National Railway Company CFR SA has issued a notification for the cancellation from September 1 and October 1, respectively, of dozens of trains operated by passenger railway company CFR Calatori and Transferoviar, due to the debts accrued by the two with the infrastructure usage fee (TUI); the announcement marks a U-turn after the assurances given on Monday by the national operator that this won’t happen and the issue had been settled.

President of the Railway Reform Authority (ARF) Mihai Barbu too had declared on Monday that solutions had been identified so that the trains would not be canceled, however, the railway infrastructure administrator returned on Wednesday to the initial decision.

Tensions went up between CFR SA and CFR Calatori allegedly due to the fact that the national railway passenger carrier paid salaries two days early, while the infrastructure manager was out of money for salaries due to defaults on the TUI, as it wrote in the first notification on the train cancellations.

Contacted by AGERPRES on Thursday, Mihai Barbu said that he hopes CFR SA doesn’t follow through with the decision, as representatives of the three companies sat down for talks this morning as well.

„We disbursed RON 7.8 million to CFR Calatori and we still have to give them RON 29 million, which will flow in tomorrow or Monday, at the latest, because there’s an approval procedure with the Finance Ministry that has to be completed, as we moved a certain transfer earlier from the fourth to the third quarter. So, in the light of today’s discussion I think they understood that they have to sort out this problem,” Barbu specified.

The ARF head also explained that no one stands to gain from this blunt move, because this will lead to lower compensation for both operators, and also means less money from TUI.

„Lower compensation means less money for TUI, for electrification, that is, for the entire chain. So, no one gains from this, everyone loses, and ARF doesn’t save any money either, because it has to give it back to the state, it doesn’t get to keep it and it isn’t redistributed as compensation. At the end of the year, we calculate the kilometers traveled. The mileage will definitely be less if we strike off trains. If there are lesser travel distances, they have to return the money to the state. In other words, we all lose, because we have an allocated budget and we don’t use it, but on the other hand we lament that we need more money,” Mihai Barbu said.

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, CFR Calatori said that it is unable to duly pay the equivalent of the invoices for the infrastructure usage fee, in amount of RON 41.4 million, given that although it had to collect over RON 139 million from ARF for the payment of travel facilities and compensation for public service, since the August 24 meeting only RON 7.8 million had entered CFR Calatori’s accounts on 26.08.2025.

„If, in addition to the undercompensation of the passenger rail transport system, there are also delays in the payment of travel facilities granted to various social categories and compensation, we are practically unable to comply with the contractual commitments within the due dates. CFR Calatori apologizes to the traveling public for the inconveniences that may occur and does everything possible to limit their impact,” the company said.

AGERPRES