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Railways

The first railways in Romania were built by foreign entrepreneurs who were granted concessions by the Romanian state. Such a lease was given in 1865 for a railroad between Bucharest and the Danubian port of Giurgiu, a line inaugurated in 1869. The construction of the backbone of the national railways network was entrusted in 1868 to a German consortium led by Bethel Henry Strousberg, who was to build the railroad Vârciorova – Bucharest – Brăila – Galaţi – Tecuci – Roman, with a total length of 915 kilometres. A part of the line, including the section from Tecuci to Galaţi, was provisionally opened in 1870, and the route Roman – Mărăşeşti – Tecuci – Galaţi – Brăila – Buzău – Bucharest was fully operational in 1872[1]. However, Strousberg was greatly affected by the outburst of the Prussian–French war of 1870, and during the next decade his concession was fiercely disputed between the Romanian authorities and the consortium’s shareholders. The problem was finally solved in 1880, when the state bought back the railway, after Germany made it clear that Romanian independence would be recognised only after a convenient solution to this dispute. By this period the Romanian state had bought most of the lines from their initial contractors and started to build new railroads with Romanian engineers and Romanian material (at a cost about half of that paid to foreign investors). The railroads were exploited by the General Direction of Romanian Railways, according to the provisions of a special law passed in 1883. The tables below show the progress of Romanian railways during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, which by 1915 totalled 3,702 kilometres of railways and 443 stations and halts (for which the state spent almost 1.1 billion lei). At the same time there were in operation 932 locomotives and 25,790 carriages, most of them cargo carriages. The number of passengers and the quantities of cargo transported on rail greatly increased during this period, making Romanian Railways a profitable company. From 648,000 passengers and 376,000 tons of goods carried in 1873, the amounts grew in 1914 to 11,569,000 passengers and 10,899,000 tons of cargo. Most of the commodities were represented by grain and other agricultural goods, although we have to notice the great increase of oil quantities carried by rail.

Returning to the situation of the railroads connecting Galaţi to the country, the Moldavian outlet was to serve as a relay on the backbone of Romanian railroads started in 1868 and completed a couple of years later. However, due to technical difficulties in getting the line from the outer plain to the commercial and industrial area in the valley of the city (where the harbour was situated), Galaţi was only linked to the backbone by a branch line, a fact severely criticised by local economic circles[2]. By the excavation of a tunnel and the building of a new railroad between Hanu Conachi and Şerbeşti (30 kilometres), carried out during the period August 1881 – September 1882, the bypass was reduced, but the city and the harbour were not a relay along the continuous network of national railways, but rather the terminus of two different routes, one connecting it to northern Moldavia (via Tecuci – Mărăşeşti – Roman, and by connection lines further towards other destinations), and the other to the capital city of Bucharest, via Brăila and Buzău[3].

Another important line was that from Galaţi to Bârlad, an important junction for the connection with the agricultural districts of northern Moldavia. The project was voted in March 1892, but the actual construction proved extremely difficult, due both to financial shortages and to technical problems, such as the instability of the soil. Works started in 1892 from both ends of the route, and the section Galaţi – Ghibărţeni (70.8 km) was opened in 1898, followed in 1900 by the section Ghibărţeni – Bereşti (7.2 km). The works were interrupted during the financial crisis of the early 1900s and resumed in 1906. The most difficult works were for excavating the tunnel of Bereşti, with a length of 3,333 meters, the longest tunnel of simple line in Romania at the time. In 1909 the authorities inaugurated the section Bârlad – Talaşmani (24.1 km) and in 1912 the linking section Bereşti – Talaşmani (6.8 km). Thus, the entire railroad Bârlad – Galaţi (109 kilometres) was functional in 1912[4]. In 1895 there were intentions to build a line between Galaţi and Reni, along a previous military railway that was operational during the war of 1877–1878, and thus connect Romania to Southern Bessarabia[5].

In 1906, daily trains left Galaţi railway station and headed to Bucharest, Constanţa, Piatra Neamţ, Bereşti, Focşani – Tg. Ocna and Jassy[6]. By the early 1890s the railway station was one of the largest in Romania by its incomes (in 1889 this totalled 1,979,784.76 lei). Galaţi also hosted a mechanical plant for the mending of carriages and engines, and was the headquarters of a regional direction of the Romanian Railways. A number of 39,876 civil passengers and 3,653 military ones were recorded by local statistics in 1889, at the same time with 19,558 grain wagons and 5,257 wagons loaded with planks[7].

