Problems with the railway works on Brașov – Sighisoara. “CFR's promises are absolutely aberrant.” When will the new line run between the two cities
Railway works between Brasov and Sighisoara (photo ChimDrone/Traveler via Asociatia Pro Infrastructura)
Next year the trains will be even slower between Brașov and Sighisoara and more will take over four hours on the 128 km. The railway construction sites started in 2020 have passed the halfway point, but there are still many obstacles to overcome. Only by 2030 will it be possible to travel completely on the new line between the two cities, estimates the Pro Infrastructure Association.
Even trains that do not stop along the way run at an average of 32-35 km/h
There are 128 km between Brașov and Sighisoara. When the line was very good, in the 90s, the express trains took an hour and 40 minutes. In the Train Schedule that comes into force on December 14, an increase in journey times can be seen, so that many will be over four hours and only a few under 3 hours and 40 minutes.
Even a train that has no scheduled stops will take 4 hours and 13 minutes. While a Regio train will do the most: 4 hours and 27 minutes, the longest stop being a quarter of an hour, at Cața. You can see complete route data on Infofer.ro.
When everything is ready, the new route will be 11 km shorter and the fastest trains will run under an hour. The current route, unchanged for 152 years, is winding in many areas.
The journey takes a long time due to the long stretches where the maximum speed is 30 km/h. As there are many works and sections where there is a single line, the trains stop at stations such as Augustin, Racoș, Rupea or Albești, to wait for trains coming from the opposite direction.
The longest railway tunnels in Romania are also being drilled on this line on the 300 Bucharest – Brașov – Teiuș – Cluj – Oradea highway (a pair of 7 km and another of 5 km).
A CFR SA document from October 2025 shows what stage the works have reached:
- Subsection 1. Braşov-Apața, Subsection 3. Cată-Sighisoara
- Length 84 km, physical condition: 52.71%
- Builders: Association Alstom Transport – Aktor – Arcada Company – Euro Construct Trading 98 SRL, called Association RailWorks
- Subsection 2. Apața-Cată
- Length: 28 km, physical condition 58.55%
- Builders: Association RailWorks – Aktor SA (association leader), Alstom Transport SA and Arcada Company
“Only by 2030 will we run on a completely new line between Brașov and Sighisoara”
The Pro Infrastructure Association, which monitors road and rail projects, has drawn attention several times over the past year that things are moving slowly between the two cities. In its latest position, the API explains what's going on:
- Of the 110 km, over 60 km will be on 15 new route variants, at a maximum speed of 160 km/h. After five years of the contract, none of the options are open. The current travel time is over four hours and should drop to just under an hour once the site is ready.
- It is worrying that extremely poor progress is being made on the easy sections Bod-Feldioara and Feldioara-Măieruș.
- There are serious fears that the current contract on the Cața-Archita section can NOT be completed, because a series of landslides that occurred at several points have remained unresolved until today.
- The construction site at the Brașov station took a very long time, five years for lines 1-3, and work is still ongoing on six other lines. Railway traffic is difficult, because it leaves the station towards Bucharest and Sighisoara on a single line.
- It runs on the new line from Sighisoara to the first station, Albești Târnava (6 km). The next station, Vânători, has a 3.7 km route variant at the end towards Brașov which has progressed well in 2025, with hopes of opening in 2026.
- On the Apața-Cată section, the drilling rhythm of the long tunnels leaves much to be desired. After five years, of the 24 kilometers of tunnel (12 km double line) just over 5.5 km have been drilled. Compared to July 23, the Ormeniș tunnel (total 7 km) progressed by one kilometer in total (from 1650 to 2065 m on line 1, respectively from 1820 to 2487 m on line 2).
- At this drilling rate, the tunnels will reach 7 km in three years, i.e. breakthrough by 2029 and rail traffic by 2030.
- At the Măieruș viaduct, with a double crossing of the Olt, work has not progressed in half a year.
“We consider the official CFR promises of completion in 2026-2027 to be absolutely aberrant. We estimate that only by 2030 will we run on a completely new line between Brașov and Sighisoara, for the reasons analyzed above. We request the CFR to publicly announce, at least six months in advance, the dates set for the opening of each of the 15 route options”, is the conclusion of the Pro Infrastructure Association.
