RAILWAY TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT IN THE COVID 19 ERA AND THE ECONOMIC SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY

This paper presents the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic at national and European level on the activity of the railway transport sector and the countermeasures necessary for the recovery in the post-Covid era. The Covid-19 pandemic could be the opening to a new mentality in the field of transport and the way to embrace a new mobility. Following the evolution of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-cov-2 virus, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, which pushed most governments to take measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. These measures affected and had a negative impact on the entire economies, including the railway industry, which was severely affected due to the restriction of the movement of people and the quarantine of some localities. The demand at the level of the railway transport market has decreased dramatically, as well as the benefits and implicitly the revenues.