Picture 4.2.1_1. The Railway Station (1920s)
Source: www.bvau.ro

Picture 4.2.1_2. The Romanian Railways Network (1913)
Source: Ing. Stelian Petrescu, Călăuza Căilor Ferate Române, first edition (Bucharest: Atelierele Grafice Socec, 1913)

Picture 4.2.1_3 The Map of Romanian Railways Network (1930s)
Source: Enciclopedia României, vol. IV, Economia naţională. Circulaţie, distribuţie şi consum (Bucharest: Imprimeria Naţională, 1943), 53.

Table 4.2.1_1

Railways and railway stations, 1869–1915[8]

Year	Length (km)	Number of railway stations	Number of halts
1869	172	19	-
1870	248	25	-
1871	292	28	-
1872	-	72	-
1873	648	101	8
1874	648	103	6
1875	921	126	7
1876	921	126	7
1877	921	126	7
1878	921	126	7
1879	921	135	9
1880	921	135	9
1881	951	143	9
1882	1,089	143	9
1883	1,200	148	11
1884	1,271	157	12
1885	1,359	162	12
1886	1,402	187	13
1887	1,896	224	17
1888	2,135	236	19
1889	2,409	236	19
1890	2,421	239	20
1891	2,429	239	20
1892	2,470	247	21
1893	2,496	250	21
1894	2,513	251	21
1895	2,534	264	24
1896	2,818	276	24
1897	2,880	276	24
1898	2,916	293	26
1899	3,081	299	26
1900	3,100	300	26
1901	3,149	304	30
1902	3,177	306	31
1903	3,178	306	32
1904	3,179	306	32
1905	3,179	339	-
1906	3,181	341	-
1907	3,186	347	-
1908	3,187	352	-
1909	3,186	337	11
1910	3,437	369	21
1911	3,479	372	21
1912	3,532	377	21
1913	3,549	-	-
1914	3,588	404	39
1915	3,702	404	39

Table 4.2.1_2

Railways built and carried into operation, 1869–1914[9]

Year	Railways (km)
1869	172.3
1870	75.7
1871	44.2
1872	321.0
1873	321.0
1874	21.4
1875	274.0
1879	84.6
1881	90.3
1883	39.4
1884	81.8
1885	60.9
1886	283.5
1887	414.6
1888	124.6
1889	19.1
1892	67.8
1893	16.2
1894	7.5
1895	163.2
1896	140.0
1898	168.8
1899	40.2
1900	7.2
1901	72.0
1902	7.3
1905	2.0
1907	5.8
1910	286.7
1911	17.2
1912	58.2
1914	150.9

Table 4.2.1_3

The cost of railways until 1915[10]

Category of works	Length (km)	Credits (thousand lei)	Nominal capital issued for the sums effectively spent (thousand lei)	Sums effectively spent (thousand lei)
TOTAL	3.701.7	1,537,614.7	1,198,387.4	1,096,348.9
Railways built “a forfeit” on the expense of the state	175.9	56,032.2	64,179.3	56,032.2
Railways bought by the state	979.1	350,768.2	354,363.5	323,687.4
Railways with concession acts exploited by the state	222.4	61,231.4	61,322.5	61,231.4
Railways built directly by the state	2,324.6	353,979.3	371,039.0	327,827.9
Different works and commands done by the state from different funds	-	715,603.6	347,483.0	327,570.0

Table 4.2.1_4

Means of transportation on the Romanian railways, 1873–1915[11]

Year	Locomotives	Total carriages	Passengers	Mail	Cargo	Cisterns
1873	83	1,765	383	6	1,376	-
1874	106	2,010	404	18	1,588	-
1875	114	2,264	404	18	1,842	-
1876	114	2,550	404	18	2,128	-
1877	114	2,550	404	18	2,128	-
1878	118	2,550	404	18	2,128	-
1879	118	2,707	253	28	2,426	-
1880	141	3,652	274	28	3,350	-
1881	144	3,666	266	28	3,372	-
1882	193	4,691	377	35	4,279	29
1883	193	4,699	377	35	4,287	29
1884	193	4,699	377	35	4,287	29
1885	197	4,769	393	39	4,337	32
1886	227	4,980	425	46	4,509	32
1887	241	5,214	425	46	4,743	32
1888	241	5,796	430	73	5,293	32
1889	265	6,602	700	82	5,820	53
1890	302	7,236	811	82	6,343	53
1891	317	7,551	781	90	6,680	126
1892	335	8,212	772	90	7,350	126
1893	414	9,395	820	89	8,486	140
1894	433	9,454	870	89	8,495	154
1895	433	9,481	875	89	8,517	156
1896	441	10,192	911	93	9,188	177
1897	441	10,081	904	93	9,084	230
1898	449	10,185	917	92	9,176	342
1899	455	10,593	1,042	92	9,459	422
1900	464	11,436	1,038	92	10,306	612
1901	482	11,580	1,031	91	10,455	603
1902	512	11,748	1,042	91	10,615	591
1903	512	11,723	1,030	91	10,602	763
1904	512	11,695	1,020	91	10,584	915
1905	537	12,292	1,019	106	11,167	1,114
1906	588	15,136	1,024	106	14,006	1,546
1907	639	15,316	1,025	106	14,185	1,756
1908	648	15,874	1,144	123	14,607	2,015
1909	688	16,137	1,185	123	14,829	2,028
1910	691	16,506	1,198	133	15,175	2,170
1911	772	19,693	1,443	133	18,117	2,427
1912	821	19,789	1,499	143	18,147	3,271
1913	888	20,116	1,500	153	18,463	3,935
1914	932	21,359	1,497	153	19,709	4,027
1915	932	25,790	1,490	153	24,138	-

