Metrans to launch its first regular container train to Romania
Czech rail freight operator Metrans, a subsidiary of HHLA, will add Romania to its network of intermodal services. In mid-October, it will launch the container train between Budapest in Hungary and the border city of Arad in Romania, which will become the first company’s connection to Romania.
Metrans has scheduled the start of the Hungary-Romania rail freight connection for 15 October. It will link the company’s hub in Budapest with the Arad South Terminal, managed by the Romanian operator Afluent. Initially, the trains will run three times a week. They will depart from Budapest on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays at 13:00 and from Arad on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays at 18:00. Transit time takes 17 hours for the southbound connections and 21 hours for the northbound services. If the service becomes popular, Metrans is planning to increase the frequency.
Arad South Terminal
The Arad South Terminal is located in western Romania, 30 kilometres south from Curtici, where is placed another intermodal facility that is widely by DB Cargo, Rail Cargo Group and other companies for transhipment containers on the way to or from Romania. The freight complex, operated by Afluent, has a newly built platform with four rail lines for loading wagons. Its total storage capacity is 750 TEU. Due to its close location to the A1 motorway (Bucharest-Arad) and other roads, the terminal offers first/last mile trucking services and parking areas for 200 lorries and semi-trailers.