Cluj-Napoca metro contracts awarded

A consortium including Gülermak and Alstom has been selected to design and build the first metro line in Cluj-Napoca.

Romania’s fourth-largest city has a population of around 320 000. Steep hills to the north and south of the centre force most of the traffic onto a central east-west axis, causing heavy congestion. The city’s single 11.7km (7.3-mile) tramline runs east-north-west and has been seen major reconstruction in recent years. New low-floor stock has come in the form of four Pesa Swing 120NaR (deliveries from 2012) and 24 Astra Imperio (from 2020) cars.

The 21km (13-mile) standard-gauge metro is to be built using tunnel-boring machines and will include 19 stations. Operations will be provided by three-car Alstom driverless trains stabled at a surface depot on a two-station branch at the eastern end of the system. Each 51m-long, 2.65m-wide train will have capacity for 540 passengers.

Eight years have been allocated for metro construction, with co-finance coming from EU funds, including Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Facility. The city signed an agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in October 2022, with the latter allocating an additional RON700m (EUR142.5m) to help cover a rise in cost of construction materials.

Phase one will start at Sfânta Maria in the densely-populated Mănăștur district in the west and run east through the city centre to Europa Unită. A south-eastern depot connection will take this section to 9.2km (5.7 miles). The EU funding contribution requires completion of this phase by August 2026.

A second phase will add 8.8km (5.5 miles) west to Țara Moților with another seven stations, serving the Florești district, a planned hospital and areas designated for future development. A 3km (1.86-mile) three-station section from Piața Mărăști to the Bulevardul Muncii industrial area will complete the system in 2031.

The metro is estimated to carry up to 164 000 passengers/day by 2035.