Table 4.2.1_5

Passenger and cargo traffic on Romanian railways, 1873–1915[12]

Year	Passengers		Cargo
Year	Thousands	Thousands / km	Thousands	Thousands / km
1873	648	54	376	52
1874	684	57	555	80
1875	779	63	551	88
1876	742	65	579	93
1877	1,350	248	843	182
1878	1,156	200	877	160
1879	730	80	822	131
1880	764	71	795	111
1881	969	80	975	128
1882	1,164	89	1,136	138
1883	1,383	110	1,352	165
1884	1,354	109	1,211	162
1885	1,422	109	1,557	215
1886	1,619	116	1,641	212
1887	1,994	146	2,065	283
1888	2,114	158	2,261	357
1889	2,354	175	2,655	374
1890	2,907	253	3,111	430
1891	4,333	325	3,389	492
1892	5,365	364	3,360	454
1893	5,757	374	4,186	564
1894	6,004	390	3,724	502
1895	5,851	375	3,519	485
1896	6,469	418	4,228	570
1897	5,696	385	3,898	508
1898	5,779	401	4,788	649
1899	7,052	407	3,623	529
1900	5,472	348	3,997	575
1901	5,344	350	4,642	657
1902	5,556	375	4,742	675
1903	5,734	406	5,009	750
1904	5,599	398	4,241	681
1905	6,591	462	5,762	934
1906	7,600	540	6,099	955
1907	8,193	562	6,795	1,001
1908	8,320	582	6,401	999
1909	9,170	631	6,966	1,094
1910	10,233	722	8,264	1,276
1911	11,428	819	10,986	1,478
1912	12,239	877	10,462	1,430
1913	11,083	829	10,360	1,496
1914	11,569	871	10,899	1,230
1915	12,056	-	9,407	-

Table 4.2.1_6

Cargo transported on Romanian railways, by categories, 1876–1914 (thousand tons)[13]

Year	Cereals, vegetables, oleaginous plants, seeds, potatoes	Oil, refined products	Coal	Timber, construction wood	Fire wood	Different iron products	Cement, lime, plaster, cement plates
1876	726	10	15	12	66	16	36
1877	139	8	13	30	47	32	6
1878	236	10	38	33	83	14	44
1879	379	10	21	51	72	13	98
1880	401	12	7	41	71	18	57
1881	517	14	15	35	72	11	76
1882	546	20	24	68	91	19	99
1883	488	29	46	102	116	48	144
1884	417	31	50	135	98	43	140
1885	615	28	50	128	156	29	165
1886	583	23	58	167	169	58	184
1887	783	25	59	163	179	55	388
1888	1,024	30	60	193	223	22	224
1889	1,040	33	78	276	285	19	47
1890	1,117	39	92	324	229	21	54
1891	1,234	49	101	439	310	41	16
1892	1,088	55	107	406	311	42	32
1893	1,616	56	119	411	419	45	28
1894	1,215	64	128	361	394	80	16
1895	1,230	64	135	329	356	56	19
1896	1,767	75	158	340	386	51	17
1897	1,309	85	182	335	390	52	19
1898	1,712	126	250	398	454	72	27
1899	888	176	163	442	407	80	33
1900	1,424	219	111	403	436	43	22
1901	2,214	200	134	500	366	33	10
1902	2,310	200	116	484	414	37	8
1903	2,170	312	119	641	373	49	17
1904	1,329	350	103	636	371	64	27
1905	2,326	470	116	613	335	140	26
1906	2,359	600	117	618	444	158	36
1907	2,155	784	181	760	556	216	51
1908	1,569	769	169	669	559	182	59
1909	1,825	866	179	799	591	180	214
1910	2,808	942	168	800	671	216	227
1911	3,297	1,200	204	884	696	274	286
1912	2,258	1,548	266	654	877	311	312
1913	2,415	1,439	254	736	846	325	286
1914	2,176	1,307	173	456	966	185	257

