Timisoara, a city in western Romania, is planning to allot RON 145,000 (EUR 31,182) of this year’s budget to a pre-feasibility study for a “metro-type public transport system.”  The metro would link the Timisoara International Airport to the city’s Calea Sagului street, Mediafax reported.

Last year, Cluj-Napoca, also in western Romania, decided to start a pre-feasibility study to learn more about the costs of a metro project and potential financing sources.

The Timisoara metro line could have at least five stations, according to Timisoara City Hall representatives, quoted by Mediafax.

A few years ago, Timisoara mayor Nicolae Robu spoke of a potential metro line constructed by burying the train lines in the city. The idea was dropped after the state-owned railway operator CFR announced that the train lines in the city would be doubled as part of an EU-funded project.

The Timisoara City Hall has a budget of some EUR 300 million for 2018.

The Timisoara International Airport reported a 40% year-on-year increase in passenger traffic in 2017, to over 1.6 million people.

The capital Bucharest is the only city in Romania to have a metro network. The works on the Bucharest subway’s line 5 are currently underway. This is one of the biggest infrastructure projects financed with EU funds. At the beginning of February, the European anti-fraud office OLAF carried out a three-day control at Metrorex, the operator of the Bucharest. The control targeted the construction of this line.

editor@romania-insider.com