Via Terra to enter passenger segment

Cluj-based Via Terra Group, a railway freight carrier, will enter the passenger transport segment this year. Representatives of the group are currently in talks with officials of the German Railway Company to buy self-propelled trains. “According to our lease signed with the Romanian Railway Company (CFR), we are obliged to provide the entire range of services on the two railway sections we operate, from freight transport and infrastructure activities to passenger transport. We hope that as of this year current legislation will afford us the same terms as it does CFR, which benefits from subsidies for the passenger segment,” Iulian Gaga, Via Terra general manager, told ZF Transilvania. He did not specify the value of investments in the project. Via Terra rented 200 kilometres of non-interoperable railway from CFR in 2004, part of which is located in Bihor County, with the other area between Alba and Harghita Counties. ZF