The Economic Impact of Rail Freight Transport Corridors in Romania

Although opening of the rail freight market enabled the new operators to enter the railway network, the market mechanisms have not been and still are not enough to organize, regulate and guaranty safety of the rail freight traffic. In this context, establishing some international rail corridors for a European rail network for a competitive freight transport, on which the freight trains may be able to run well with the trains being able to change one network to another easily, would allow improvement of infrastructure useage conditions. Beside an economic role, the multimodal transport also has a social and a political role. The transport is a combination of industry and services, being characterized by specific aspects which raise different positions from engineers, economists and politicians. The economic, social and political objectives of the transport company are achieved by means of its basic component: the rail road. The transport services represent the result of demand, of a nature deriving from the economic activity.