Škoda Group is proposing new technologies for Romania’s rail and urban transport systems

Czech company Škoda Group is making a major push into Romania’s rail and urban transport market, offering battery-powered trains, smart depots and a collision-avoidance system, bursa.ro reported. The manufacturer’s aim is to establish a lasting industrial presence in the country rather than simply deliver vehicles and leave. According to Olesia Laki, Vice President of Škoda Transportation for Southern and Eastern Europe, Romania is a strategically important market because of its size, its substantial need for infrastructure modernisation and its position on European transport corridors.

One of the company’s main proposals for Romania’s railway network, only 40 per cent of which is electrified, is battery electric multiple units (BEMUs). They can operate on non-electrified sections, with a range of 80 to 150 kilometres, while their batteries can be recharged while the trains are in motion. For urban transport, particularly in Bucharest, the company is offering trams from the ForCity Plus family, featuring a 100 per cent low-floor design and rotating bogies that reduce infrastructure wear and improve passenger comfort.

The most innovative part of Škoda’s offering is its “smart depot” concept, in which routine operations are automated. Trams pass through automated inspection points for endoscopic examination of their bogies, cleaning and digital diagnostics. The aim is to significantly reduce staffing requirements – from five employees servicing a single tram to one employee monitoring the process for five trams. The system is already in operation in Finland and Germany and could be adapted to existing depots in Bucharest without massive investment. Škoda is also offering a collision-avoidance system using cameras and lidar sensors, which could be integrated even into the Astra Imperio trams already operating in the city.

The company already has a significant presence in Romania, with around 160-170 trolleybuses equipped with Škoda technology currently in operation, produced in partnership with Solaris. Škoda Group, which employs around 10,000 people and operates seven production sites, recorded new orders worth nearly €1.8 billion in 2025, while EBITDA doubled to €143 million. | BGNES