The European funds are coming after the European Commission declared the new subway section project eligible, its cost totaling EUR 172 M, VAT not included.
The new subway section will be an expansion of Mainline 4, Connecting Line 2 – Gara de Nord – Park Bazilescu, and will link the northwest neighborhoods with Gara Basarab, Gara de Nord and the downtown area.
The works will be handled by Italy’s Astaldi company, which is also in charge of the works on Mainline 5 Drumul Taberei – Eroilor, economica.net informs.
Apart from financing the new section, the European Commission will also offer money for a series of modernization works.
“In the case of Mainline 2 Pipera – Berceni, we have been declared eligible for financing of EUR 409 M, VAT not included, for the modernization of subway stations, the purchase of rolling stock, the replacement of the subway line, ventilation system, ceilings and so on. The work will start in December this year and will end in the second half of 2017. The funds for Mainline 2 include those for the purchase of the Spanish CAF trains, 16 trains in total, with the option to purchase an extra 8. The payment of these trains had previously been solely Metrorex’s task. The direction has already paid a quarter of the EUR 106 M contract, and the rest will be paid from non-reimbursable European funds. We can state that the purchase of CAF trains is being paid from European funds,” Metrorex director Aurel Radu explained for economica.net.
All Metrorex projects declared eligible for non-reimbursable European financing surpass EUR 1.5 bln in value.
The Bucharest Subway was inaugurated on December 19, 1979, with the opening of Mainline 1 and the start of traffic between the Semanatoarea and Timpuri Noi subway stations. The system is fully electrified and consists of four mainlines. The subway is almost entirely underground, the only surface station being located in Berceni neighborhood. The Bucharest subway network is operated by the Metrorex company.
At the end of 2011 the Bucharest subway had a length of 69.2 kilometers of double line, four mainlines and 51 stations, the average distance between two stations being of 1.5 kilometers. In the same year, the subway network represented only 4 per cent of the length of public transport in Bucharest but handled 20 per cent of the total volume of passengers.
The Bucharest Subway expansion projects include several new lines and extensions. Among them, the Drumul Taberei – Universitate section will have a length of over 9 kilometers. This section will be part of Mainline 5 (M5), which will connect Drumul Taberei and Pantelimon neighborhoods. Mainline 6 (M6) will link the 1 Mai neighborhood with the Otopeni Airport, its length being estimated at close to 16 kilometers. With the addition of these two lines the Bucharest subway network will surpass 100 kilometers in length. (source: nineoclock.ro)
