ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

84Şerban Pătraşculiberals, on which are added the expenses made when trying to repair thetramways, the construction of the garages and also those made whentransporting them from Odessa, doesn’t seem to be exaggerated. From theofficial documents of the Authorities we find that just between 1942 and 1943were made investments of about 100 millions lei, representing funds from theMunicipality and the Communal Factories, materialized in subsidies and loans. 25The abolition of the Tramways and Trolleybuses Service let the peoplefrom Craiova without any mean of common transport. In these terms, theRussians requisitioned, confiscated and claimed on the Armistice’s account, anykind of motor vehicle 26 and, the transportation problem, remained unsolved forcouple of years.There were several trials yet. In November 1944, in one of the localnewspapers 27 , appeared the piece of news regarding the intention of an importantSwedish industrial group to found at Craiova a tram line for a tramway drawn byhorses; and in March 1946, The Autonomous Administration of the RomanianRailways, after it initially had accepted to provide the people’s transportation inthe city with vehicles imported from U.S.S.R., declined its competence 28 . Onlyin September 1946, an enterprising man, Alexandru Pasat, opened for traffic 4buses on the route Centre – The Station, starting from the front side of the NewYork hotel 29 .As a conclusion, the old wish of the Craiova’s Authorities couldn’t befulfilled at that date. There will pass another 45 years until the long desiredtramways will circulate on the streets of Craiova.they had to be put back in motion there, an action which took more money, plus the electric cablebought from Germany and plus the pillars” (Alexandru Badea Constantinescu, Labirintul Terorii,edition accurate by prof. dr. Toma Rădulescu, Craiova, Sim Art Publishing House, 2006, p.48.).25 Buletinul Oficial al Municipiului Craiova, from 1942, 1943 and 1944.26 The Soviets took from Romania motor vehicles representing 85 % of the entire carpark (cf. Mihail Romniceanu, Zece luni în Guvernul Groza, Bucureşti,”Jurnalul Literar”Publishing House, 2003, p. 45). This is what happened: “At every city’s barrier and at the mainjunctions were installed Soviet military posts to control the vehicles, and there were confiscatedany kind of vehicle which appear to them as suspect. Each Soviet solder whished to own a car andfrom here emerged the terrible abuses”. (Alexandru Badea Constantinescu, op. cit., p. 39).27 Situaţia, an. I, nr. 42 from 30 th November 1944, p. 1.28 Situaţia, an. II, nr. 416 from 15 th March 1946, p. 2.In order to remediate the situationregarding the public transportation, the press interfered: “The people from Craiova won’t besatisfied with just one main line, even if this is for buses, and which suppose to make theconnection between the Station, Centre and Romanescu Park” (Situaţia, an. II, nr.532, from 8 thAugust 1946, p. 1).29 Drum Nou, an. II, nr. 22 from 29 th September 1946, p. 2.