Bucharest inaugurated another 8 km of subway line; in total, the capital of Romania has 78 km of subway and 63 stations

By Jerom Bolt
Today, September 15, the M5 highway of the Bucharest subway was inaugurated.
The contracts for M5 in the southwest of the city (Drumul Taberei neighborhood) were signed in the spring of 2011, and the works started shortly. The first deadline for the subway in Drumul Taberei was 2015. Over time, however, the M5 Highway faced major problems – problems with permits, major financing problems, problems with unforeseen works that arose during the execution of works.
Ten Bombardier trains, from the current fleet, will start running on Highway 5, as announced by Metrorex representatives. Now, both Bombardier trains and old VAT trains are used for dynamic tests. The 5 metro line, Râul Doamnei – Eroilor Section (PS Opera), including Valea Ialomiţei, will be almost 7 kilometers long and consists of 10 metro stations and a depot (Râul Doamnei, Constantin Brâncuşi, Valea Ialomiţei, Romancierilor, Parc Drumul Taberei, Tudor Vladimirescu, Favorit, Orizont, Military Academy, Heroes 2). The total value of the Drumul Taberei-Eroilor metro project was 3.4 billion lei.
With the inauguration of this highway, the Capital reaches 78 kilometers of network and 63 metro stations. On Highway 5, Alstom implemented a digital train control system – the first CBTC (Communication-based Train Control) signaling system installed in Romania.
The M5 was equipped with the Urbalis 400 range system, a system implemented worldwide in 23 countries, on 101 metro lines including 17 vending machines. In Europe, the system is already in operation in cities such as Malaga and Amsterdam. „Urbalis 400 is an advanced traffic control system for train control based on communications, which will help reduce traffic congestion in Bucharest because the systems increase the transport capacity with train succession intervals of up to 90 seconds. Constantly modernized and specially designed for metro lines with a large number of passengers, the system offers a considerable range of functions, which contributes to reducing the train succession interval and increasing the average speed “, details Alstom.