The purpose of the paper is to make an analysis of the transport activity at CFR travellers SA based on the evolution of the main efficiency indicators in this field. The purpose of the analysis is to accurately determine the advantages and disadvantages of this activity and to find ways to improve it. We have chosen this activity because it has dropped in intensity during the last years and also because its quality is lacking in Romania. The analyzed period is 2007-2009 and graphics have been made to see the indicators’ evolution and to allow the activity’s assessment. The European Union encourages railway transport because of its advantages and because it is probably the most environmentally friendly and it is one way to achieve sustainable transport.indicators; efficiency; passenger; railway transport

SIMA, Elena

English

Research Papers in Economics

69
THE ANALYSIS OF THE CFR TRAVELLERS SA ACTIVITY FROM THE 
VIEWPOINT OF EFFICIENCY INDICATORS
Elena SIMA, Associate Prof. Ph.D., ec.ing.
Romanian-German University of Sibiu
Abstract
The  purpose  of  the  paper  is  to  make  an  analysis  of  the  transport 
activity at CFR travellers SA based on the evolution of the main efficiency 
indicators in this field. 
The purpose of the analysis is to accurately determine the advantages 
and disadvantages of this activity and to find ways to improve it. 
We have chosen this activity because it has dropped in intensity during 
the last years and also because its quality is lacking in Romania. 
The analysed period is 2007-2009 and graphics have been made to see 
the indicators’ evolution and to allow the activity’s assessment. 
The  European  Union  encourages  railway  transport  because  of  its 
advantages and because it is probably the most environmentally friendly and 
it is one way to achieve sustainable transport. 
Key-words: indicators, efficiency, passenger, railway transport
JEL Classification: L620
Introduction 
The paper aims the passenger railway transport activity and wants to establish 
its advantages and disadvantages, but also its possibility to improve by using the 
opportunities offered by the European Union.
The  analysed  issue  is  extremely  important  because  the  passenger  railway 
transport is very popular and used in many European countries and also worldwide 
due to the advantages it offers but in Romania it has gradually deteriorated and 
nowadays it is no longer attractive to the public.
The  analysis  of  this  activity  based  on  efficiency  indicators  calculated 
according  to  the  data  supplied  by  the  company  between  2007-2009  allows 
assessing the activity and, at the same time, to determine its evolution in time, and 
its result might represent a warning signal for the deciding factors in the field. 
Road infrastructure had a more rapid  development than rail infrastructure, 
which allowed an increase of commercial speed offered by road transport. The gap 
between commercial speeds of railway transport and the road transport could be 
amplified unless some major investments in the railway infrastructure are made. 
Currently, the road passenger transport already has for certain routes (Bucharest-
Sibiu, Bucharest-Cluj, Bucharest-Campina) commercial speeds comparable to the 
fast trains at a lower price than this category of train. 70
Road  carriers  have  an  increased  flexibility  as  compared  to  the  railway 
transport considering the following: easier access to infrastructure (the completion 
of  some  bureaucratic  and  time-consuming  procedures  is  not  requested),  the 
transport offer can be more easily measured according to the existing demand on 
the  market  (by  the  introduction  of  buses  on  the  routes  with  low  demand), 
introducing  certain  easier  routes,  choosing  the  stopping  or  departure  locations. 
Road carriers are not required to comply with a particular one-year time schedule, 
since their licenses can be renewed every three months. 
Road carriers are very easily available on the routes where CFR Passengers 
SA has shortcomings in terms of timetables, stations and stop time or the offered 
commercial speed. 
It is important for the railway transport to overcome the current stage and to 
modernise, to meet the customers’ requirements because it is an environmentally 
friendly means of transportation, being able to contribute to the development of a 
sustainable transport accepted by the European Union. 
The latest specialty books mention the decline of passenger railway transport 
but it does not offer too much evidence to explain this phenomenon.  
