AKTOR signs €573 million railway project in Romania

AKTOR signed a contract for a €573 million (excluding VAT) railway project in Romania, as leader (60%) of a consortium with ALSTOM (20%) and ARCADA (20%).

The contract was signed on Tuesday, September 22, in Bucharest, between the General Director of the National Railway Company of Romania (CFR) Mr. Ioan Pintea and the CEO of AKTOR Mr. Alexandros Exarchou, in a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Romania, Mr. Ludovic Orban, the Romanian Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, Mr. Lucian Bode, the Regional Director of AKTOR, Mr. Paris Kallitsantsis, and representatives of the consortium.

The project concerns the rehabilitation and upgrade of the “Apata – Cata” section of the “Brasov – Simeria” railway line, which is part of the Rhine – Danube European Transport Corridor.

The project provides for the execution of a wide range of railway works for the modernization of the already electrified line at the level of infrastructure and suprastructure, including new construction works (railway bridges, tunnels and sewerage). In addition, it includes works for the rehabilitation of the existing line, the reconstruction of three stations, the modernization of the local intersections, electrification, as well as the upgrade of the signaling and communication systems.

The most important part of the project is the construction of two twin tunnels, with a total length of 24 km, which will be constructed using four full tunnel boring machines (EPB-TBM), with an excavation diameter of 9.80 m.

Completion of works within a 48-month period, according to the contractual timetable, will allow freight and passenger trains to operate at a maximum speed of 120 km/h and 160 km/h respectively, in accordance with the most up-to-date European specifications, while the overall length of the railway section will be reduced from 44 km today to 28.2 km.

It is reminded that this is the third section of the “Brasov – Simeria” railway line that ELLAKTOR Group’s subsidiary undertakes, as in June 2019, AKTOR had been also awarded with the contract for the upgrade of the two adjacent sections of “Brasov – Apata” and “Cata – Sighisoara”, with a total budget of €627 million ((excluding VAT).