Romanian rail freight traffic also falls victim to heavy rainfall

The heavy rainfall in Central and Eastern Europe has not spared Romanian rail freight. Traffic has either been suspended or is severely limited in various parts of the country.

Notably, a five-kilometre stretch of the railway between Galați and Bârlad, in the northeast of Romania, has been destroyed. It is unclear when repairs on the railway can begin, writes Romanian publication G4Media.

“Railway traffic in the counties of southern and eastern Romania (Iași, Craiova and Galați) was affected by the heavy rains”, according to Simona Istrate, president of Romanian private rail association OPSFPR. “Traffic is carried out with speed restrictions of 20 – 30 km/hour. There are areas where traffic has been stopped”, she explains. According to her, the impact of the floodings reflect the underfunding of the Romanian rail network.

Meanwhile, ÖBB’s Rail Cargo Group also reports problems with its rail freight operations in Romania. “The ÖBB Rail Cargo Group is also affected by flooding in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, where entire corridors are no longer passable due to flooding and mudslides”, the company says.