The literature’s review on the subject
The fundamental objectives of the railway enterprises are presented in the 
paper The Railway transport management, written by Simut V. [7]:
￿ At the level of rail infrastructure
o the  rehabilitation  of  rail  infrastructure  according  to  the  designed 
parameters of travel safety and the modernization of rail infrastructure to allow 
passenger trains to run at 160 km/h speed and freight trains at 120 km/h speed, with 
priority on pan-European transport corridors;
o ensuring interoperability with the European railway transport systems by 
complying with its technical and operational parameters;
o the privatisation of maintenance, repairing, industrial activity departments, 
of services and other such  departments, which  ensure the railway  infrastructure 
exploitation. 
￿ For the passenger railway transport
o the  orientation  towards  the  market’s  tendencies  and  the  customer’s 
expectations;
o improving the quality of railway transport services through a more flexible 
offer and a high level of technical availability;
o increasing productivity of work and resources;
o a  large-scale  introduction  of  information  technology  in  management, 
statistics etc.;
o adjusting the national safety regulations and compatibility of the rolling 
stock, both of the modernisation means and of the new, European ones.
￿ For the rail freight
o the gradual decentralisation of the national company, so that the flexibility 
of the system is provided;71
o alignment to the ISO international quality standards;
o reducing the response times of the system with the purpose to accomplish a 
better feed-back connection between the bottom and top of decisional pyramid;
o making  some  sectors  profitable,  by  setting  up  some  legally  binding 
subsidiaries, which would allow private capital raising;
o the  modernisation  of  technical  equipment  and  working  technologies  at 
terminals and bringing them to the European standards. 
Specific indicators of the rail transport activity are generally mentioned in 
most specialty books. 
Theoretical approach
The nineteenth century brought the rail transport, as an  expression  of the 
perpetual  need  for  more,  safer,  faster  and  over  time  it  managed  to  develop 
continually. 
In Romania, the railway transport, which currently faces a recession moment,
has  success  perspectives  only  if  it  adjusts  to  the  trans-European  conventional 
transport system, thus turning into an open system, where interconnection with the 
other means of transportation is easy for the different interested economic agents. 
This means of transportation has the chance to turn into a genuine engine of 
development, by accomplishing the already started or under development projects, 
at the same time involving an entire collateral industry and therefore demonstrating 
that  we  are  able  to  understand  and  apply  the  European  common  language  of 
development. 
The results of the railway transport are important; it is an essential element of the 
economic and social development process, often covering a significant proportion of 
the national budgets. There is a strong correlation between the GNP and mileage. This 
helps development by facilitating both national and international trade, improving the 
population’s access to jobs, education, health and other services.  
An effective and efficient transport lowers admission prices and through this 
production costs and thus may lead to a higher economic prosperity. Increasing 
services’ quality improves staff mobility and facilitates economic growth. These, in 
exchange, contribute to the social development and help reduce poverty, especially 
in countries in transition. In this way, both quantity and quality of railway transport 
infrastructure affect all aspects of life. 
In Romania, railway transport has noticed passed the last years through some 
serious changes by institutional reorganisation based on the principle of moving 
from the technicist to the commercial  concept, aiming to  offer the best  quality 
possible  to  railway  transport  service  and  to  create  the  conditions  for  fully 
integrating the railway transport in our country into the European network. 
Ever since the creation process of the National Passenger Railway Transport 
Company, the development of certain efficient activities was considered – meaning 
the  development  of  transport  activities  that  would  meet  the  desired  objectives. 
Effectiveness  involves  producing  the  desired  results  as  opposed  to  efficiency, 
which shows how well resources were used to get the desired results.   72
Indicators are currently used to analyse the economic-financial situation of
any  company and they are presented taking into account the particularities and 
specificity  of  the  activity  developed  by  the  public  passenger  railway  transport 
companies. 
◘ indicators regarding incomes;
◘ indicators regarding expenses;
◘ turnover;
◘ economic efficiency indicators:
– Gross profit;
– Net profit;
– Net profit/passenger, which represents the ratio between the obtained net 
profit and the number of passengers, sent in a particular period of time.
The measurement unit is lei/passenger.
Gp/pass=Np/pass, where:
– Expenses  for  1000  lei  incomes  (the  smaller  the  expense  is,  the  more 
efficient the activity is);
– Job productivity (passengers’ route/employee);
– Specific fuel consumption (diesel);
– Specific consumption of energy;
– Total expenses per seat, represents the ration between total expenses and 
the trains’ number of seats (carrying capacity).
