Alstom has won a contract to modernise the Caransebeș-Lugoj railway line in Romania, equipping it with both new ERTMS Level 2 signalling technology and electrification infrastructure and providing digital train control solutions.
Alstom is part of the Asocierea RailWorks consortium, which signed the contract. Other consortium members are the Romanian civil works companies Arcada Company and Euroconstruct Trading ’98, with CFR SA, the state rail infrastructure manager, as partner.
The funding for the contract, which has an implementation period – covering both design and execution – of 42 months, will come from Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The project aims to improve the capacity, energy efficiency and service reliability on the line.
“This new contract consolidates Alstom's leading position on the Romanian railway market, for both signalling and electrification. Over the past years, Bucharest has become a strategic centre for Alstom’s signalling proficiency, hosting a team of over 200 highly qualified engineers, whose expertise supports both our local and our international projects.”
The first lot of works on the Caransebeș-Lugoj-Timisoara line covers 39.56km. The modernisation works will allow the entire line to become double track. Alstom specifically will oversee the ERTMS Level 2 deployment, implementation of the digital interlocking and passenger information systems and the electrification works, including power supply and overhead wires. Once these works are completed, the route will have a new maximum line speed of 160km/h for passenger trains and 120km/h for freight trains.
As part of the electrification component, Alstom will upgrade the traction power station in Caransebes and will use its OCS3 catenary solution for main lines from its manufacturing facility in Lecco, Italy.
Arcada Company and Euroconstruct Trading ’98 will be responsible for all civil works.
Alstom is active in other rail projects in Romania. For example, it is part of the consortium building the second metro system in the country, in the city of Cluj-Napoca, which will be the first fully automated metro line in Romania.