Table 4.2.1_7

The staff of Romanian Railways, by unit of rolling stock and kilometre of railroad, 1889-1914[14]

Year	Staff	Staff for an engine	Staff for a carriage	Staff for a km of railway
1889	12,739	48.1	1.9	5.3
1890	13,870	45.9	1.9	5.7
1891	15,427	48.7	2.0	6.4
1892	16,334	48.8	2.0	6.5
1893	17,580	42.5	1.9	7.1
1894	17,337	40.0	1.8	6.9
1895	19,365	44.7	2.0	7.7
1896	19,046	43.2	1.9	6.8
1897	20,515	46.5	2.0	7.1
1898	20,129	44.8	2.0	6.6
1899	18,209	40.0	1.7	5.9
1900	17,724	38.2	1.5	5.7
1901	17,867	37.1	1.5	5.7
1902	18,513	36.2	1.6	5.8
1903	19,065	37.2	1.6	6.0
1904	20,299	39.6	1.7	6.4
1905	20,753	38.6	1.7	6.5
1906	23,829	39.9	1.6	7.4
1907	23,807	37.3	1.6	7.5
1908	24,697	38.1	1.6	7.8
1909	26,069	37.9	1.6	8.2
1910	28,301	41.0	1.7	8.2
1911	29,889	38.7	1.5	8.6
1912	31,459	38.3	1.6	8.9
1913	34,422	38.8	1.7	9.7
1914	36,770	39.4	1.7	10.4

Table 4.2.1_8

Transport of passengers and cargo on railways reported by population, 1873–1915[15]

Year	Passengers by 100 inhabitants	Passengers / km at 1 inhabitant	Tons of cargo for 100 inhabitants	Tons km / cargo for 1 inhabitant
1873	14.9	12.4	8.6	11.9
1874	15.7	13.1	12.7	18.3
1875	17.7	14.3	12.5	20.0
1876	16.7	14.6	13.0	20.9
1877	30.1	55.4	18.8	40.6
1878	25.8	44.6	19.6	35.7
1879	16.2	17.7	18.2	29.0
1880	16.8	15.6	17.5	24.4
1881	21.0	17.3	21.1	27.7
1882	24.8	19.0	24.2	29.4
1883	29.0	23.0	28.3	34.5
1884	27.8	22.4	24.9	33.3
1885	28.7	22.0	31.4	43.3
1886	32.1	23.0	32.5	48.0
1887	39.0	28.6	40.4	55.4
1888	40.8	30.5	43.7	68.9
1889	44.8	33.3	50.5	71.2
1890	54.7	47.6	58.5	80.9
1891	80.3	60.3	62.8	91.2
1892	98.9	67.1	61.9	83.7
1893	104.9	68.2	76.3	102.8
1894	108.3	70.3	67.2	90.5
1895	103.8	66.5	62.4	86.1
1896	113.3	73.2	74.0	100.0
1897	98.3	66.4	67.3	87.7
1898	98.6	68.4	81.7	110.7
1899	118.4	68.3	60.8	88.8
1900	90.5	57.6	66.1	95.1
1901	87.2	57.1	75.8	107.2
1902	89.7	60.6	76.6	109.0
1903	91.2	64.5	79.6	119.2
1904	86.3	61.3	65.4	104.9
1905	101.7	71.3	88.9	144.2
1906	115.4	82.0	92.6	145.0
1907	122.6	84.1	101.7	149.8
1908	122.9	86.0	94.5	147.5
1909	133.6	91.9	101.5	159.4
1910	146.9	103.7	118.5	183.2
1911	161.3	115.6	155.0	208.6
1912	169.2	121.2	144.6	197.7
1913	150.7	112.7	140.9	203.5
1914	148.9	112.1	140.3	158.3
1915	152.7	-	119.1	-

[1] Paul Păltănea, Istoria oraşului Galaţi de la origini până la 1918, second edition, edited by Eugen Drăgoi (Galaţi: Editura Partener, 2008], vol. II, 133–134. The general context in Al. Cebuc, C. Mocanu, Din istoria transportului de călători în România (Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică, 1967), 113–120 and Const. Botez, Dem. Urma, Ion Saizu, Epopeea feroviară românească (Bucharest: Editura Sport-Turism, 1977), 80–94.

[2] Păltănea, Istoria, II, 133–134.

