The first air bicycle lane in Romania: hanging 30 meters above Resita, instead of the funicular

Nearly nine million euros will be invested in Reșița to transform the former funicular that crosses the city center, 30 meters, into a pedestrian walkway and for cyclists. With European funds, the “capital of Banat Montan” manages to preserve its industrial heritage.

Reșița, crossed by an old funicular. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH

Reșița, the capital of Banat Montan and of Caraș-Severin county, is among the few cities in Romania that have managed to preserve some of the industrial heritage of the past and can take advantage of the tourist opportunities offered by it.

Reșița has retained its industrial “charm”

Even if “industrial tourism” is a “niche”, it can give the opportunity to experience visitors. At the same time, for the locals of the former great metallurgical center, now with less than 60,000 inhabitants, the conservation and revitalization of industrial monuments can mean keeping the local identity in a city with a metallurgical tradition for over two and a half centuries.

The center of Reșița is surrounded by the former workers' neighborhoods on the Bârzavei shore and by the old metallurgical platform and of the car builders, famous for the locomotives produced here from the 19th century and for the generators used in the big hydroelectric plants in Romania. It is crossed by Via Transilvanica, but its unusual attraction is the funicular that rises above the city, at 30 meters altitude.

Built in the 1960s for the transport of limestone from the careers in the Doman Valley to the steel combination, the funicular, almost 700 meters long, remained in conservation after 1990, when, one by one, the sections of the factories were closed and decommissioned. The locals looked at him as a symbol of the industrial history of the city and have proposed for several years the revitalization as a tourist route.

In the same situation is the furnace no. 2 from Reșița, also built in the 1960s. Over 60 meters high, the old furnace remained a symbol of the industrial city, even though it was decommissioned in the 1990s. Declared a historical monument to be saved from demolition, he has become the subject of proposals for tourist reconversion in recent years. It is considered a living emblem of the more than 250 years of metallurgical tradition.

Bicycle track 30 meters above town

Last days, the funicular in Reșița received a new chance. The local authorities have obtained European funds worth almost nine million euros to turn the funicular into a spectacular walkway.

The draft sketch. Source ADR West

“Symbol of the industrial heritage and witness of the history of the city, the funicular in the municipality of Reșița, inactive for over three decades, will be rebuilt in a spectacular space for pedestrians and cyclists, with a cultural, tourist and urban mobility. Regional West 2021–2027. transmitted ADR West.

The sketch of the funicular. Source: ADR West

According to the project, from over 30 meters above the city, the inhabitants and tourists will discover Resita from a unique perspective, with relaxation areas, playgrounds and belvedere points. The bird will connect the center of the resort to the hills of the city and to the surrounding hiking routes.

Moreover, Via Transilvanica – the longest pedestrian route in Romania – will also include the funicular. Access will be possible through both ends and a panoramic lift. At the base of the funicular will be arranged a visiting center, a space of exhibitions, projections and events meant to bring to life the industrial heritage of the city.

Romanian and international specialists contributed to the project, who kept the funicular as faithful as possible, intervening only where the structure was affected.

“The funicular in Reșița is an innovative project of urban reconversion. From an abandoned objective, but deeply related to the identity of the city, a unique attraction in Romania is born,” said Sorin Maxim, general manager of ADR West.

Reconversion works are scheduled to end at the beginning of 2028.

Urban park on the industrial ruins of Resita

A land of over two hectares, located on the old industrial platform of Reșița, will be transformed, in turn, into a green space for recreation and connecting with nature, with the help of European funds.

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The city of Reșița, Aerial Pictures Photo Daniel Guță Adevărul (33) JPG

“The new park will be connected to the other neighborhoods of the city through the bicycle streams made with European funds and will combine the spaces open with the intense ones”, The representatives of ADR West have recently transmitted.

According to the project financed with European funds, the park will be divided into two major areas. The active area will include playgrounds for children, multifunctional meadows for relaxation or events, as well as markets for socialization. The passive area, designed for contemplation and reconnection with nature, will include a hill with a role of belvedere point and a refuge for biodiversity arranged around the existing channel.

The total investment amounts to over two million euros, of which 1.9 million euros represent non -reimbursable funding. The park would be completed by the end of March 2027, according to ADR West.

