The discontinued narrow-gauge train service that used to bring limestone from Costesti to the chemical industrial platform in Ramnicu Valcea could start running again following an initiative of the Kogayon Association to introduce it into a tourist circuit through the area of the UNESCO aspiring geopark Foothill Oltenia, through a partnership planned between county and local authorities targeting this highly picturesque area in Valcea County.
The light industrial railway that crosses five localities in the county has no longer been used since 2019, when the owners of the Govora Soda Plant, the Polish group Ciech SA halted its activity; the train risks ending up as scrap metal, after it was sold together with the plant to companies specializing in metal waste collection and selling.
‘The railway has great potential if a solution is found to use it as a tourist route, even if only on a certain stretch, like for instance Tomsani-Bistrita, the most picturesque section of this track, and which is around eight – nine kilometers long. The infrastructure is well preserved and not at all degraded because, if I am not mistaken, the engine was running for maintenance until last year. And the stations along the route are still standing, although they are abandoned. But they can be refurbished and can be easily integrated into sightseeing routes with them as starting points, so that the narrow-gauge infrastructure can give momentum and help develop the entire Bistrita Valley,’ president of the Kogayon Association Florin Stoican declared for AGERPRES.
He added that talks have already taken place with railway infrastructure experts to identify solutions to adapt the narrow gauge train to passenger transport, and he also called on county authorities to support this initiative by approaching the new owners of the soda plant for discussions on plans to modernize the railway for tourist purposes.
The story of this narrow-gauge railway, the only one south of the Carpathians, began at the end of the 19th century when it was established by royal order, to connect the mountainous area of Vaideeni to the town of Babeni on a route of approximately 50 kilometers on which wood was carried down from the mountains, but it was also used to transport passengers, especially workers, from the nearby localities. The railway was in operation until after World War II, when it was decommissioned by the communist authorities following he development of road infrastructure; the Tomsani-Viadeeni stretch was dismantled.
In 1959, however, with the construction of the Govora Soda Plant – the first economic facility in the re-established Valcea County, the narrow-gauge train was put back into operation in order to bring raw material to the industrial capacity from the Costesti limestone quarry, on a modified route that still retains about 70% of the old track.
Currently, the 760 mm-gauge railway is 44 kilometers long and has four stations where trains can intersect.
The duration of a railway round trip across the center of the county, from Olt to the foothills of the Capatanii Mountains, takes approximately five hours, but the route is lined with tourist attractions worth visiting, starting with the Buila-Vanturarita National Park, the Trovant Museum and dozens of old churches and monasteries in Costesti, the reservoirs on the Bistrita in Tomsani, the Dintr-un Lemn and Surpatele monasteries in Francesti, the realm of the Roma wood craftsmen in Babeni, and ending with the Govora Monastery in the Mihaesti commune.
In order to save this railway, the Kogayon Association has also initiated an online petition, which has already collected 600 signatures.
