Mobility

Transport

Despite its economic attractiveness, Romania still has a lack of infrastructure, as the expansion of the road and railway network has been neglected over the years. Public transport routes built under communism to connect large industrial areas with neighboring residential areas have not been completely adapted to the new requirements during the past 30 years. Public transport infrastructure has been modernized (mainly through the acquisition of new means of transport), but has not been connected to the new urban development areas. There is also a shortage of intermodal nodes that would improve passenger transportation and ensure the optimal connection between localities.

In 2017 there were 86,099 km of national roads in Romania, but only 763 km of highways (747 km in 2016) and 6,200 km of European roads. About 41.4% of roads are renovated annually.

The Romanian government has acknowledged the problem and planned investments of 36 billion euros for the period 2016-2030, according to the Master Plan for Transport (GTMP) which summarizes the strategic development of the entire transport infrastructure in Romania.

Logistics

The positive evolution of private consumption in recent years has influenced logistics services in Romania, where road transport amounted to EUR 4.3 billion in 2017, almost a quarter of total exports of services.

Experts believe that Romania has recently recovered a lot from the gaps it had in the field of transport and is able to offer better logistics services. To continue this trend, Romania must allocate significant sums of money for the development of transport infrastructure, to take advantage of the favorable geographical location and to become an important logistics center in Central and Eastern Europe. Romania’s advantages are characterized by two main geographical factors: one is the proximity to developed markets in Central Europe, and the other is the existence of the port of Constanța on the Black Sea, a good connection between Europe and Asia.