Back in October 2024, Romania, as well as Albania, Bulgaria, Italy and North Macedonia, joined the Pan-European Military Mobility Corridor VIII.
“Harmonized Military Mobility Corridors aim at creating a network of main routes meant to simplify and accelerate the movement of military forces, equipment and material, both during peacetime and crisis or in conflict situations,” reads a release at the time from Romania’s Ministry of National Defence, MaPN.
This is part of NATO and the EU’s efforts to strengthen their eastern flank, specifically in the Black Sea region, and is meant to link the Adriatic and Black seas. The goal is increased security and the ability to mobilize fast when needed.
NATO has been holding regular exercises in the region as well, and Romania’s Forward Land Forces Multinational Battle Group is one of eight multinational battlegroups that take part. U.S. Army V Corps, Hungarian Defense Forces, and Romanian Land Forces just held the Saber Guardian 25 exercises last month, involving 10,000 U.S., Allied, and partner forces from seven nations to boost defense readiness in the region.
Unfortunately, Romania’s deteriorating railways and lack of roads through the Carpathians are a major concern.
“If the only way you can move troops is on an inadequate railway, that’s a major strategic vulnerability,” U.S. Army General Ben Hodges told Rail Freight, according to Defence Blog.
Hodges, who previously served as the commander of U.S. forces in Europe, said Romanian infrastructure was in a “miserable” state, citing “rusted rails” and “weak bridges.”
The portal compared the speed of some trains in Romania to that of a bicycle, and although problems can be found in all Allied countries, the issues become more of a concern closer to Russia. “Moving tanks, artillery, and air defense systems quickly under such conditions becomes a logistical fiction,” it writes.
State-run rail freight company CFR Marfă has now received a €2 million contract for military transport services, a deal Defence Blog calls a “temporary patch” given the company’s major debt issues and the reality of the very real overhaul Romania’s rail system needs.
Legal, regulatory, and diplomatic barriers also abound, leading Hodges and French General Bertrand Toujouse to call for a “military Schengen” agreement to deal with these issues. However, the physical problems would remain, and as Hodges says, “A single inadequate tunnel can block the transport of an entire air defense system, like a Patriot launcher.”
Of the 5 percent of GDP defense budget goal Romania promised to reach over the next decade, 3.5 percent will go to military salaries and procurement, and 1.5 percent towards military infrastructure, including highways of military importance, according to Digi24.
According to the portal, new highways will be built with the country’s army budget to aid NATO mobilization of tanks and armored vehicles. One corridor would run from Germany to Romania, then split off towards both the east and south. Another high-speed route would run from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea, from Lithuania to Romania.
These corridors are aggressive investments in infrastructure and include areas in Romania where no roads even exist. Digi24 says Romania would not only have to stick to its defense budget commitment to achieve this but also declare some sections of “military importance,” which would require approval from Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT).
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