– Total expenses per passenger-kilometre.
◘ Financial balance indicators:
– Claims and debts.
The evolution of main indicators
In 2009, while  major infrastructure  works  have limited both the transport 
ability and speed on the main routes (Bucharest-Constanta and Bucharest-Brasov) 
and  by  extending  the  process  of  taking  over  the  exploitation  of  certain 
interoperable departments by private operators, the evolution of passenger traffic 
has continued to be unfavourable, as it follows (table 1):
Table 1
The evolution of passenger traffic
2007 2008 2009 2009/2008(%)
Sent passengers. 
(thousands)
93201 85753 75343 87,9
Passengers km  
(mil.)
8049 7417 6877 92,773
93201
85753
75343
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
t
h
o
u
s
a
n
d
s
sent pass
(thousands)
sent pass
(thousands)
93201 85753 75343 87,9
2007 2008 2009
2009/20
08(%)
Fig. 1. The evolution of sent passengers
According to the graphical representation on the last three years (fig. 1) a 
gradual  decrease  of  passenger  traffic  can  be  noticed,  so  that  in  2007,  93201 
passengers  have  been  transported  and  in  2009  the  number  reached  75343  sent 
passengers. 
8049
7417
6877
6000
6500
7000
7500
8000
8500
m
i
l
.
passenger km (mil.)
passenger
km (mil.)
8049 7417 6877 92,7
2007 2008 2009
2009/2
008(%)
Fig. 2. The evolution of passengers-km traffic
We can also notice in the chart above a gradual decrease of passengers-km, 
therefore in 2009 there  were 6877 passengers-km  (mil.), as against 2007  when 
there was a total number 8049 passengers-km (mil.)74
The transport offer expressed in seats-km has been permanently revised and 
adjusted,  but  a  practical  correlation  to  the  actual  traffic  volume  expressed  in 
passengers-km was impossible, resulting, both for the trains’ routes (train/km) and 
for seats-km, in a smaller decrease than that of the passengers’ traffic. 
Consequently,  the  average  transport  capacity  usage  decreased  from  2008 
(table 2)
Table 2
Use of passenger trains
2007 2008 2009 2009/2008(%)
Intercity
Fast trains
Semi-fast trains
Slow trains
Train km-total 
(thousands)
5374
13954
10702
37354
67899
4672
13951
11450
36536
67117
4072
12014
13646
36002
66286
87,2
86,1
119,2
98,5
98,8
Intercity
Fast trains
Semi-fast trains
Slow trains
Seats km-Total (mil.)
1434
5321
5263
12889
24907
1354
5378
5475
11805
24014
1304
4641
5640
11008
22586
96,3
86,3
103
93,2
94,1
0
20000
40000
60000
80000 1.intercity
2.fast trains
3.semi-fast trains
4.slow trains
5.train km-total
(thousands)
1.intercity 5374 4672 4072
2.fast trains 13954 13951 12014
3.semi-fast
trains
10702 11450 13646
4.slow trains 37354 36536 36002
5.train km-total
(thousands)
67899 67117 66286
2007 2008 2009
Fig. 3. Use of passenger trains per train km75
According to the graphic representation of the use of passenger trains per 
train km, it can be noticed that (fig. 3):
The intercity trains registered a decrease of passengers/train km from 5374 in 
2007 to 1072 passengers/train km (thousands) in 2009 – curve 1
The fast trains also registered a decrease of passengers/train km from 13954 
in 2007 to 12014 passengers/train km in 2009 – curve 2
We can notice an increase of passengers/train km for semi-fast trains, namely 
in 2007 there were 10702 and in 2009 it reached 13646 passengers/ train km –
curve 3.
This  increase of the passengers’ flow  for semi-fast trains is  due to  lower 
pricing than those for fast trains and  intercity, to the running speed and higher 
comfort as against inferior trains (slow trains).
The slow trains registered a decrease form 37354 passengers/ train  km  in 
2007 to 36002 passengers/train km in 2009 – curve 4.
