Bucharest – Istanbul in 24 hours / Why International Trains in Balkans are the slowest in Europe

The direct train from Bucharest to Istanbul runs only four months a year, stays six hours on the route and takes a full day to reach the destination. Until Varna and Sofia the race lasts 10 hours, and since 2019 there are no direct trains to Greece. In 1934, Craiova – Calafat trains were less than one hour. These are just a few of the reasons why the train is not an option for travel to the most common holiday destinations.

• This article was carried out within the European Pulse project by Vlad Barza (Hotnews.ro) and Lilly Grantska (Mediapool, Bulgaria)

Every 3-4 years, a book appears that is considered a kind of traveler by train to Europe. It is called Europe by Rail, it has several hundred pages, and a chapter is dedicated to trains in the Balkans. It is said there that you enter an “exotic” region on the railway journey, because you never know what to expect. Delays of 3-4 hours may occur, some trains are canceled shortly before departure and, from year to year, the international railway connections have been eliminated.

The region had a faulty management, too few investments on the railway and too small budgets than the need in the field, writes in the book. Tip for travelers: To handle the Balkans if you do long train travel you must always have a “plan B”, a variant being to look if there are buses on certain routes, in case the train does not leave (or delay with hours).

Romania has good rail connections with a single country – Hungary, while with the rest of the neighboring countries either we have no connections, or there are one or two trains a day, and the very slow ones.

The train to Bulgaria stands an hour to the border

Most Romanians traveling to Bulgaria go by car, but many would probably prefer the train, to avoid the queues on the friendship bridge, generated by works and the holiday season. But the average speeds below 45 km/h and the long customs stationations make this undesirable journey.

Romania entered Schengen on January 1, 2025, but as the trains were walking between countries long before that term, the direct train between the two countries stationed 45 minutes in Ruse. There the locomotive changes, but no passport control is done, so the stationing could be shorter. The train stays 20-25 minutes in the Giurgiu Nord border station.

Ten hours to Veliko Târnovo

From October in June there is a direct train Bucharest – Russian, and from June in October, during the summer, they are those direct wagons from Bucharest to Sofia, Varna and Istanbul. Trains run from June 13 to October 13. For those who have patience there is also the possibility to reach the train at Veliko Târnovo, but the road can take ten hours.

About 2,800 passengers traveled last year, in summer, by train from Bucharest to Sofia, Varna and Istanbul, shows CFR Călatori, sent to HotNews.ro.

The director of the Bulgarian BDZ company, Svilen Gardev, told the Mediapool publication, that discussions with CFR Călatori are underway for increasing traffic on the Russian-Giurgiu line, as a result of the increased interest of passengers.

21 stops to Varna

Direct train Bucharest-Varna has existed for more than 100 years, and in the 1930s there was a season that was 11-12 hours between the two cities, via Medgidia-Dobrici, a variant that has not been used for over two decades.

The International Train to Varna leaves Bucharest at 10:11 and arrives at 8:55 pm. The average speed is below 40 km/h and there are 21 stops on 358 km, the road being long due to speed restrictions, because of the detour to Videle, due to many stationations and long customs.

In return, the train leaves Varna at 7:45 and arrives in Bucharest at 5:32 pm, the trip takes almost 10 hours and there are 20 stops.

There are also direct wagons Bucharest – Sofia, 537 km, over 10 hours of road.

The route that was faster 90 years ago

There is also a daily connection between Romania and Bulgaria, a Craiova – Vidin train that does 3 and a half hours on 119 km, the average speed being below 35 km/h, due to the problems of the Craiova – Calafat railway.

On the Calafat-Vidin line, it circulates slower than 90 years ago, being long portions where the train runs by 25-30 km/h. In 1934, Craiova – Calafat trains were making an hour less than now.

Until Istanbul the train makes double to the bus

On the 807 km from Bucharest, the train makes 23 hours and 45 minutes and there is a TCDD Turkish railway wagon. Return the trip takes 21 and a half hours. The wagon, although it is more modern than those from CFR Călatori is “passed” between several regional Bulgarian trains, so there are numerous stationations that get to total over six hours! There are modernization works on the territory of Turkey, so the speeds are extremely low.

Once in Istanbul arrives, the travelers still have to walk, because the train has an end to the Halkali station located 25 km from the historical center of the city (Sultanahmet area or Taksim Square).

With the Marmaray suburban train, which connects Halkali to the center of Istanbul and the Asian side, the journey to the Sirkeci area takes about 45-50 minutes.

