RSS
Infrastructure: Carpatica Feroviar set up: We want a fresh start for railway gods transport in Romania
Carpatica Feroviar, which will be in operation as of 2025 according to plans, represents a fresh start for railway goods transport in Romania, because a company with a debt over 4 billion lei, as CFR Marfa, cannot develop, said Ionut Cristian Savoiu, secretary of state in the Ministry of Transports and Infrastructure, on Thursday.
“The new company starts with a full state capital. We had talks on two variants with the Commission. One with the participation of strategic investors or stock exchange listings, which means 25% of company capital. Obviously listing requires preparation which means about two years,” said the secretary of state.
Carpatica Feroviar will have the same kind of business as CFR Marfa had, but it will not be able to take over the active stock automatically, but will be purchased through legal procedures.
The setup and accreditation period of the new company is 6 months after the publication of the Government Decision in the Official Monitor.
“Our optimistic scenario shows that in 2025 we might have Carpatica Feroviar functional after being set up in 2024,”he pointed out.
After the setting up of Carpatica Feroviar, CFR Marfa must liquidate its patrimony, which has been blocked by ANAF, and must pay the debt it owns to CFR SA for the state aid.
The secretary of state added that 3,300 employees from CFR Marfa would be taken over by Carpatica Feroviar.
According to the Substatiation Note accompanying the draft Government Decision, the company will have to ensure strategic transports of the Romanian state, accounting for the risk of refusal from private transport companies to carry out certain railroad transports or even their impossibility of taking them over in crisis situations.
The new company will carry out activities of strategic interest – taking into account Romania's international partnerships and the need to cover transports of goods in situations of crisis and commercial interest- as it is a company with state capital, se up from its own sources, which will transport goods, thus completing demands of the railway transport market.