Romania’s public railway infrastructure company CFR SA has launched an auction to pick the contractor for the design and construction of a railway link between the airport and the central train station, according to G4Media.

The request was published on the electronic auctioning system SEAP and is estimated at a value of nearly RON500mn (€115mn). The link must be commissioned within 14 months, since it must be operational during the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament. Romania was assigned four games of the 2020 finals back in 2014. 

The link is needed for more general purposes as well, since the traffic at Bucharest airport is rising and its expansion is among the government's priority projects. Passenger numbers at the airport have soared in recent years, as Romania’s economy has expanded and more budget airlines have started serving the airport, with carriers such as easyJet, Ryanair and WizzAir competing with national flag carrier Tarom and low cost Blue Air.

The winning bidder must demonstrate its capacity to comple the project before the given deadline, CFR specified. The price was given a modest 40% weight in the overall evaluation of the bids, while the proven technological capacity is more important (60%).

In the past, two alternatives have been considered for connecting the airport with downtown Bucharest and the central train station, metro and railway. The railway link would be much less expensive and in principle take less time to complete, yet it being commissioned in due time remains problematic.