Alstom has won a contract to modernise the Caransebeș-Lugoj railway in Romania, by installing new ERTMS Level 2 signalling and electrification.

CFR SA, the Romanian state rail infrastructure operator, issued the contract as part of Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and hopes that it will improve the railway’s capacity, energy efficiency, and service reliability.

To carry out the work, Alstom has formed Asocierea RailWorks consortium, in conjunction with Romanian civil works companies Arcada Company and Euroconstruct Trading ‘98. Alstom will provide digital train control, traffic management system and electrification infrastructure. Arcada and Euroconstruct will be responsible for civil works. The contract requires the consortium to design and implement the project within forty-two months.

Under the contract, the consortium will modernise the infrastructure and superstructure 39.56 kilometres railway line between the cities of Caransebeș in Caraș-Severin County and Lugoj in Timiș County. The modernisation will include electrification and updating signalling and telecommunication systems, and will result in the doubling of the line’s capacity.

Alstom will directly oversee the deployment of ERTMS Level 2, the implementation of the digital interlocking and passenger information systems, and the electrification works, including power supply and overhead power lines. Once the line is upgraded, passenger trains will be able to travel at speeds of up to 160 km/h and freight trains at speeds of up to 120 km/h.

Alstom will upgrade the Traction Power Station in Caransebes and will supply its OCS3 catenary system, using its manufacturing facility in Lecco, Italy, and its experience of OCS3 in commercial operation around the world.

Alstom has been active in Romania for nearly thirty years. It has installed signalling or electrification systems on the Northern branch of the Rhine-Danube railway corridor in and on two sections of the Cluj-Oradea railway line.

It is part of the consortium that is building the second metro system in Romania, in the city of Cluj-Napoca, the country’s first fully automated metro line.

Gabriel Stanciu, Alstom’s Managing Director for Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova, said, “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.”