Traian Preoteasa blames ARF: 30 million lei missing from CFR Călători's revenues

The Railway Reform Authority (ARF) signed an addendum with Alstom last year, establishing a new delivery schedule for Coradia trains, which should have reached the state passenger rail operator as early as 2024, Traian Preoteasa, the general director of CFR Călători, said recently in a press conference. He stated that, due to the delay in the delivery of the trains, CFR Călători would have recorded an operational financial loss of 30 million lei, an amount that it intends to recover from ARF, through a lawsuit that it will open in court.

Traian Preoteasa stated: "We held tenders to award the frames. We signed a contract with ARF in December 2023, in which we had a delivery schedule. We were supposed to have the 12 frames in February 2024. It is the contract signed by ARF with Alstom. A year has passed. We have not taken over any frames. (...) If we had the 12 frames, I don't want to do a calculation with maximum load on the Bucharest - Constanţa - Braşov route, where these trains run, I did it from a calculation, like this..., there is a minus of non-collection of about 30 million lei. We will file a complaint in court and sue ARF, and if the Romanian state allows itself to pay these penalties to me and not recover them from those who created this damage, namely from Alstom, it is none of my business. In return, also in mid-December, an addendum was signed between ARF and Alstom, which completely modified the frame delivery schedule. So, the ARF signs an addendum in which it modifies the delivery schedule and I am told that all the frames come in 2025. Basically, what did you do with this addendum? You canceled all the penalties that were to be invoiced in 2023 - 2024. Once the delivery schedule is modified, these penalties automatically fall. I have a document also signed by the ARF, which states that "it can be considered that an obvious advantage was created at Alstom Ferroviaria SPA and Alstom Transport in a way that was not provided for in the initial contract, as it had the possibility to deliver the interregional electric frames in a much longer period than the one offered and the maximum allowed by the ARF through the specifications, which are listed in the initial conditions and award procedures". So, these are documents of the ARF: where it once signed a new delivery schedule and which exceeds 31 months from the date of award, it is considered non-compliant. Initially, Alstom said it would deliver, but now it has already reached 36 months, so it did not have this opinion from the start. (...) They have already fallen behind on the new schedule. One (ed. - one frame) was supposed to arrive in December. We are in February. I saw that it entered Romania, it is with them. I think the schedule is fulfilled when the train reaches us, not when it enters them. So, one was supposed to arrive in November, let's say it is the one we left with, one in December, it did not happen, one in March, two in April, four in May, three in June. At this time, we have not taken over any frame from Alstom.

Regarding the additional act concluded by ARF, Sorin Grindeanu, the Minister of Transport, declared yesterday at the Palace of Parliament that he was not aware of the conclusion of this document, but specified that the new delivery schedule for the Coradia trains does not contradict the penalties that Alstom will have to pay to ARF for the late fulfillment of its contractual obligations. Sorin Grindeanu said that if Alstom refuses to pay the late payment penalties for the failure to deliver the trains stipulated in the contract on time, ARF will sue the company, and expects to win in court, as happened recently with the penalties owed by the French company in the Metrorex case.

According to the general director of CFR Călători, no train has been officially taken over by the state railway operator, the only Coradia train in circulation, being operated "in convention", with only one round trip per day on the Bucharest-Braşov route, after which it is withdrawn to the Alstom depot for "small problems to be fixed".