Transport in Romania

History

Romania has a system of large, navigable rivers, such as the Danube, Olt and Mureș that cross the country.

The first important human improvements were the Roman roads linking major settlements and providing quick passage for marching armies.

Railway transport

A fast-growing number of Romania's major cities have modern tram or light rail networks, including Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca Oradea. Recently the tram has seen a very big revival with many experiments such as ground level power supply in Oradea.

Roads and automotive transport

According to CIA Factbook, Romania total road network is estimated to be 198,817 km long, out of which 60,043 km are paved and 138,774 km (2004) are unpaved. The World Bank estimates that the road network that is outside of cities and communes (i.e. excluding streets and village roads) is about 78,000 km long.

Motorways

Motorways are identified by A followed by a number. As of July 2015, Romania has 696 km of motorway in use, with another 230 km under construction. In recent years, a master plan for the national motorway network has been developed and approved by the European Commission in July 2015.

Currently A1 Motorway, part of the Pan European IV Corridor the northern branch, with a length of 576.72 km has opened 353.38 km and under construction are the segments Timișoara—Lugoj 25.6 km and Lugoj—Deva 72.1 km, whereas Sibiu—Pitești 116.64 km is tendered.

A2 Motorway is the only motorway in Romania opened on all its segments, it has a length of 205 km.

A3 Motorway, which is the largest motorway project in Europe with a length of 588 km from Bucharest to Oradea (near the Hungarian border), has 107.6 km opened and also has under construction the 64 km segment between Oradea (Bors) and Suplacu de Barcău which has been re-auctioned after the contract with Bechtel was annulled, and now the works are in progress. Also Gilău—Nădășelu 8.7 km and Câmpia Turzii—Târgu Mureș 51.8 km the works are in progress, all three segments are due in 2016; the segment Nădășelu—Mihăiești 16.8 km is tendering and Bucharest bypass—Bucharest 6.5 km will be re-auctioned after the contract with Pizzarotti was cancelled; the remaining segments totaling 332.6 km are still in the planned phase, even though the segment Comarnic—Brașov 54 km might be tendered in the near future. The entire project is expected to be finished in 2018.

A4 Motorway also called Constanța bypass because it goes around the west side of the city. It has 22 km opened, from Ovidiu to Agigea, and also has 45 km planned, from Agigea to Vama Veche (at the border with Bulgaria).

A6 Motorway is also part of the Pan European IV Corridor like A1, but near Lugoj it starts the southern branch, that connects the cities of Sofia, Istanbul and Athens. It has a length of 270 km, of which 11.4 km between A1 and Lugoj bypass are opened.

A10 Motorway is the first motorway which will link two other motorways in Romania: A1 (near Sebeș) and A3 (near Turda). It has 70 km, and all segments are under construction and are due completion in 2016.

A11 Motorway is a 135 km motorway, the second to connect A1 with A3 this time between Arad and Oradea, of which a 2.4 km stretch near Arad called "Arad bypass" has been opened.

Statistics

According to europaworld.com, in 2004 in Romania there were:

In 2013, there were an estimated 4.5 million automobiles in Romania.

Metro

Bucharest is the only city in Romania which has an underground railway system, comprising both the Bucharest Metro and the light rail system of the Regia Autonomă de Transport București. Although construction was planned to begin in 1941, decades of delays meant the Bucharest Metro was only opened in 1979. It now forms the backbone of the Bucharest public transport network with an average of 800,000 passengers during the workweek. In total, the network is 67 km long and has 49 stations.

Proposals to build metros have been put forward for Cluj-Napocaand Timișoara

Air transport

The air traffic in Romania reached 15.9 million passengers in 2013, 7.1% more than the previous year.

The national carrier of Romania is TAROM, a full service airline which flies to 9 domestic destinations and 30 international destinations in 23 countries.

Airports

There are 61 airports in Romania (estimated as of 2006).

Water transport

Romanian companies operate over 700 ships of which 400 are registered in Romania. Romania's 110 shipping firms employ 12,500 personnel at sea and 15,500 on shore. Each year, 105 million tonnes of goods and 1 million passengers are transported by sea. Marine transport is responsible for 52% of Romania's imports and exports.

Ports

See also: Romanian river ports

Waterways

As of 2006, there are 1,731 km of navigable waterways of which:

In 2004, according to europaworld.com, 19 million passenger-km and 4 billion ton-km were carried through these waterways.

Merchant fleet

The merchant marine has seen a dramatic drop in capacity over the past decade:

These include: 13 cargo ships, 1 passenger ship, 2 passenger/cargo ships, 2 petroleum tankers, 1 roll-on/roll-off.

50 other ships are registered in other countries: Cambodia 1, Georgia 15, North Korea 6, Malta 10, Marshall Islands 1, Panama 8, Sierra Leone 2, Saint Kitts and Nevis 1, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1, Syria 4, Tuvalu 1, unknown 4.

International sea-borne freight traffic

Pipelines