CFR SA acknowledges that trains are traveling more slowly amid deteriorating railway infrastructure and insufficient funding

Riana Gegiu

9 November 2026, 15:10

Current Affairs

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Train journeys in Romania currently take longer than they did before 1989, amid deteriorating railway infrastructure and insufficient funding for maintaining and repairing the network. The situation was acknowledged by Ion Simu, CFR SA’s director general, during a press conference.

According to him, the company receives less than half of the funds it requests annually from the state budget for maintenance works. The lack of funding has led over time to the deterioration of the railway, the imposition of speed restrictions and longer journey times. Passengers experience these problems both through longer trips and reduced comfort.

CFR SA is currently carrying out modernization projects worth more than 24 billion lei, excluding VAT. The works may temporarily slow trains on sections under construction, as it is not possible to carry out extensive interventions while also maintaining high speeds.

Ion Simu identified European funds as one of the main sources of modernization financing, but funding for routine maintenance remains a problem for the company.

Context: before the deterioration of the infrastructure was acknowledged, officials and trade unions were already discussing financial bottlenecks and measures to reduce delays

Before the statements about increased travel times, the trade unions had warned that rail transport could be reduced or even halted because of a lack of funds for maintenance, repairs, energy, and operating expenses. At the same time, the National Railway Movement Commercial Wagons Federation called for urgent intervention by the Ministry of Transport and reported that CFR Marfă employees allegedly had not received their salaries for four months.

Regarding planning, interim Transport Minister Radu Miruță announced that CFR would publish monthly data on train delays and their causes, including infrastructure-related ones, in the context of the Letter of Expectations for the CFR SA Board of Directors (2027–2031 term). He also spoke about an annual program to eliminate speed restrictions on important routes, such as Bucharest–Constanța and Bucharest–Brașov, as well as the introduction of the principle “whoever causes the delay pays.”

At the same time, the minister said that the state of rail transport was “twice as bad” as it had been 10 years ago and mentioned the adoption of a railway infrastructure development strategy for 2026–2030, with objectives related to reducing delays.