Regio Călători

Regio Călători (former Regiotrans) is a private rail company headquartered in Brașov, Romania. It was founded in 2005[1] and is exclusively active in the passenger transport sector. At present Regiotrans run about 200 train services / day.

A typical Regiotrans diesel unit in Arad
A Regiotrans diesel unit in Dumbrăveni

On March 17, 2015, the Romanian Rail Safety Authority revoked the company's Part B safety certificate and the company ceased operations on all routes until further notice.[2] CFR, the national rail carrier has taken over (from March 18, 2015, for the time being) some of the routes; but not all, and those that CFR had taken on operated with a skeleton service. The sudden cessation of Regiotrans services, with virtually no notice, took many travellers by surprise; some passengers being stranded in fields. Their Regiotrans season tickets were honoured by CFR, but clearly only if CFR were providing an emergency replacement. A refund, however, was available for longer period season ticket holders.

Particularly in the Banat region, there were no alternative bus routes. Many villages and even substantial towns, therefore, had no practical public transport option. Services restarted on certain routes on the 1st April 2015, the company apparently having obtained the safety certificates following a fast track procedure ( "in regim de urgenta"). Further re-openings were effected in mid/late April 2015 (for example Ineu–Cermei), several routes, however, remain closed, following changes in the subsidy allocations and calculation' regulations, that occurred in March 2015.

The Company had been experiencing difficulties due to alleged subsidy corruption. Not the least problem faced by its major shareholders and directors, was the fact that a majority shareholder and joint senior executive, Costel Comana somehow managed, after taking drugs, to commit suicide by hanging himself with his shoelaces ("cu șireturile de la pantofi") in a toilet aboard an air flight between Columbia and Costa Rica. Comana had fled Romania for Brazil after the arrest of his co-chief executive (and joint owner of Regioalatori), Iorgu Ganea. Ganea had been arrested and faced prosecution regarding subsidy irregularities.[3]

Routes

Regiotrans primarily runs local trains. Many of the services (especially in the Banat)are very infrequent - with the service between Liebling and Jebel running just once a week until its withdrawal on 1 April 2015. Indeed, a number of services appear to have been withdrawn from this date, for example: http://www.regiotrans.ro/mersul--trenurilor-buzias-gataia-jamu-mare. Others lines have had their services drastically reduced: for example between Praid and Bălăușeri (on the line Praid–Blaj) there is now only one train per day in each direction which makes a round trip from Praid for any purpose impossible: http://www.regiotrans.ro/mersul--trenurilor-teius-blaj-tarnaveni-praid.

Rolling stock is mainly former SNCF Class X 4500 diesel multiple units and for long routes RIO / RIB multiple units with SNCF class BB 25500 push pull electric locomotives.

It is the only operator on several routes:

On other routes it operates alongside the public railway company CFR (usually with lower frequencies):

  • Brașov–Alba Iulia
  • Sibiu–Copşa Mică - Sighişoara
  • Alba Iulia–Cluj-Napoca never operated
  • Arad–Ineu–Brad (only section Arad to Santana is shared with CFR)

Regiotrans also have a few long distance trains:

  • Brașov–Bucuresti Nord
  • Brașov–Constanța seasonal
  • Brașov–Iași

and occasionally ReEgiotrans operated a tourist steam train, named Dracula Express,[4] between Brașov–Zărneşti and Brașov–Întorsura Buzăului.

References
  1. "Trei operatori feroviari au din nou acces pe şinele CFR". Curierul Național (in Romanian). Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  2. "Romania's RegioTrans suspends operations". International Railway Journal. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  3. "Regiotrans şi-a suspendat toate cursele" (in Romanian). March 17, 2015.
  4. ""Dracula Expres" pleaca din Brașov". România Liberă (in Romanian). Retrieved July 3, 2011.
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