Trains operated by Romania’s railroad company totaled 6.6 years of delays in 2021

In 2021, passenger trains operated by CFR, Romania’s national railroad company, registered massive delays which, if they were to be added up, would equal roughly 3.5 million minutes, or 6 years and 6 months, Digi24 reported.

The delays registered last year are 1 year and 8 months longer than the ones in 2020. Nevertheless, they pale in comparison with the ones in 2018. That year, Romania’s passenger trains operated by the national railroad company registered 9 years of delays in total.

Poor infrastructure and aging trains are the usual culprits for such delays. The average speed with which trains traveled in Romania in 2021 was 45 km/h, slightly more than the average speed of a Tour de France cyclist, according to data from the Ministry of Transportation cited by Digi24. By comparison, passenger trains in Germany reach up to 230 km/h on conventional lines and 300 km/h on high-speed ones.

Slow and ridden with delays, traveling by train is nevertheless popular in Romania. Passengers in the country bought 55 million train tickets in 2021, roughly 5 million more than the year prior. 42 million tickets were with the national railroad company, which has a quasi-monopoly in the sector.

The same report from the Ministry of Transportation shows that CFR ended 2021 with losses of RON 8.84 mln (EUR 1.79 mln).

Private travel operators also registered delays of no less than 1.3 years in 2021.

1,478 passenger trains crossed Romania last year, and each train had an average delay of 3.48 minutes for every 100 km. The delays are worrying especially considering the fact that 2020 and 2021 were pandemic years with numerous traffic restrictions. Even so, both years registered longer delays than pre-pandemic ones: 6.1 years of delays in 2017, 4.8 in 2015, and 5.9 in 2014.

(Photo source: George Calin/Inquam Photos)