For the Republic of Moldova, the development and modernization of the railway infrastructure is a solution for attracting freight flows to the Europe-Asia axis. In order to increase the contribution of Moldova to the transport system, the authorities plan to encourage infrastructure investments and to align their policies to European standards so as to increase the share of railway transport. The timeframe 2013-2014 will thus witness the implementation of several projects.
Statistics on the situation of the freight volumes carried in January-May 2013 on railways in the Republic of Moldova show a 22.4% increase (1.67 million tonnes) compared to the same period last year. Compared to the other transport modes, railway traffic has recorded the highest growth. Due to the traffic growth tendencies, not only nationally but also internationally, the Moldovan authorities plan to increase their implication in the development of the railway system. “The recent trends of railway transport in the Republic of Moldova are promising for the development of railway transport and, according to estimates, there is a growth potential of 40% of the transport between Europe and Central Asia which makes us attract investments for the modernisation of infrastructure so as to face future demands”, declared Andrei Popov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in the Republic of Moldova, during the Moldovan Railway Summit, “Railway Connections between Europe and Asia”, organized by Moldovan Railways (CFM) and Club Feroviar on 6-7 June 2013 in Chişinău.
As regards investments, it would not be enough only to ensure a favourable legal framework, an important objective being to attract investments. “The railway project Chişinău – Ungheni demands investments worth EUR 300-400 Million, investments which have to ensure the return and the growth potential has to stimulate us to attract investments, especially foreign. Their allocation and support by the authorities and financial institutions for infrastructure projects are key elements that increase the share of railway transport, as well as the traffic and transit flow through the Republic of Moldova. In order to redirect traffic to railways, we have to allocate investments to railway infrastructure”, declared Popov.
The railway system development programme elaborated by the authorities includes modernisation projects for increasing speed, the introduction of quality standards and management in the market of rail transport services in order to ensure quality services, the adoption of a strategic plan for the modernisation of CFM, the attraction of strategic investors by implementing the PPP concept, the modernisation of rolling stock. Apart from these objectives, the authorities want to make sure that they have the conditions necessary to the development of Chişinău container handling terminal.
“Over the next period, the Ministry of Transport will focus on the development of intermodal transport and the maximum exploitation of the railway freight transport potential, as well as on attracting investments for rolling stock modernization. We will also initiate the introduction of opi-nion polls to have an improved perspective on ensuring a quality railway transport. The Ministry of Transport will support the railway modernization projects”, declared the new Minister of Transport, Vasile Botnari, during the summit.
To prioritise and develop railway transport, Moldova plans to align its strategies and policies to European standards. “Consolidating cooperation in the transport sector between the European Union, the Caucasus and Central Asia is vital for the harmonisation of the international transport system and of the standards thus helping improve transport efficiency. This is the reason why the Government of the Republic of Moldova supports the increasing interoperability of railway transport. Aligning our objectives depends on the implementation of the reform on the restructuring and mo-dernisation of the national railway system”, declared Andrei Popov.
He added that the country planned to implement CFM’s restructuring and modernisation process as fast as possible. “This means aligning the national standards and legislation to that of the EU, setting transport interoperability standards and encou-raging the market liberalisation, a key factor to the development of the entire railway system”, added Popov.
CFM’s restructuring programme has already been included in the government programme and is to be evaluated and adopted. The activity departments have already been set on three segments, infrastructure, freight transport and passenger transport and several guidelines are currently elaborated to avoid crossed costs and to ensure the independence of each segment.
CFM participates in international freight transport projects
As of 2012, the Republic of Moldova has implemented and has participated in programmes aimed to increase freight flows: as of November, CFM decided to collaborate within the container transport service “Zubr”, whose route is the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea axis. “As part of the project, the transport time is significantly reduced due to border crossing procedures, which is very important for our customers. Also, the transhipment tariff of the wines shipped from Moldova to Belarus, via Ukraine, has been reduced by 25%. As a proof of transport efficiency, several shipments have been organised in the first months of 2013 and the freight volume has also increased”, declared representatives of the company.
Another international project launched at the end of 2012 is implemented together with the railway companies in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine and concerns the organisation of container transport along corridor no. 12 of the OSJD organisation (Moldova-Romania-Bulgaria route, 1,461 km). One of the most important benefits of the project is the significant reduction of time and costs. Compared to maritime transport, the train reached destination 2 weeks earlier and the cost of the transport was 12% lower than that of maritime transport.
Over the next period, CFM plans to expand freight transport routes by participating in the Viking project which ensures traffic between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea on the route Iljichevsk/Odessa (Ukraine)- Berezhest (Ukraine) – Slovechno (Belarus)-Minsk-Gudogai (Belarus) – Kena (Lithuania)-Klaipeda (Lithuania). CFM will benefit from this service by increasing freight flows, especially due to its increasing importance and scope which has also increased freight flows (10 years after launching the service, the volume of carried goods increased 100 times).
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