Astra Rail Industries reached 2,500 employees in 2015, 400 more than the average of 2014 in its three locations in Turnu Severin, Arad and Caracal, while revenue was flat at about EUR135 million.
“There hasn’t been any order for new freight cars in Romania in the past eleven years. Astra Rail Industries only sells scrap iron on the local market. We don’t get any orders because of the condition of the infrastructure, which is unable to withstand axle loads of 22.5 tons,” says Fulger Popescu, chief operating officer of Astra Rail Industries.
The lack of orders on the local market is due to the poor infrastructure, due to the country’s railroads having been neglected in the past 25 years. Average speed of passenger trains stood at 43 kilometers/hour in 2014, while average speed of freight trains stood at 21 kilometers/hour.
The manufacturer signed contracts with new customers in Europe last year, such as Nacco (France), Ermewa (UK), OBB Austria and ZOS Trnava, Fulger Popescu says. It exports its freight cars and railroad trucks to European customers directly, from which its freight cars reach other continents, as well.
Fulger Popescu expects revenue to reach about EUR130 million in 2016, which might increase once the company adds new contracts, so as to beat the 2015 results. Orders through September 2016 are enough to generate EUR130 million revenue.
“We had that surge in 2014 (when the revenue doubled i.e.) because we gained new customers, but demand is constant in Europe,” Popescu says.
Revenue reached EUR132 million in 2014, double as much as in 2013.
Astra Rail Industries took over the assets of Astra Vagoane Arad, Meva and Romvag Caracal, all three insolvent, in 2012 and has since regained some of the contracts the three had lost while battling insolvency.
Astra Rail Industries has been making railroad cars for 130 years, during which it built more than 250,000 units.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)