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The city of Reșița photo Daniel Guță Adevărul (91) JPG

The structure of an old funicular, about 30 meters high, passes over Resita, a former city of steel. The capital of Banat Montan keeps some unique tourist attractions, which made it attractive for travelers on Via Transilvanica.

Reșița, “Little Krup of the Balkans”

Reșița has developed over time around the old iron factories, whose ants have been put into operation starting with 1771, for cast iron and steel production.

In the factories of Reșiţa were made the rails of the first railways in Romania, as well as over 800 of the oldest steam locomotives that circulated on the country. On the banks of the Bârzava river, at the entrance to the city, travelers can visit a museum of locomotives built in Reșița. The oldest of them, “Resicza”, made in 1872, is also the oldest steam locomotive in Romania.

After the Great Union, the factories became “Iron and Reșița fields”, where large locomotives, turbo -aggregates, compressors and military and oil equipment were manufactured. During the interwar period, the UDR were nicknamed the “little Krupp of the Balkans”.

The factories in Reșița were nationalized in 1948. In the mid -1950s, they had over 20,000 employees, and their sections stretched on almost 450 hectares. The Romanian state continued to expand the old factories, which became a steel combined, of which, in 1962, the car construction plant (UCM) was detached.

After 1990, both the Combined and the UCM went through restructuring and privatization. The number of employees decreased drastically, and many sections have been decommissioned. In 2024, Hidroelectrica took over UCM Reșița, announcing that it will continue the production and modernization of the hydro -aggregates.

An old section of the combination of Reșița, Otelăria, however, works, however, the iron and coal mines in the localities close to Reșiţa were closed after 1990, as well as most of the mining operations in Banatul Montan and the Poiana Ruscă Mountains.

Monuments of the past, between rescue and forgetfulness

Several cities in Romania tried to take advantage of the precious industrial heritage, in many cases abandoned after 1990, to transform it into tourist areas, with the help of investments financed by the European Union.

In Timișoara, the old water tower in the Iosefin district, built at the beginning of the 20th century, is in the process of conversion, to be transformed into a cultural and tourist space.

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Water tower in Rimișoara Photo Dominic Fritz Facebook JPG

“The reconversion works are approaching the end: we have transformed the tanks into visible spaces, the elevator is mounted, and soon the visitors will be able to climb up to 45 meters, in a panoramic point where the entire Iosefin and the Bega Canal can be seen.”recently informs Dominic Fritz, the mayor of Timisoara.

The coal mine (anthracite) from Anina (Caraș-Severin county) operated for over two and a half centuries, being closed in the late 1990s. Some of its historical buildings have been saved from demolition and will be part of a mining museum, arranged with European funds. Reconversion work began in 2020, but have not yet been completed.

Several buildings of the former Petrila coal (Hunedoara county), closed since 2015, have remained in conservation and forms a historical ensemble administered by the Hunedoara County Council. Authorities seek financing to restore them as tourist attractions, while mining constructions – some, as a Deak mine, with a history of a century and a half – are increasingly affected by degradation.

Roşia Montană with UNESCO acknowledged industrial heritage

From 2021, part of Roşia Montană commune (Alba county), together with the mining galleries dug in the Roman era, was included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. The new status of the mining locality has increased the attractiveness, and the number of tourists who visit the oldest gold in Romania, the galleries that have become museum, is increasing.

“There were also a thousand tourists a day at the Romanian Galleries. Roșia Montană has so much to offer to people”, report Sorin Jurca.

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Rosia Montană Photo Daniel Guță Adevărul (303) JPG

Although valuable, the industrial “emblems” of other localities in Romania have come to ruin, and the revitalization plans for them have proved mere promises. In Hunedoara, the furnace from Govăjdia, the oldest such monument left in Romania, is abandoned over two centuries after its construction. The mining railway that connected him to Hunedoara, with a spectacular 800 meters tunnel, had the same fate.

Built a century ago, the former coal power plant of the city of Vulcan in the Jiu Valley, one of the oldest in Romania, was almost demolished by the locals. Better hidden on the Govăjdiei Valley, a hydroelectric plant built during the same period remained in forgetfulness.

The water tower in Petrosani. Photo: Daniel Guță

A water tower in Petroșani, as old and similar to the one in Iosefin (Timișoara), was also left, together with the nearby buildings and locomotives, of the former Jiu Valley.