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Infrastructure : Belgium to support upgrading Bucharest North Station under public-private partnership
Belgium will support Romania developing the North Station of Bucharest City under the first infrastructure public-private partnership in Romania.
The Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) reports that Transport Minister Ovidiu Silaghi welcomed Belgium ambassador in Bucharest Philippe Beke to discuss the partnership.
At the meeting, the minister voiced the interest of the ministry and the CFR SA national railway corporation of Romania in continuing a beneficial cooperation partnership in the field of infrastructure works for the upgrading, rehabilitation and expansion of the railway infrastructure in the Bucharest area, including the North Station Complex and truing the North Station into a modern European railway concept.
Talks also focused on the implementation measures to be taken so that the partnership may allow the development of a viable project that will provide modern travelling and transiting conditions that will boost the revenues of CFR.
'The Bucharest North Complex is the most important railway hub that facilitates linkage to the pan-European transport corridors and by upgrading the North Station we will be bringing a significant contribution to the development and modernisation of the transport infreastructure around the city. By continuing cooperation with Belgium to upgrade the North Station, we are expressing our determination to carry through this major project that will live up to the European standards for traveller's accessibility,' Minister Silaghi told the meting.
In September 2011, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Bucharest between the ministry and the Belgium Ministry of Mobility concerning cooperation in infrastructure works for the modernisation, rehabilitation and expansion of the railway infrastructure around Bucharest City, including the North Station Complex, the most important station in the Romanian sector of the pan-European Railway Transport Corridors IV and IX.
The document provides for the upgrading of the railway infrastructure of Bucharest City and linking the North Station to the South Station and the Obor Station via a tunnel.
A Romanian-Belgian company to be set up in 2012 will take care of the project design and funding.