The Romanian Government has approved the rehabilitation of the Pașcani – Dărmănești railway line

The project is estimated to cost nearly 1.3 billion euros in total and will take three years to complete. The Pașcani – Dărmănești line is part of Main Line 500, which runs from Bucharest Nord – Ploiești Sud – Buzău – Focșani – Mărășești – Adjud – Bacău – Pașcani – Verești – Suceava – Vicșani and is managed and operated by C.N.C.F. “C.F.R.” – S.A., through the Iași Regional Railway Branch.

The line has a total length of 68.8 km and is:

– A double-track and electrified line on the Pașcani – Suceava Nord segment, with a length of 62.74 km, representing 91% of the route.

– A single-track electrified line on the Suceava Nord – Dărmănești segment, with a length of 6.01 km, representing 9% of the route.

The maximum speed on this line, according to the 2020/2021 Passenger and Freight Train Schedules, is 71.3 km/h for passenger trains, while for freight trains it is 15.03 km/h.

The general objectives of the project implementation aim to:

• Improve the railway infrastructure parameters to increase the maximum speed to 120 km/h for freight trains and at least 160 km/h for passenger trains;
• Enhance Romania’s economic competitiveness by developing the transport infrastructure on the Pașcani – Dărmănești railway line, contributing to the development of the internal market with the goal of creating conditions for increased investment volume, promoting sustainable transport, and cohesion within the European railway network;
• Improve railway traffic safety and passenger comfort to attract more passengers to the railway segment;
• Reduce adverse environmental effects;
• Increase transit capacity.

To achieve these objectives, the following works will be carried out:

• Improving the railway track geometry by increasing the curve radius to achieve a maximum speed of 160 km/h (with the potential for future development to 200 km/h by only modifying the cant ramp where necessary) and equalizing the curve lengths at the ends of the circular curve, corresponding to a speed of 200 km/h;
• Rehabilitating or constructing bridges, culverts, and overpasses at the same or new locations;
• Systematizing stations and movement halts to ensure a useful length of 750m for reception-dispatch lines, installing track devices according to the designed speed level, and ensuring sufficient distance between tracks to accommodate platforms;
• Rehabilitating stopping points;
• Rehabilitating level crossings and equipping all level crossings with BAT installations;
• Rehabilitating electrification installations in stations to the new configurations and on the main line;
• Rehabilitating power supply installations;
• Installing switch heaters;
• Making arrangements in stations and movement halts for passenger access to/from trains and ensuring their protection (wide or standard platforms with a height of +0.55m above NSS, pedestrian bridges, protective fences, etc.);
• Equipping the 7 sectioning points with electronic centralization installations;
• Introducing the integrated line block system throughout the section;

Implementing the ERTMS – ETCS Level 2 safety system, including the GSM-R system.