The first TRAXX for ARF has arrived in Romania

On 29 July 2025, the first new-built TRAXX3 MS, purchased by the Railway Reform Authority (ARF, Autoritatea pentru Reformă Feroviară) for the Romanian State, with financing provided through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR, Planul Național de Redresare și Reziliență), arrived in Curtici. It ran to the test centre in Făurei (Centrul de Testări Feroviare), in order to carry out tests necessary for the certification processes, prior to the exploitation of this type of vehicle on the Romanian network.

On 7 August 2025, Alstom and ARF publicly revealed the first TRAXX Universal at an event organized in the premises of the Bucuresti North station, marking a key milestone in the delivery of the contract signed in January 2024. The contract includes 16 locomotives and 20 years of maintenance and repair services, the latter can be extended by a further 20 years by concluding an additional agreement.

The first locomotive has an EVN 91 53 0188 001-8 RO-ARF. The 12-digit number has been decided by the railway authorities in Romania. The TRAXX is currently undergoing a comprehensive dynamic testing program at Făurei, which is planned during August. This will be followed by the testing program in Germany on TSI-certified lines. The locomotive currently appears in a temporary blue livery, applied to protect the surface during testing. When the testing program is completed, final visual dark red coating will be implemented. 

The four-axle locomotives will have a maximum speed of 200 km/h and will be able to haul up to 16 passenger cars. They will be equipped with Alstom’s onboard ETCS. Deliveries will start in the first half of 2026. The new TRAXXes will be used on the electrified routes or later on those after the electrification, as follows:
- Dej - Brașov - București - Constanța,
- Timișoara - Arad - Brașov - București - Constanța,
- Timișoara - Cluj-Napoca - Iași,
- Iași/Suceava - București - Constanța.

On 15 May 2025, ARF published a tender in the Official Journal of the European Union for another 23 electric locomotives for passenger transport. These are to have a maximum speed of 160 km/h, an ETCS OBU and the ability to haul 16 coaches. Personnel training and locomotive maintenance by the manufacturer for a period of 20 years are required. The value of the entire contract is set at 1.57 billion RON (around 309 million EUR). The deadline for submitting bids was 19 June 2025.