The Cluj Metro is an underground transport system (metro) under construction, serving the city of Cluj-Napoca and the commune of Florești, Cluj County. Once completed, it would be the second largest metro network in Romania, after the Bucharest Metro. The project currently includes a line of approximately 21 km, 19 underground stations, an underground depot, and costs over 2 billion euros. The estimated construction period is 128 months. In December 2022, the Ministry of Transport signed the financing contract for this metro, worth over 13 billion lei, and the first stage is to be completed by 2026. The current planning has a possible completion date for the entire project in 2031. Construction work for Magistrala 1 began on 5 June 2024 in Florești.
Planning and bidding
The first concrete steps were taken in 2018, when the Cluj City Council approved the draft budget for that year in which, under item 27 of the "Transport" chapter, funds were allocated for the "pre-feasibility study, consultancy and various studies for metro construction". In April 2018, Mayor Emil Boc announced that several companies from Japan would be interested in designing and building a metro line in Cluj. The press speculated that it was the Japanese railway giant East Japan Railway Company.
An international tender was organized in June 2019, with the subject: "Metropolitan Train Gilău – Florești – Cluj-Napoca – Baciu – Apahida – Jucu – Bonțida – stage I of the Cluj rapid metropolitan transport system: Metro Line I and Metropolitan Train, including the connection between them and the related studies to future investment objectives, according to the requirements of the specifications and the award documentation". Regarding the metro, the tender notice requested the winning company to provide the following products:
delivery of pre-feasibility study – at the end of the 5th month;
delivery of Zonal Urban Plan – at the end of the 16th month;
delivery of feasibility study – at the end of the 26th month.
Five companies or consortiums of companies from France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and Romania submitted bids for the preparation of the documentation requested through the tender:
SWS Engineering Spa (Italy) - SYSTRA (France) - Metrans Engineering SRL (Romania),
Association Explan SRL (Romania) - Dr. Sauer & Partners (United Kingdom),
Association Metroul SA (Romania) - PADECO Co., LTD (Japan),
Association Eurocerad International SRL (Romania) - 3TI Progetti (Italy) - Ingegneria Integrata S.p.A (Italy);
Egis Rail SA;
The consortium SWS Engineering Spa - SYSTRA - Metrans was declared the winner in October 2019, but Metroul SA filed an appeal, and this was accepted by the National Council for the Resolution of Appeals (CNSC),[20][21] which decided, on 8 November 2019, to "oblige the contracting authority to, within 15 days of receiving this decision, exclude from the award procedure the offer of the association SWS Engineering SPA - Systra - Metrans Engineering SRL . Following the CNSC decision, the association Metroul SA - PADECO Co., LTD effectively became the winner of the tender, but the Cluj City Hall and the association SWS Engineering - SYSTRA - Metrans appealed the CNSC decision to the Cluj Court of Appeal, which ruled in their favor on 3 March 2020.
On 4 March 2020, Mayor Emil Boc confirmed that, following the court's decision, the SWS Engineering - SYSTRA - Metrans association remains the final winner of the tender. On 23 April, the mayor signed the contract that provides for the carrying out of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for this project, the value of which is 35.9 million lei.
On 12 May 2020, Mayor Emil Boc announced that work is underway on the feasibility study for the construction of the metro and the metropolitan train and that the execution works could take ten years.
On March 18, 2021, the Cluj County Council issued the urban planning certificate for the development of the Zonal Urban Plan and the Feasibility Study related to the first stage of the "Gilău - Florești - Cluj-Napoca - Baciu - Apahida - Jucu - Bonțida" project - Metro Line 1 and metropolitan train, including the connection between them.
In June 2021, Mayor Emil Boc announced that construction work for the metro could begin in 2023, after the completion of the documentation and the tender. The project is included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The names of the 19 planned stations were also published, with 9 stations (between Florești and Sopor) to be built in the first stage (with a completion date of 2026).
On 22 August 2022, Emil Boc announced the temporary suspension of the procurement procedure, due to the need to update the costs of the metro and the technical and economic indicators of the investment. The update was necessary due to the increase in prices for construction materials.
On December 29, 2022, the contract for financing the Cluj metro was signed, according to Minister Sorin Grindeanu, through which the amount of 13.69 billion lei was allocated (of which 1.48 billion lei from the PNRR). The first stage includes works on a distance of 9.16 km (Sfânta Maria - Europa Unită section, corresponding to 9 stations and a depot) and is financed through the PNRR, with a final deadline of the end of August 2026. The second stage will include a route of 11.87 km.
Construction
In June 2023, the contract for the construction of the metro was signed, with a completion date of 2028. The first 9 stations and the depot are to be completed by August 2026, but not necessarily put into service by that date. The entire project (including the remaining 10 stations) could be completed by 2031. In October 2023, geotechnical field studies (topographic and archaeological) began, and are expected to last until April 2024. In December of the same year, the expropriation of 500 properties for the construction of the metro was approved.
After the construction permit was issued at the end of May 2024, the first works began on 5 June 2024 in the town of Florești.
Implementation
The implementation stages of the metro network announced in March 2023 were:
in the first stage (end 2026): the first 9 stations, from PNRR funds, on the direction of Câmpului Street - Sopor, with the stations Sf. Maria – Europa Unită, length 7.5 km;
in the second stage (end 2031): the remaining 10 stations and the depot, on the sections Florești – Sf. Maria and Mărăști – Muncii, length 12.6 km.
In December 2023, after the start of the design, Emil Boc announced that the works would start from Florești to match the development program of the Regional Emergency Hospital.
The designated constructor is the Gülermak (Turkey) – Alstom (France) – Arcada Association
Here is the official website of the Cluj Metro (it is in Romanian language):
https://metroucluj.ro/
P.S. This is my first ever article in this territory, so if I messed something up (e.g. didn't follow any rules), I apologize
P.S.2 I welcome any comments/suggestions.