucian Sova also reacted to this incident, which he described as “unfortunate.” He said such incidents could be repeated, especially because CFR Calatori is currently facing a serious shortage of train wagons. “I am now working to find a solution, given that over 400 wagons have unresolved repair or maintenance norms, which was one of the reasons why the company wanted to reduce the number of trains,” Sova said, local Digi24 reported. “We have managed to prevent the reduction of a large number of trains, more than 80 out of 96, but unfortunately the consequences of negligent management over the last years in terms of rolling stock repair activities produce such effects that, of course, I have to manage now,” he added. Lucian Sova took over as transport minister in January this year, being part of the government led by Romania’s new prime minister Viorica Dancila. Unfortunately, this was not the only incident involving poor conditions in trains. On Sunday evening, the doors of a train going to Craiova were not closed properly and so the snow entered the train. The snow and blizzard also affected the rail traffic, with dozens of trains canceled on Tuesday, February 27. The list of trains can be found here. The highway connecting Bucharest to the Black Sea port of Constanta and 25 national roads in southern Romania were closed on Tuesday morning due to the blizzard. Romania’s weather service ANM may extend the cold weather warning until March 2, as the temperatures will remain very low until Thursday. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com