Romanian Freight Rail Company Sheds Staff

Romania’s state-run rail freight carrier, CFR Marfa, is to start laying off around 2,500 employees this week in order to cut costs.

The process of shedding about a third of the company staff will be completed by end-July. Currently, around 8,500 people work for CFR Marfa.

Officials say firing people is a tough, but inevitable move. “The advance notices are already given, all legal steps being followed. We don’t have any other option, or the company will not have any money for salaries in August,” Ion Soare, CFR Marfa director, said.

The employees about to be made redundant will receive between 12 and 24 severance payments worth a maximum of 1,625 lei per month (some 370 euro).

Romania has cut jobs at CFR Marfa following a restructuring plan agreed with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

A sharp fall in the number of people traveling by train and lack of money to improve the lines are among the main reasons behind the decision to slash the number of railway workers and close almost half of the network.

A government memorandum issued in June on “increasing efficiency in the country’s railway system” includes such drastic measures as eliminating 4,000km of line, reducing the network to just 6,200km.

The line closures will relieve the National Railway Company, CFR, of the burden of expensive investments and repairs and the CFR will use the extra money to update those parts of the rail network that handle the most passenger and cargo traffic.

With around 10,777 km of railways, Romania has one of the largest rail networks in Europe, but it is far from the state-of-art infrastructure seen in parts of Western Europe.

Much of the network requires urgent modernisation as trains run at low speeds...