Starting next week, electric traction trains run by passenger public service operator CFR Calatori may be banned from circulating on the national railway network due to the arrears piled up by the company to railway power supplier Electrificare CFR SA, as old as end-March 2025, shows a notification issued on September 29 by the electricity provider.
Thus, according to the cited document, starting with October 7, the power supply will be cut off by disallowing the access of the electric traction units belonging to SNTFC CFR Calatori SA to the electrified railway infrastructure.
In this context, the president of the Federation of Romania's Railway Company Unions, Rodrigo Maxim, proposed on Wednesday in the plenary session of the Economic and Social Council an unfavorable opinion for the draft Government Emergency Ordinance on the adjustment of the 2025 state budget, which "destroys the railway system".
The union leader argued that the budget adjustment leaves CFR Calatori with even less than the RON 270 million overdue from travel facilities, from the service provided by the company, given that the railway carrier received in 2025 a compensation 30% lower than in the previous year, which forced it to axe 247 daily passenger trains and 44 passenger trains running on weekends and public holidays.
Moreover, the union leader cautions that "although the railway transport sector under the authority of the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry is in a disastrous situation, as the Ministry will be left without freight railway carrier CFR Marfa, without the CFR hospitals, and CFR Calatori will be out of wage funds starting with October and without money for the infrastructure usage fee," the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry doles out 2 billion at the budget adjustment of October 2025.
The unionist also warned on Tuesday, in Parliament, in a public debate on the topic of transport, that "probably in the immediate future we will see the definitive halt of work on the railway".
In a statement on Wednesday, CFR Calatori blames the Railway Reform Authority (ARF) for the situation, indicating that the authority owes it approximately RON 135 million in service facilities and discounts, causing the cash-strapped company major disruptions.
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