Metrorex has opened the Străulești Depot and the metro driver’s cab simulator at Valea Ialomiței station.
Between 16 and 22 September, around 3,000 towns and cities across Europe and beyond marked European Mobility Week, the European Commission’s campaign dedicated to sustainable urban transport. Bucharest and Ilfov concentrated their events on the weekend of 19-20 September, and Metrorex opened the Străulești Depot and the train driving simulator to the public.
A campaign that culminates in Car-Free Day
The “European Mobility Week” campaign takes place every year during the same week, 16-22 September, and concludes on 22 September with World Car-Free Day, when participating cities rethink the way their streets are used, making way for people rather than cars. This year, the organisers have maintained the 2025 message, ‘Mobility for All’, and added a new dimension: intergenerational equity. In short, transport must work for children, adults and older people alike.
At the launch of the campaign, the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said that the decisions we make today – how we travel, how we plan our cities, what we invest in – will determine the kind of mobility that future generations will inherit. The Commissioner took part in the events in Strasbourg and Thessaloniki as part of the CIVITAS Forum 2026.
Bucharest – Ilfov: historic trams, depot tours, the Presidential Train
In the Bucharest – Ilfov region, the programme was coordinated by TPBI, in collaboration with Bucharest City Hall and STB, with the participation of CFR and Metrorex. King Michael I Park served as the starting point for special routes to destinations in Ilfov and hosted bike rides and fanfare concerts. An exhibition of historic public transport vehicles was organised at Basarab Station, featuring special tram and trolleybus services. The STB depot and bus depot on Șoseaua Giurgiului welcomed visitors on guided tours, and at Gara de Nord the public were able to visit the Presidential Train, the Malaxa railcar No. 780, the Royal Salon and the CFR Museum.
Metrorex: #TogetherBeyondThePlatform
Metrorex has chosen to show the public what cannot be seen from the platform. Under the hashtag #TogetherBeyondThePlatform, two series of events were organised on Saturday and Sunday, between 10 am and 1pm, with limited places and advance booking required:
- At the Străulești Depot, visitors stepped into an area not usually open to the public: the place where the metro trains are ‘based’. They discovered how a depot is organised, just how vast such a space is, and what goes on with the trains when they are not in service. For the youngest visitors, the Metrorex Museum at the Străulești Depot prepared a surprise: they took part in a fibre-optic workshop, where they had the chance to discover, in an interactive and fun way, some of the technologies that make metro transport systems possible.
- At Valea Ialomiței, at the metro train driver’s cab simulator, participants had the chance to experience a day in the life of a train driver and learn about the responsibilities of this profession. They were able to experience driving the train themselves in a simulated environment and learnt how drivers prepare and train to ensure the safe transport of passengers every day.
M6 Metro Line: the practical test of the European theme
M6 Metro Line is, in practice, Bucharest’s answer to the question asked by the European campaign: what kind of mobility are we giving to future generations?
The 1 Mai – Otopeni Line, comprising 14.2 km of double-track line and 12 stations, will connect the capital’s metro network to Henri Coandă International Airport. A metro line is built once and runs for decades: the line to Otopeni will be used by people who haven’t even been born yet and will take off the road cars that haven’t even been manufactured yet. For the child at the simulator’s controls, the journey to the airport will be a metro ticket; for their parents, a journey time they can rely on; for grandparents, a train they can reach without having to climb any stairs.
M6 is a project for Romania!
