December 7 (SeeNews) - Romanian railway operator CFR said on Wednesday that it signed a contract worth 2.41 billion lei ($514.9 million/490.6 million euro) with Italian construction companies Webuild, Impresa Pizzarotti & C and Salcef for the modernisation of railway infrastructure on the Alesd-Frontiera section.
The contract has a duration of 42 months, including six months for the design and 36 months for the actual works, CFR said in a press release.
Following the works, the 46.7-kilometre railway section will support speeds of up to 160 km/h for passenger trains and 120 km/h for freight trains.
Among others, the contract envisages the electrification of the railway section, the reconstruction of several train stations and bridges and installing sound-absorbing panels on a 20.5-kilometre long segment.
The financing is provided from non-reimbursable funds under the EU-backed National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, PNRR.
This is the fifth PNRR-financed contract that CFR signs in 2022, transportation minister Sorin Grindeanu said in a social media post.
CFR was founded in 1880 and currently manages approximately 10,628 km of railway infrastructure.
Last month, CFR announced that it signed a 1.91 billion lei contract with Spain's FCC Construccion for the modernisation of railway infrastructure on the Lugoj-Timisoara section.
(1 euro=4.9126 lei)