According to Roman Gapeev, head of the Railway Transport Policy Department, the project envisages not only a connection between the railway station and Chisinau International Airport, but also the creation of a new form of public transportation that will help relieve city traffic.
“We are talking about routes connecting various parts of the city using the existing railway infrastructure. Trains will be able to run once or twice an hour depending on the approved schedule,” Gapeev stated at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on the economy, budget, and finance.
According to him, such a system will allow residents to travel more quickly between city districts without using a private car or transferring between multiple modes of public transportation. A similar project, he said, is also of interest to the municipal authorities in Bălți.
The state subsidizes the service
To implement the initiative following the adoption of legislative changes, the government must approve public service contracts that will specify train schedules, ticket prices, and mechanisms for compensating operating costs. Gapeev emphasized that such transportation should not be for-profit, as this complies with both European and national regulations governing public transportation.
“In terms of timing, we could sign such contracts and launch the trains in just two or three months,” the ministry representative noted.
In the initial phase, transportation is planned to be carried out using existing rolling stock. In the future, the authorities intend to invest in modernizing trains and improving service quality.
Speaking about the mechanism for direct contract signing, Gapeev explained that currently, there is effectively only one operator in Moldova’s railway market capable of providing such services. Under these circumstances, holding a tender could delay the process and create risks for the launch of transport services.
“We want to eliminate the risk of operational disruptions and avoid a situation where we would have to wait six months to find out if any bidders will emerge,” he said.
Monitoring of Budget Funds
The official also emphasized that the use of public funds will be subject to strict financial oversight to ensure that funds allocated for passenger transport are not used for other purposes, such as freight transport or infrastructure maintenance.
According to preliminary estimates by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIDR), of the approximately 300 million lei needed to develop these services, about 270–280 million lei will be allocated to railway infrastructure. The exact costs for operating the routes and any potential modernization of the rolling stock will be determined at a later date.
