Moldovan national rail company Calea Ferată din Moldova (CFM) has signed a 45-million Euros agreement with GE Transportation for the supply of twelve diesel locomotives. The units will mostly be used for freight operations. The first unit will be delivered to the country beginning of 2020. The deal was financed by EBRD and EIB.

The new locomotives will replace the old Soviet-made ones with an age of more than forty years. The 2,982-kilowatt units of GE will run all around the country pulling both passenger and freight trains. According to director of CFM Iurie Topală, the new locomotives will be used mostly for freight operations.

“We are glad that Moldova has chosen our product. We believe that it will be a significant contribution to the economy of the country,” said the commercial leader of GE Transportation Sinan Haseki. It is expected that the US company will deliver to Moldova TE33A diesel locomotives, commonly used in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian former Soviet republics.

Moldova railway network

Besides the purchase of locomotives, CFM intends to implement several other investment projects. Thus, 55 million Euros will be deployed for the reconstruction of the Bender – Basarabeasca – Etulia – Giurgiulesti line that is crucial for Giurgiulesti port, Moldova’s single harbour on the Danube. To improve the rail connection of Giurgiulesti port, the Cahul – Giurgiulesti line was launched in August 2008. However, it is not suitable for rail operations due to violations of construction standards.

Moldova has a 1,232-kilometre single-track non-electrified railway network. Therefore, CFM uses only diesel locomotives and diesel multiple units (DMUs). It was in 2012 when CFM modernised its rolling stock. Romanian company Remar, part of Grup Feroviar Român, upgraded 5 four-car DMUs D1 built by Hungarian producer Ganz-MAVAG between 1960 and 1980. The modernised DMUs run on the national lines as well as on the international lines to Odesa, Ukraine, and Iași, Romania.