CFR Călători: Profit above passengers' needs?

Approximately 240 trains were suspended by the management of CFR Călători, i.e. 20% of the company's total daily trains (1200 trains throughout the country), Traian Preoteasa, the general director of the company, announced yesterday, during a press conference, who tried to justify the measure by stating that the trains in question "were running with two or three passengers" and that this resulted in savings of over 25 million lei in a single month (January 2025).

"Last year was the first year in the last ten in which CFR Călători recorded a financial profit of 15 million lei. Until last year, the company had only losses. The budget will no longer be drawn up at a loss. Whether we like it or not, the cancellation of student facilities costs us 200-225 million lei in the 2025 budget, which we no longer have, and we must either find income elsewhere or reduce expenses. The fact that Minister Sorin Grindeanu understood that we need real compensation and in 2025, the compensation amounts to 2.15 billion lei, which represents 90% of our request, helped us a lot," said Traian Preoteasa.

From the statement of the general director of CFR Călători and the measure of suspending 240 trains, we note that the current management team of the company in question is considering making a profit, even increasing it in the coming years, regardless of the dramatic consequences for vulnerable passengers, for residents of isolated areas and for the entire national railway network.

Regarding this aspect, the union members within the company drew our attention to the fact that many of the trains were artificially "emptied", through inefficient schedules and the lack of a strategy to attract passengers, and for the management of CFR Călători it was easier to order the suspension of the respective trains instead of taking real measures to improve rail transport. The unionists claim that following the measures ordered by the management of CFR Călători, there will be citizens who will resort to other means of public transport to reach their workplaces, hospitals or educational institutions.

Traian Preoteasa insisted in the press conference that the respective trains are "suspended" and not "cancelled", suggesting that they could be reintroduced into circulation. However, the conditions for their return are, de facto, impossible to meet. In order for a train to be put back into service, local authorities must demonstrate that there are "20 or 30 passengers" on that route or, in the most "generous" scenario, "at least 10 passengers". Essentially, CFR Călători is asking that passengers organize themselves and convince the company that they deserve to be transported, instead of this responsibility naturally belonging to a public transport operator.

The suspension of the respective trains also led to a reduction in overtime hours on weekends for some train drivers, hours that in some cases were paid with a 300% increase, according to the head of CFR Călători, who claims that an average gross monthly income of a train driver thus reached 22,000 lei, while a maximum gross monthly income of a driver amounted to 30,000 lei. Following the cancellation or reduction of weekend overtime worked by them, Traian Preoteasa claims that at the moment the company is achieving a monthly saving of 4000 lei for each of the 1500 locomotive drivers that CFR Călători has, of which 100 cumulate their pension with the salary collected by the state-owned railway operator. However, the decrease in their income is quite significant for most of the drivers, because not all of them have average or maximum incomes. However, if from a minimum income of under 10,000 or 9,000 lei, you lose 4000 lei, the salary conditions are different and no longer seem as attractive as the general director of CFR Călători presents them.

Traian Preoteasa also spoke about the modernization of trains through the PNRR program, but he did not mention anything about the conditions in which passengers are forced to stay. While some trains are suspended, the manager of CFR Călători has not found solutions to supplement the trains in traffic during the weekend on the roads from the Capital to Constanţa and Braşov, a period in which the respective trains are overcrowded. Not to mention the harsh hygiene conditions on CFR Călători trains. The company's management has probably chosen to sacrifice for profit even the comfort of passengers who board the state railway operator's trains.