DB Engineering & Consulting, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, has won a procurement to design and construct the rail link to Bucharest airport, the largest in Romania. The project will be implemented in a partnership with Romanian partners – Arcada Company and Institute for Studies and Railways (ISPCF) for 398.16 million Lei without VAT (around 84.4 million Euros).

The consortium was selected as a contractor for the project ‘Modernization of the Bucharest North – Henri Coandă International Airport railway, Phase I: rail connection to the Terminal T1 of Henri Coandă International Airport (design and construction)’. It includes the construction of the 2.95-kilometre double-track railway, the 1.52-kilometre viaduct over the DN1 highway, three culverts, passenger train station at Terminal T1 and installation of the interlocking system on the route. The line will be designed in two months, while the building works will take 12 months.

Mogoşoaia – Baloteşti section

The Bucharest airport rail link also includes the other project – construction of the second track on the Mogoşoaia – Baloteşti section that runs close to the airport. This procurement was won by PORR Construct, a subsidiary of the Austrian-based PORR Group focused on the construction business. The contract is valued at 50.5 million Lei (around 10.7 million Euros), it was signed in April. 17 months are needed to complete the project.

Airports without rails

Currently, Romania operates 16 airports. None of them is connected with the adjacent city by rail. However, several Romanian airports are situated very close to the railway lines. The passenger terminal of Cluj Napoca airport, the second largest in the country, is situated less 250 metres from the rail track and separated from it by the highway and storage facilities of logistics companies. Timișoara airport, the third largest in Romania, faces the same problem. Its terminal is located around 1.6 kilometres from the railway.

Several other airports also have good options for the development of rail links. To do this, they need to increase passenger traffic. Only four Romanian airports handle more than 1 million passengers a year: Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Timișoara and Iași.