Regio Călători, formerly Regiotrans and Feroviar Keolis, is a private rail company headquartered in Brașov, Romania. History
It was founded in 2005 and is exclusively active in the passenger transport sector. At present Regiotrans runs about 200 train services per day.
It originally operated as Feroviar Keolis, being rebranded Regiotrans after Keolis made a trademark claim.Keolis changes name Today's Railways Europe issue 137 May 2007 page 51
On 17 March 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. Căile Ferate Române (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 1 April 2015, the company apparently having obtained the safety certificates following a fast track procedure ("în regim de urgență"). 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 that a majority shareholder and joint senior executive, Costel Comana after taking drugs, committed suicide by hanging himself with his shoelaces in a toilet aboard a flight between Colombia 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.
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. 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.
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: Brașov–Zărnești Brașov–Întorsura Buzăului Sfântu Gheorghe–Brețcu Blaj–Praid Alba Iulia–Zlatna Bistrița Nord–Sărățel-Luduș Timișoara Nord–Cruceni Timișoara Nord–Voiteni–Reșița Nord Lovrin–Cenad Lovrin–Nerău Arad–Nădlac Arad–Sânnicolau Mare–Vălcani Ineu–Cermei Iași–Podu Iloaiei–Hârlău Iași–Lețcani–Dângeni–Dorohoi Roman–Buhăiești–Iași Golești–Câmpulung Muscel - Argeșel
On other routes it operates alongside the public railway company CFR (usually with lower frequencies): Brașov–Alba Iulia Sibiu–Copșa Mică - Sighişoara Alba Iulia–Cluj-Napoca (never operated) Arad–Ineu–Brad (only section Arad to Sântana is shared with CFR)
Regiotrans also have a few long distance trains: Brașov–București Nord Brașov–Constanța seasonal Brașov–Iași
Occasionally Regiotrans operated a tourist steam train, named Dracula Express, between Brașov–Zărnești and Brașov–Întorsura Buzăului.
Rolling stock All trains in Regio Călători's fleet are second-hand from other operators. This is set to change with the delivery of new trains from Pesa.http://www.railfaneurope.net/list/romania_rcbv.html
Diesel Trains TypeCarriagesImage628 (ex Deutsche Bahn)2X 4500 (ex SNCF)Regiotrans takes over three more branch lines Today's Railways Europe issue 169 January 2010 page 612X 4300 (ex SNCF)2X 72500 (ex SNCF)2 or 3
Electric trains TypeCarriagesImage2000 (ex CFL)2BB25500 (ex SNCF)Regiotrans starts to use ex SNCF BB 25500s Today's Railways Europe issue 164 August 2009 page 47
Coaching stock TypeImageRIO (ex SNCF)RIB (ex SNCF)
References
External links
Official website