By bus traveling on the Bucharest-Istanbul route is much shorter: for example one of the Flixbus races is 11-12 hours.

For 6 years we have no trains to Greece

The Romania – Greece trains have a history of several decades, and in 2017 a director of CFR Călatori even stated that the operator views the testing of a very special service: to attach the train to Thessaloniki to transport the passenger cars. The project has not materialized.

In contrast, international railway traffic to /from Thessaloniki was suspended in 2019, by the Greek railway operator.

“CFR Călaturi has taken steps to Hellenic Train company to resume train traffic, but so far it has not received the acceptance for the traffic of these trains,” says the state company.

When the seasonal trains Bucharest – Thessaloniki were traveling, the road of 891 km lasted about 19 hours, due to low speeds and numerous stops – plus borders. The bus makes between 10 and 13 hours, and the ticket costs between 50 and 100 euros.

The train to Thessaloniki last was traveling between June 7 and October 7, 2019 and had a 2nd class wagon, a 6-seater cage wagon, respectively 4 seats in the cabin.

From Bucharest to Athens there are about 1,200 km on the road and, in the best case, the road can be traveled in 14-15 hours. Direct train Bucharest – Athens existed very rarely, the distance was 1,400 km and the duration was 34 hours.

In 2008 – 2010 there were still summer international trains on Sofia – Thessaloniki routes (18 hours), Thessaloniki – Istanbul (12 hours) and Thessaloniki – Skopje (5 hours) – Belgrade.

There are no trains to Serbia either to Serbia

A railway connection that worked for decades was the one with Serbia. There are 700 km between Bucharest and Belgrade, the trains were doing 12-13 hours, but if they were now, they would do over 15 hours, due to the very low speeds on the Bucharest-Timișoara bus. In 1995 an IC train could do 6 and a half hours from Bucharest to Timișoara, and at present the road lasts 10-11 hours.

“Currently, between Romania and Serbia, the railway transport with passenger trains is not ensured, being suspended the traffic of international trains since August 1, 2017, as a result of the non -acceptance of the Serbian party to take into account the conventions that end between the national transport operators. Thus, all the conventions that are concluded between the national operators. BZD, CFR Călaturi – MAV Start), clearly establish the way in which the one who engages expenses with the operation on the territory of the other railway operator will recover his traction costs, being defining conditions ”.

CFR Călatori says that it is still open to discussions with the Serbian part in order to negotiate the resumption of rail traffic traffic between Romania and Serbia, “under financial balance conditions”.

Serbia is the only country in the Balkans where trains can reach 200 km/h, for only a few tens of km), but international links are few. The most famous Serbian train is the one who connects Belgrade to the bar (Montenegro), because it passes through places with extraordinary landscapes. There are no direct trains from Serbia to Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia and Northern Macedonia. There are a few trains a day between the Serbian city of Subotica and Szeged (Hungary).

In the 70s and 80s, during Tito's time, in the former Yugoslavic there were many long trains. After the country's disintegration and after the wars of the 90's, almost all the international long -term connections were eliminated, both due to the diplomatic misunderstandings, as well as due to lack of funds and decent rolling stock.

Why does Bulgaria have no trains with speed of intercity

If you cross Bulgaria from north to south by train, average speeds are like in Romania, 50 km/h.

The only railway section that trains can currently travel with 160 km/h is Plovdiv – Svilengrad/border with Turkey (150 km long). This section is located in the southeast of Bulgaria and has been modernized with European funds, but trains run with a maximum of 100-120 km/h, because wagons are very old.

And to Bulgarians the modernizations advance hard hard

For 20 years, Sofia -Plovdiv -Burgas (440 km) railway has been under modernization with European funding. According to the initial plan, the line had to be already completed and allow the traffic of trains with 160 km/h, but due to the slow pace of the works, the completion was postponed by 2030.

Plovdiv -Burgas railway (290 km) is fully electrified and, for a large part, has a double path. It is estimated that it will be completely completed by 2027. Currently new signaling and safety systems are installed. The Sofia -Plovdiv section (150 km) is scheduled for completion by 2030, but this term is unlikely to be respected, due to the difficult land in the area.

Another section under construction is Sofia -Dragoman/border with Serbia (50 km), located in western Bulgaria. It is also built with European funds, but it is delayed and it is estimated that it will be completed by 2030. It is designed for speeds of 160 km/h.

Bulgaria does not have intercity trains, because there is no modernized sufficiently long railway section nor modern, modern trains. This could become possible only after 2030, in the best case.

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