CFR to shed 15,000 more jobs

The personnel employed by CFR (Romanian Railway Company) will be cut from about 70,000 to some 55,000 as part of the streamlining and computerisation programme that might end in 2007-2008. “As soon as the restructuring programme of the railway sector that includes the three companies (CFR Calatori – passenger carrier, CFR Marfa – commodities carrier and CFR Infrastructura – rail infrastructure) is completed, only 55,000 employees out of the about 70,000 at the moment should be left. This means catching up with other countries we compare against in terms of productivity, railway development or modernisation. This is not an easy job to do,” Traian Panait, state secretary with the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism told Ziarul Financiar. A number of 15,620 employees were made redundant in 2003, with 8,000 to be laid off this year. ZF