How many times have you left to the airport without knowing how long it would take? The distance from Gara de Nord to Henri Coandă International Airport is about 17 kilometres. Depending on the time of day and the day of the week, the same journey takes 20 – 25 minutes on a Sunday morning and 60 – 90 minutes on a Thursday at 5.00 pm. This unpredictability is not a minor inconvenience – it is an invisible cost on your time.

The metro works differently. There are no jams and no unpredictability: the train leaves at regular intervals and covers the route in the same time – the same at 7:00 a.m as at 6:30 p.m. Predictability is, in itself, a resource.

The time savings during peak hours are obvious: M6 Metro Line 6 will cover the route from end to end in 22 – 25 minutes. Compared to 60 – 90 minutes by car – according to the TomTom Traffic Index 2025, Bucharest – a saving of 50 minutes per journey means: 50 minutes × 2 journeys a day × 250 working days a year = 25,000 minutes = 416 hours = 17 days and 8 hours regained every year. This isn’t a statistical average – it’s real time, your time, which you currently spend stuck in traffic.

For the 16 million passengers who pass through Henri Coandă Airport every year – according to Bucharest Airports statistics – predictable access to the airport also means something else: being able to plan precisely, without the margin of error imposed by traffic. Metro Line 6 helps you save time.

Sources: TomTom Traffic Index 2025 – Bucharest | Bucharest Airports – Traffic statistics | GD 930/2016 – Technical and economic indicators, Metro Line 6

According to the TomTom Traffic Index 2025 (data for 2024), Bucharest ranks 3rd in Europe and 22nd in the world for traffic congestion. The average travel speed in the city is 13.3 km/h, and a driver loses an average of 171 hours a year because of traffic – the equivalent of 7 days and 3 hours.

According to the technical and economic indicators approved by Government Decision H.G. 930/2016, M6 Metro Line will have a transport capacity of 50,000 passengers per hour, in each direction. A study published in Nature Cities (2025) confirms that metro systems significantly reduce car use in European cities. Based on the experience of similar projects, between 15 and 25 out of every 100 passengers on a new metro line are former drivers who choose to leave the car at home — which, for M6 Metro Line, could mean thousands of fewer vehicles every day on the capital’s northern corridor.

On saturated arteries, a reduction of 15–20% in traffic volume increases the average travel speed by 20–35% for everyone — including those who continue to use the car. (Transportation Research Board – Highway Capacity Manual, 7th Edition, 2022). Thus, on congested roads, a 15-20% reduction in traffic volume increases the average journey speed by 20-35% for all traffic participants – including those who continue to use their cars. (Transportation Research Board – Highway Capacity Manual, 7th Edition, 2022).

European precedents confirm this trend: following the opening of the M2 metro line in Warsaw (2015), passenger numbers on parallel routes decreased significantly, according to Warsaw Metro. Cities with extensive metro networks, such as Vienna and Stockholm, consistently record some of the lowest congestion levels in Europe.

Less stress in traffic is not a slogan. It is a mathematical consequence of M6 Metro Line.

Sources: TomTom Traffic Index 2025 – Bucharest | GD 930/2016 – Technical and economic indicators, Metro Line 6 | Nature Cities (2025) – Prieto-Curiel et al., modal shift metro | Transportation Research Board – HCM 7th Ed. (2022) | Warsaw Metro – M2 Line

Urban noise is not merely an everyday nuisance. At European level it is treated as an environmental and public health issue. Directive 2002/49/EC on the assessment and management of environmental noise establishes a common framework for identifying, preventing and reducing the harmful effects of exposure to noise, particularly in large urban areas and in areas affected by road, rail or air traffic.

In this context, investment in electric public transport is becoming essential. M6 Metro Line, which will provide a direct link between Gara de Nord and Henri Coandă – Otopeni International Airport, is one such project: an underground infrastructure with a direct impact on mobility and the potential to reduce surface traffic congestion along the capital’s northern corridor.

European data show that the issue of noise is not an abstract one. According to the European Environment Agency report Environmental noise in Europe 2025, long-term exposure to traffic noise is associated with significant effects on health and quality of life. The report estimates that, across Europe, this contributes annually to numerous health problems, including cardiovascular diseases and sleep disorders, as well as to significant economic costs. Furthermore, millions of Europeans are affected by severe sleep disturbances caused by traffic noise, and the economic impact of transport-related noise pollution is estimated at over 100 billion euros annually. The World Health Organisation has also drawn attention to this issue. The WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region, published in 2018, recommend a limit of 53 dB Lden for road traffic, which is stricter than the European threshold of 55 dB. The reason is simple: constant exposure to noise can affect sleep, cardiovascular health and, ultimately, quality of life.

For Bucharest and the Otopeni area, the implications are concrete. According to the technical and economic indicators approved by Government Decision 930/2016, M6 Metro Line will have a maximum transport capacity of 50,000 passengers per hour, in each direction. This capacity can absorb a significant flow of passengers who currently use road transport, thereby helping to reduce the number of cars on the DN1 and on the adjacent roads.

