CFR Marfă is the state-owned freight railway business of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Formerly the freight division of

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

(CFR), it was separated in 1998 to become a semi-independent business. In April 2013, under pressure from the IMF to reform the state sector, the Romanian government offered to sell a 51% stake in CFR Marfă In May 2013, three bids were received; from

OmniTRAX OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. state ...

, SC Grup Feroviar Român, and a partnership between

Transferoviar Grup Transferoviar Grup (TFG) is a private railway company in Romania, founded in 2003. Initially the company only operated freight trains but in 2010 it also started passenger services. Besides freight hauling, it is the administrator of a few leas ...

and Donau-Finanz. The government rejected all three bids. In September 2013, the 51% stake in CFR Marfă was sold to Grup Feroviar Român for €202 million, although complete payment would be deferred until the deal is approved by competition authorities. The deal was never consummated and the company remains completely state owned. CFR Marfă is making heavy losses. In 2013, it expects to lose €47 million; it lost €20 million in 2012 on earnings of €288.8 million. It has not posted a profit since 2007. As part of the privatisation, the Romanian government has allocated CFR Marfă 606 million lei (€137 million) of rail infrastructure debts. In 2023, the company earned €157 million, while debts totaled €910 million. In light of CFR Marfă’s dire financial position, the Romanian government has announced plans to liquidate the company and replace it with a new entity, Carpatica Feroviar. The new entity should take over CFR Marfă’s role in the Romanian freight rail sector in March 2025.

References

External links

CFR Marfă Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:CFR Marfa Railway companies of Romania Railway companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Romania Căile Ferate Române Companies based in Bucharest

See also

References

External links