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AKTOR signs €573 million railway project in Romania
AKTOR signed a contract for a €573 million (excluding VAT) railway project in Romania, as leader (60%) of a consortium with ALSTOM (20%) and ARCADA (20%), a statement sent to ACTMedia informs.
The contract was signed on Tuesday, September 22, in Bucharest, between the General Director of the National Railway Company of Romania (CFR) Mr. Ioan Pintea and the CEO of AKTOR Mr. Alexandros Exarchou, in a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Ludovic Orban, the Romanian Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, Mr. Lucian Bode, the Regional Director of AKTOR, Mr. Paris Kallitsantsis, and representatives of the consortium.
The project concerns the rehabilitation and upgrade of the “Apata – Cata” section of the “Brasov – Simeria” railway line, which is part of the Rhine – Danube European Transport Corridor.
The project provides for the execution of a wide range of railway works for the modernization of the already electrified line at the level of infrastructure and suprastructure, including new construction works (railway bridges, tunnels and sewerage). In addition, it includes works for the rehabilitation of the existing line, the reconstruction of three stations, the modernization of the local intersections, electrification, as well as the upgrade of the signaling and communication systems.
The most important part of the project is the construction of two twin tunnels, with a total length of 24 km, which will be constructed using four full tunnel boring machines (EPB-TBM), with an excavation diameter of 9.80 m.
Completion of works within a 48-month period, according to the contractual timetable, will allow freight and passenger trains to operate at a maximum speed of 120 km/h and 160 km/h respectively, in accordance with the most up-to-date European specifications, while the overall length of the railway section will be reduced from 44 km today to 28.2 km.
It is reminded that this is the third section of the “Brasov – Simeria” railway line that ELLAKTOR Group’s subsidiary undertakes, as in June 2019, AKTOR had been also awarded with the contract for the upgrade of the two adjacent sections of “Brasov – Apata” and “Cata – Sighisoara”, with a total budget of €627 million ((excluding VAT).
According to Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, Romania will use European funds to rebuild all the important railways in the country.
He participated, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Transport, in the signing of the agreement for the rehabilitation of the Brasov-Simeria railway line, part of the Rhine - Danube Corridor, for the maximum speed of 160 km/h, the Brasov-Sighisoara section, and the 2 Apata-Cata subsection.
"With the signing of the agreement for this section, we have basically signed the construction agreement for all the railway sections on the main pan-European corridor, the connection between Brasov and Curtici. From the pan-European Corridor IV, from Constanta to Curtici, it remains only one section to be built, the Predeal-Brasov section. All the other sections have either been finalized or under construction, and I am talking now about the modernization of the railway to reach European standards, allowing speeds up to 160 km/h in the case of passenger trains and up to 120 km/h for the transport of goods, on a double, electrified line," said the Prime Minister.
According to Orban, this section is an "extremely complicated" one, with a high value. "We will take advantage of the massive funding that Romania will benefit from in the next period and our goal is to rehabilitate all the important railway routes," he said.
The Prime Minister stated that, regarding the railway route on the Pan-European Corridor IX, from Ploiesti to the eastern border, there are already agreements in place for the production of technical and economic documentation for all sections.
"We will introduce them in the multiannual financial year because there is a priority at European level in terms of transport strategy, rail transport being considered a priority transport because it provides safety, speed and is environmentally friendly. Also on the section. Bucharest-Craiova-Turnu Severin-Caransebes-Timisoara-Arad railway, except for the Bucharest- Craiova section, we are in the phase of issuing the technical-economic documentation on all sections, from Craiova to the western border, and the most advanced sections "This part of the railway will also be modernized to the standards we want," said Ludovic Orban.
He added that the auction procedure is underway, after the approval of the technical-economic documentation, for the signing of the design and construction agreement on the section Cluj Napoca-Oradea-Episcopia Bihor, which will aim at modernization and electrification.
The government is also considering the connection between Bucharest and Giurgiu, through the reconstruction of the Gradita Bridge on a new route, Orban added.
"The sign of the impotence of the previous governments is the Gradistea Bridge, which was destroyed by floods, if I remember correctly, and which has not been repaired until today. We are considering the rebuilding of the Gradistea Bridge, of course, on a new route, which resulted from the technical-economic documentation, so as to ensure the direct connection between Giurgiu and Bucharest, I hope, in this financial year, that CFR SA will be equipped with technological trains so that we can have the ability to make repairs on routes that are not necessarily on the rail corridors. The certainty is that the development of railway infrastructure is a priority for us, and the railway must become what it once was, support for economic development, as are all the others. investment in infrastructure" said Prime Minister Orban.