The car that used to bring limestone from Costești to the chemical platform in Râmnicu Valcea could circulate again, at the initiative of the Kogayon Association, which wants to save it and introduce it into a tourist circuit through the area of the aspiring UNESCO Oltenia under the mountain geopark through a partnership that it proposes to the county and local authorities in this very picturesque area of Valcea County. The light industrial railway that runs through five localities in the county, Mihăești, Băbeni, Frâncești, Tomșani and Costești, has not been used since 2019, when the owners of the Govora Soda Ash Plant, the Polish group Ciech SA, stopped the activity and now risks to end up in the scrap heap, after being sold together with the plant to companies specialized in the collection and recovery of waste, including ferrous waste.
‘The railway has great potential if a solution can be found to use it as a tourist train, even if only for a portion, for example Tomșani-Bistrița, the most picturesque section of this route, which is around eight, nine kilometers long. The infrastructure is well preserved, it is not degraded at all, because, if I am not mistaken, the locomotive was running for maintenance until last year. The stations on the route are also still standing, although they are deserted. But they can easily be converted and sightseeing trails can easily be made from them, so that it can become an element of infrastructure that can develop and uplift the entire Bistrița valley’, said the president of the Kogayon Association, Florin Stoican.
He added that discussions have already taken place with railway infrastructure specialists to find solutions to adapt the train to passenger transport and he also appealed to the county authorities to support this approach by initiating discussions with the new owners of the soda factory.
A round trip on this railway, which runs through the center of the county from Olt to the foot of the Căpățânii Mountains, takes about five hours, but there are a number of tourist attractions to visit along the way, starting with the Buila-Vânturarița National Park, The Trovantilor Museum and the dozens of old churches and monasteries in Costești, the reservoirs on the Bistrița in Tomșani, the monasteries of Dintr-un Lemn and Surpatele in Frâncești, the land of the rudari wood craftsmen in Băbeni and the Govora Monastery in the commune of Mihăești. In order to save this railroad, the Kogayon Association has also initiated an online petition, which has already collected 600 signatures.