The more cars there are in traffic, the higher the noise level. Conversely, every journey shifted from the car to electric public transport means less pressure on the city. M6 Metro Line serves two purposes: it provides an underground service, with no surface noise, along the route from Gara de Nord to Otopeni Airport, and it helps to reduce road traffic on one of the busiest transport corridors in the Bucharest area.

The benefits will be felt both by residents of the areas along the alignment and by those who continue to use the DN1. Smoother traffic implicitly means less noise from engines, braking, acceleration and horns.

Quiet is rarely the first argument when we talk about infrastructure. More often, we discuss speed, capacity, connectivity or safety. But in the case of M6 Metro Line, acoustic comfort becomes part of the wider change the project brings to the city: mobility that is more efficient, cleaner and friendlier to people.

Sources: EEA – Environmental noise in Europe 2025 | WHO – Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region 2018 | Directive 2002/49/EC | GD 930/2016 – Technical and economic indicators, M6 Metro Line

Transport is one of the sectors in which Romania needs to reduce the pressure on the climate and air quality. According to Romania’s Long-Term Strategy for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Government Decision 1215/2023), between 1990 and 2019, emissions from the transport sector rose by 41%, reaching 18,937 kt CO₂ equivalent in 2019, with road transport as the dominant source – representing approximately 96% of the sector’s total.

source: https://sgg.gov.ro/1/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ANEXA-1-21.pdf

Along the DN1 – Otopeni – Bucharest corridor, this reality is evident every day: the link between the capital, the northern region and Henri Coandă International Airport relies heavily on private cars, taxis and other road vehicles. M6 Metro Line changes this equation, offering a fast, predictable public transport alternative with significantly lower operational emissions per passenger.

Car versus metro
We can make a comparison: let’s take as a reference the road distance of approximately 16-17 km between the Gara de Nord area and Henri Coandă / Otopeni International Airport. Our World in Data indicates, based on UK government reporting figures, approximately 170 g CO₂e/km¹ for a petrol-powered car and approximately 35 g CO₂e/passenger-km for domestic rail transport.
For urban light rail and metro systems, the 2024 UK government methodology (DESNZ – GHG Conversion Factors) indicates an average of 26.16 g CO₂e/passenger-km, whilst for the Glasgow Underground the figure is 34.70 g CO₂e/passenger-km. These values are international benchmarks for comparison, not official factors specific to M6 Metro Line or Romania.
Applying these benchmarks to a distance of 16-17 km, a car journey with a single occupant generates approximately 2.7-2.9 kg CO₂e one way, or 5.4-5.8 kg CO₂e for a return trip. For urban electric transport (26-35 g CO₂e per passenger-km), the same journey would generate approximately 0.42-0.60 kg CO₂e one way, or 0.83-1.19 kg CO₂e return.
The difference is significant: for every passenger who chooses the metro instead of a private car, the estimated saving is around 2.1-2.5 kg CO₂e one way, or 4.2-5.0 kg CO₂e for a return journey. Assuming a car with a single occupant, the metro can have a carbon footprint some 5 to 6.5 times smaller per passenger-km, depending on the emission factor used and on how heavily the system is loaded.

The other emissions matter too
CO₂ is not the only relevant pollutant. Road traffic generates nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) – Emissions of air pollutants from transport, the pollutants emitted by transport contribute to the deterioration of air quality and put pressure on human health. Although exhaust emissions have dicreased in recent decades, particles from the wear of brakes, tyres and road surfaces remain an important component of the pollution generated by road transport.
The electric metro produces no exhaust emissions along its route. Therefore, for journeys transferred from car or taxi to the metro, M6 Metro Line will help reduce local emissions in the areas it crosses and ease the pressure created by road traffic on the Otopeni – Bucharest corridor. The benefit is not only climatic but also urban: more public transport means more predictable mobility, a more efficient link with the airport and a real alternative for the residents, employees and visitors of the northern area of the capital.

M6 Metro Line is a public utility project of national interest, which provides the link between the metro network and Henri Coandă International Airport and contributes to the development of the trans-European transport network TEN-T. The project is not only an investment in infrastructure, but also an urban mobility measure with direct effects on emissions, air quality and connectivity between Bucharest and the airport.

¹CO₂e/km = carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometre. CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent) is a unit of measurement that includes not only carbon dioxide (CO₂) but also the other greenhouse gases, expressed as CO₂ equivalent. Cars also emit methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), not just CO₂. CO₂e adds them all into a single figure, converting them according to their global warming potential. In practice, for a car the difference from pure CO₂ is small, so when the article says “170 g CO₂e/km”, it can be read as “roughly 170 g of greenhouse gases per km, expressed as CO₂”. Per km means per kilometre travelled, with a single passenger in the car (or per passenger-km for public transport, where the emissions are divided by the number of people in the vehicle).

Sources:
Romania’s Long-Term Strategy (GD 1215/2023) | Our World in Data – Travel Carbon Footprint | UK Gov GHG Conversion Factors 2024 | CNAB – Statistical data 2024 | EEA – GHG emissions from transport | EEA – Pollutants from transport