Romania had, in this context, a privileged position. Our country has an extensive railway infrastructure, which offered the transport operators the advantage of easily covering the whole country and to operate on a variety of different routes. At the same time, Romania has a unique geographical position. It was and remains a true link passage between Western Europe and Turkey and further, Middle East or Asia. Rail operators can therefore take advantage of new opportunities in the transit transports, this beeing a very important aspect of our strategy.
DB Schenker Rail Romania is part of European Group DB Schenker and thus can take advantage of existing network and partnerships with other companies in the group and external partners of road and inland waterway transport to be able to offer customers a complex offer of pan-European transport. Increasingly, customers want to select a single reliable partner to provide transport services that they need in all markets in which they operate, and this trend appears slowly also on the local market. The scale of the operations that DB Schenker Rail can performe is an important competitive advantage and helps to clearly differentiate the company in the market.
The huge potential of our country for transit transports is still , unfortunately, restricted by the local railway infrastructure. The average velocity of a freight train is only half of the average from the Western European countries. Certainly, in the coming years, upgrading the infrastructure should be one of the main points on the agenda of all players in the market and also of the authorities in the field. A strong infrastructure is a vital prerequisite towards the development of the local market.The year whose end we are approaching, was once again marked by a contraction of the transport market. In particular in the railway area, we still see the consequences of the crisis that has not spared Romania, even if they were not as dramatic as in other countries. Customers with large volumes of freight to be transported search, in this moment, more efficient solution in terms of cost and, in particular, high quality service. The efficiency that can be offered, the security and accuracy are characteristics that weighs heavily when any company choses its rail provider and the Romanian market should be more accountable and increase the usual quality of the services.
DB Schenker Rail is convinced of the high potential of growth of the local market for rail transport, in line with the development that we expect in the entire region. Therefore, we are determined to continue to invest in developing our business locally, to work with Romanian companies for all maintenance services for the locomotives and wagons from our fleet and harness business opportunities in various industries . All in order to actively contribute to the development of the Romania market and bringing it and bringing it to the level that we believe it deserves.
