Assessing the Value of Railway Heritage for Sustainable Development: The Case Study of the Oraviţa–Anina Railway, Romania

Florentina-Cristina Merciu (), Cornel Păunescu, Mircea Dorobanţu and George-Laurenţiu Merciu
Additional contact information
Florentina-Cristina Merciu: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 Bucharest, Romania
Cornel Păunescu: Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Mircea Dorobanţu: National Railway Qualification and Training Center, Railway Museum and Documentation Directorate, Public Collection of Romanian Railway History, 010711 Bucharest, Romania
George-Laurenţiu Merciu: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 Bucharest, Romania

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-43

Abstract: The value of historical railways and their important role in social, economic, technical, political, and cultural terms has led to their inclusion as industrial heritage attractions. This study aims to evaluate the heritage value of the Oraviţa–Anina linear railway, the first mountain railway in Romania. The assessment of the value of the railway involved both quantitative and qualitative methods. The value was assessed on the basis of a rigorous quantitative evaluation of key attributes of heritage railway, using a system of criteria and indicators. On the other hand, the selected qualitative methodology facilitated the critical interpretation of the perception of the local community as a beneficiary of the railway heritage and as an active stakeholder involved in its reuse. The qualitative evaluation of the heritage railway was also highlighted based on a critical analysis of tourists’ perceptions. The results indicate the usefulness of a mixed methodology for the complex evaluation of the value of a heritage railway and its sustainable capitalization. Railway tourism is a sustainable solution meant to stimulate interest in learning about local history and culture, and can at the same time contribute to the fulfillment of knowledge of the motivations that drive tourist demand.

Keywords: linear landscape; railway tourism; sustainable tourism; heritage railways; Banat province (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13262/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13262/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13262-:d:943095

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().