Therefore, the total train km registered a decrease from 67899 passengers/ 
train km in 2007 to a total of 66286 passengers/train km in 2009 – curve 5.
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000 1.intercity
2.fast trains
3.semi-fast trains
4.slow trains
5.seats km - total (mil)
1.intercity 1434 1354 1304
2.fast trains 5321 5378 4641
3.semi-fast trains 5263 5475 5640
4.slow trains 12889 11805 11008
5.seats km - total
(mil)
24907 24014 22586
2007 2008 2009
Fig. 4. Use of passenger trains per seats km
We can also notice the following changes in the above graphic representation 
(fig. 4):
There can be noticed a decrease from 1434 passengers/seat km (mil.) in 2007 
to 1304 passengers/seat km (mil.) in 2009 for the intercity trains – curve 1
For  the  fast  trains  there  can  also  be  noticed  a  decrease  from  5321 
passengers/seats km in 2007 to 4641 passengers/seats km in 2009 – curve 2
In  this  case,  too,  there  can  be  noticed,  for  the  semi-fast  trains,  a  slight 
decrease, namely that in 2007 there were 5263 passengers/seats km and in 2009, 
there were 5640 passengers/seats km – curve 3.76
The slow  trains  registered  a  decrease  from 12889  passengers/seats  km  in 
2007 to a number of 11008 passengers/seats km in 2009 – curve 4.
Thus, regarding the total seats km, there has been registered a decrease from 
24907 passengers/seats km in 2007 to 22586 passengers/seats km in 2009 – curve 5.
Conclusions
If the basic railway production (net tons-km, passengers-km) has increased 
significantly during the last century in Romania (therefore in 1981 the number of 
carried  passengers  was  3  times  higher  than  that  from  1950  and  the  volume  of 
delivered tons increased more than 6 times during the same period), the situation 
has now degenerated a little [5].
We  should  mention  that  the  decrease  of  passenger  traffic  was  caused  by 
several factors, including:
¤ the  failure  to  correlate  trains’  timetable  to  the  passengers’  needs  by 
establishing inadequate routes (departure hours, arrival hours and links between 
trains);
¤ high operating costs;
¤ tax  collection  by  the  state  of  railway  infrastructure  use,  comparatively 
higher than the taxes to use road infrastructure, creating an unfair competition to 
the disadvantage of the railway transport; 
¤ the  state  intervention  in  different  ways  in  the  two  railway  and  road 
transport  systems  meaning  that  the  road  infrastructure  is  built,  modernised  and 
maintained with money from the state budget and for the railway infrastructure 
budgetary allocations are almost zero, its maintenance and repair is done entirely 
with money from the budget of the CFR SA railway company; 
¤  Reducing  in  the  number  of  economic  agents  and  their  staff  structure, 
resulting in a smaller number of commuting employees.  
The  effects  of  the  railway  transport  are  important;  it  is  an  essential 
component  of  the  economic  and  social  development  process,  often  covering  a 
significant proportion of the national budgets. There is a close relation between 
GNP  and  mileage.  This  helps  development  by  facilitating  both  national  and 
international trade,  improving population’s access to jobs,  education, healthcare 
and other services.  
The European Union transport policy aims to regain the market, the safest 
and less polluting means of transportation, by taking into account the enormous 
social  costs  caused  by  the  congestion  of  the  other  means  of  transportation, 
pollution and accidents. 
This  policy’s  landmarks  are  supporting  the  infrastructure  projects,  the 
implementation  of  new  technologies,  the  liberalisation  and  development  of  a 
competitive  rail  market,  unitary  at  European  level,  as  well  as  redefining 
passengers’ rights and obligations. 
CFR  Passengers’  main  priority  consists  of  increasing  the  company’s 
economic  efficiency,  by  increasing  the  volume  of  the  passengers  transport, 
according to certain technical and economic parameters. 77
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THE ANALYSIS OF THE CFR TRAVELERS SA ACTIVITY FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF EFFICIENCY INDICATORS

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THE ANALYSIS OF THE CFR TRAVELERS SA ACTIVITY FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF EFFICIENCY INDICATORS

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