Dobrogea’s Iron Road towards Romania: Negotiating the Sale of the British-Built Infrastructure in Romanian Dobrogea (1878–1882)

This article examines the complex relationship between the Romanian government and a consortium of British investors regarding the fate of the Constanța – Cernavodă railway in Dobrogea, a province ceded to Romania in 1878. The railway, constructed by a British company (DBSR) in the late 1850s, encountered operational challenges under Ottoman rule and failed to generate the anticipated dividends for its shareholders. After a brief introduction in which I explain the context of its construction and operations in Ottoman times, I provide a detailed analysis of the diplomatic, legal and financial aspects of the negotiations between the agents of the British company and the delegates of the Romanian state. The Romanian government recognised the strategic importance of the railway for the country’s economic development and national defence. Following extensive discussions and parliamentary debates, the Romanian state bought the British-built infrastructure in Dobrogea in 1882 for 16.8 million lei, an amount which was greater than the estimate of Romanian experts. I thus claim that the Romanian government acquiesced to the payment of the compensation originally owed by the Porte, with a view to eliminate any further legal complications that might have impeded the implementation of the government’s transport masterplan that had Constanța as the country’s most important outlet.