The Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu signed the financing contract that provides 13.69 billion lei (of which 1.48 billion lei from the PNRR) for the two stages necessary for the construction of Main Line 1 of the Cluj metro.
Bucharest will no longer be the only city in the country with a metro. PHOTO: Shutterstock
The Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu announced on Facebook the signing of the financing contract for the Cluj metro:
“The largest financing contract in the last 30 years was signed today by the Ministry of Transport! The money will ensure the construction of the metro in Cluj-Napoca! This financing contract provides 13.69 billion lei (of which 1.48 billion lei from PNRR) for the two stages necessary for the construction of Main Line 1 of the Cluj metro.”
The funds will be used for the design, construction, equipment and commissioning of the light metro line in the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area (21.03 km), the 19 stations and the depot.
In the first stage, the works on 9.16 km will be completed, which include the section Sfânta Maria – Europa Unită (9 stations) and the depot. The works in this stage, financed by the PNRR, must be completed by the end of August 2026. In the second stage, the funding will ensure the construction of the sections Țara Moților – Sfânta Maria (7 stations) and Piața Mărăști – Muncii (3 stations) which total 11.87 km, Grindeanu states.
How will the subway be?
The metro from Cluj will be fully automatic (GoA4/UTO), so the trains will not need mechanics or other personnel on board. The stations are designed with the objective of having a minimum number of employees per station and each will have a single access area towards the paid area.
Last but not least, the charging system (including the issuance of travel tickets) will be fully automatic: the main version on mobile devices (with NFC readers at the turnstiles), as a backup version being the existing smart card system used for the transport of surface;
And also in this sense, the use of sustainable materials, intelligent lighting, regenerative energy recovery, etc. is considered. The operation of the trains will be done automatically according to the request (including in real time, according to the information received from the validators for the access of travelers to the stations, the GoA4 system being able to automatically inject trains into circulation), but accompanied by a mobile application that shows the time real position of the trains, so that travelers do not wait too long in the stations during the periods with reduced frequency operation. The route of the metro line starts from the above-ground depot located west of Floreşti, it will have a length of 20.1 kilometers and 19 stations. The entire route is underground, except for the depot in Floreşti.
Smaller trains than in Bucharest
The first three stations serve medium-density residential areas in Floreşti, and then stations 4 and 5 serve multifunctional areas in a dynamic development, developed around the anchors of the future regional emergency hospital and the Vivo shopping center respectively.
Stations 6, 7 and 8 serve the Mănăştur neighborhood (the densest residential area in the city), and then the line follows the west-east highway, crossing the city center, to Mărăşti Square. From here, a branch of the line continues towards the Muncii industrial area, ensuring the connection with the railway and the future metropolitan train service, and another branch serves the neighborhoods of Gheorgheni and Sopor. The entire line is underground, except for the transition connection near the depot.
The Cluj metro will have a capacity adequate to demand. The maximum size of the trains will be 51 meters long (35% of the capacity of Bucharest metro trains). The system offers a maximum transport capacity of 15,200 passengers/hour and direction at maximum frequency (one train every 90 seconds; therefore 380 passengers/train and 40 trains/hour).