[3] Ibid., 199–200.

[4] Ion Plesnilă, Istoricul liniei Galaţi – Bârlad (Bucharest: Tipografia Gutenberg, 1898); Titus Enacovici, “Tunelul Bereşti”, Buletinul Societăţii Politehnice, 10 (1912); Păltănea, Istorie, II, 199–200.

[5] Tezaur documentar gălăţean, edited by Cezar Bejan, Alexandru Duţă, Stelian Iordache, Viorica Solomon (Bucharest: Direcţia Generală a Arhivelor Statului, 1988), 265–266; Păltănea, Istoria, II, 135.

[6] Prefectura Poliţiei Galaţi, Indicatorul oraşului Galaţi, cuprinzând adresele tuturor autorităţilor civile şi militare, ale caselor mari comerciale şi ale tuturor instituţiunilor etc. etc. (Galaţi: s.e, s.a), 113.

[7] Moise N. Pacu, Cartea judeţului Covurluiu. Note geografice, istorice şi în deosebi statistice, (Bucharest: Stabilimentul Grafic I. V. Socecu, 1891), 276–278.

[8] Victor Axenciuc, Evoluţia economică a României. Cercetări statistico-istorice, 1859-1947, vol. I, Industria (Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 1992), 323 (Table 298: Railways and rail stations, during the period 1869–1947).

[9] Ibid., 324 (Table 299: Railways built and carried into operation yearly, during the period 1869–1939).

[10] Ibid., 324 (Table 300: The cost of the railways from the beginning of the constructions until 1915).

[11] Ibid., 325 (Table 301: Means of transportation on railways, during the period 1873–1915).

[12] Ibid., 328–329 (Table 303: The main traffic of passengers and cargo on railways, during the period 1873–1947).

[13] Ibid., 329–330 (Table 304: Merchandise transported on railways, by categories, during the period 1876–1946).

[14] Ibid., 336 (Table 309: The staff of the Romanian Railways, by unit of rolling stock and kilometre of road, during the period 1889–1947).

[15] Ibid., 341-342 (Table 313: Transport of passengers and cargo on railways, reported by population, during the period 1873–1947).

References

Websites:

Archival sources:

Serviciul Judeţean Galaţi al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Galaţi Branch), Primăria oraşului Galaţi (The Municipality of Galaţi), files starting with 1831.

Serviciul Judeţean Galaţi al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Galaţi Branch), Prefectura judeţului Covurlui (The Prefecture of Covurlui County), files starting with 1848.

Bibliography:

Axenciuc, Victor, Evoluţia economică a României. Cercetări statistico–istorice, 1859–1947, vol. I, Industria [Romania’s Economic Evolution. Statistical–Historical Researches, 1859–1947, vol. I, The Industry] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 1992).

Bastache, I., Situaţia judeţului Covurlui. Expunere prezentată Consiliului Judeţian în sesiunea sa ordinară de la 15 octombrie 1913 [The Situation of Covurlui County. Exposition Presented to the County Council in Its Ordinary Session of 15 October 1913] (Galaţi: Tipografia “Dunărea”, 1913).

Botez, Const., Urma, Dem., Saizu, Ion, Epopeea feroviară românească [Romanian Railway Saga] (Bucharest: Editura Sport-Turism, 1977).

Cebuc, Al., Mocanu, C., Din istoria transportului de călători în România [From the History of Passenger Transportation in Romania] (Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică, 1967).

Duca, I. Gh., Raport general asupra stării căilor ferate şi administraţiunii lor şi asupra mijloacelor de îmbunătăţire [General Report on the State of the Railway and Their Administration and on the Means to Improve It] (Bucharest: s.e., 1893).

Enacovici, Titus, “Tunelul Bereşti” [The Tunnel of Bereşti], Buletinul Societăţii Politehnice, 10 (1912).

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Mănescu, Const., Istoricul căilor ferate din România [The History of Railways in Romania] (Bucharest: Editura Direcţiunii Generale a Căilor Ferate Române, 1906).

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Păltănea, Paul, Istoria oraşului Galaţi de la origini până la 1918 [The History of Galaţi from Its Beginnings to 1918], second edition, edited by Eugen Drăgoi (Galaţi: Editura Partener, 2008).

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Un cetăţean, Inegalităţile estreme ale agencilor a Companiei Strousberg în espropriaţiunea pentru causa de utilitate publică din judeţul Covurluiului [The Extreme Inequalities of the Agents of the Strousberg Company in the Expropriation for the Cause of Public Utility in Covurlui County] (Galaţi: Tipografia Frédéric Thiel, 1870).

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