A train called eternity. Why does the CFR Călători train that was just 10 hours late never arrive on time

On January 9, the IR 79 train Budapest – Bucharest made 26 hours, after two locomotives broke down on the way. It is not an isolated incident. This train is late every day, most often between one and two hours, and in the last 50 days it has never arrived in the Capital on time.

Among the eight major railway lines, the one with number 100, Bucharest – Timișoara, has declined the most in the last 30 years. In 1996, an IC train took 6 hours and 25 minutes to travel 533 km. Currently, no train runs under 10 hours and 40 minutes.

The Muntenia train is late almost every day by at least 100 minutes

The IR 79 train covers 845 km in 16 hours and has almost 250 kilometers in Hungary and 607 in Romania, where it has 25 stops on the Arad – Timișoara – Craiova – Bucharest route. Of the total journey, three and a half hours are on Hungarian territory and 13 hours on Romanian territory. But this is only in theory, because in practice, the train is generally more than two hours late and enters the country dozens of minutes late, day after day.

From the CFR Călători data sent to HotNews.ro, for the last 50 days, the Muntenia train did not arrive on time at the North Station on any day, the smallest delay being 14 minutes, on December 8. The second lowest delay in the last 50 days was 56 minutes.

Delays are longer when it is very cold outside and some railway facilities or other trains break down. When there are problems with the locomotive, the train ends up spending over 20 hours on the road.

The longest delay was 621 minutes, on January 9, when two locomotives broke down and one of the longest delays in the history of CFR Călători international trains was recorded. The operator explained here what happened and announced what technical measures he had taken to prevent something like this from happening again.

On days with problems, 200 minutes are exceeded

How late was the train “Muntenia” Budapest Keleti – Bucharest North in the last days

• January 17: 112 minutes
• January 18: 162 minutes (83 minutes upon entering the country)
• January 19: 92 minutes (50 minutes upon entering the country)
• January 20: 151 minutes (54 minutes upon entering the country)

In the last few days, we also monitored the course of the pair train IR 78, Bucharest – Budapest, on the Romanian territory. He arrived at Curtici 72 minutes late on Thursday, 67 minutes late on Saturday, over two hours late on Sunday, and 144 minutes late on Monday. On Tuesday, the train arrived at Curtici 85 minutes later, but in the first 100 km it had already accumulated 39 minutes.

In January there were two days with delays of more than 200 minutes, while in December there were several days with delays of more than three hours.

Construction sites and restrictions slow down the Muntenia train

CFR Călători explained that the infrastructure works managed by CFR SA have been ongoing for a long time on different sections of the Arad – Timișoara – Caransebeș and Drobeta Turnu Severin – Bucharest sections.

“The difference between the minutes of delay recorded upon entering the country (Curtici station) and those upon arrival at Bucharest Nord station was mainly determined by the existing restrictions on the railway infrastructure,” says CFR Călători. At the end of December and the beginning of January, against the background of the cold air wave, “multiple malfunctions were recorded at the infrastructure level”:

The operator gave some examples of problems that occurred on the route:

– broken rails

– snowy slopes

– affecting the steering and signaling systems

– power lines damaged by fallen trees

– tracks blocked by fallen trees

– consistent speed restrictions imposed by the infrastructure manager – CFR SA (on areas where railway infrastructure works are being carried out and on areas with frozen tracks, where there is a risk of trains skidding).

According to the timetable, train IR 79 leaves Budapest at 15.10, enters Romania at 19.37 and should arrive at Gara de Nord at 08.23. Its counterpart, IR 78, leaves Bucharest at 21:19 and arrives in Budapest at 12:50.

What are the extremely slow sections between Arad and Bucharest

HotNews.ro consulted the data of infofer.ro about the Arad – Timișoara – Craiova – Bucharest trains in recent days, and between Arad and Caransebeș more than 90% of the trains have accumulated delays, sometimes over 100 minutes. Because there are many sections where the speed is limited to 30-40 km/h, the Muntenia train takes, according to Mersului Trenurilor, four hours on the 155 km between Arad and Caransebeș. but often add 20-30 minutes delay.

Between the two cities there is a private Regio train that takes 5 hours and 47 minutes, because it waits for other trains (and stops for dozens of minutes), and the average speed is around 27 km/h.

Both the Muntenia train, as well as a good part of the trains running on the 100 Timișoara – Bucharest highway, are also accumulating delays on the last 50 km, from Videle to the Capital, a route where there are works as well as restrictions. Many trains end up doing 80 minutes on this stretch where it used to be under 40 when the line was in good condition.

And in Hungary there are problems for “Muntenia”

The IR 79 Muntenia train starts from Budapest, and the journey through Hungarian territory should take less than three hours, until it enters Romania, at Curtici. But, in the last month, there were also delays in Hungary every day, CFR Călători data show. There was only one exception, on New Year's Eve, when the train entered Romania on time.

This year, the longest delay when entering the country was on January 10, 105 minutes, the train arriving at the North Station with a total of 204 minutes “delay”, CFR Călători data show.

What CFR Călători says about Muntenia train delays in Romania and the neighboring country

“In the period 30.11.2025 – 31.12.2025, until mid-December, at the entrance to the country, at Curtici station, the international train IR 79 arrived, in general, without delays, these appeared later, especially in the second half of the month, when they varied between 15 and 100 minutes, as a result of the existing traffic restrictions on the railway network in Hungary caused by the unfavorable winter weather conditions that gripped much of Europe.

As for the delays recorded upon arrival at the Bucharest Nord station, they were, in most cases, between approximately 60 and 110 minutes, and there were occasional situations in which they exceeded 150-190 minutes, when, for example, traffic was temporarily interrupted due to the failure of some trains of private operators”.

What CFR Călători says about the record delay on January 9; 10 hours and 21 minutes

On 08/09/01/2026, train IR 79 experienced a significant delay of 621 minutes for the following reasons:

– Upon entering the country, the train was 78 minutes late.

– In Vinga Hm station, the locomotive broke down, and it was necessary to wait for a relief locomotive.

– Due to unfavorable weather conditions (very low temperatures and frost), the auxiliary locomotive also broke down.

– The train left the Vinga Hm station with a delay of 445 minutes, being picked up by a locomotive from a train running to Timișoara Nord, from where it left for Bucharest Nord with a total delay of 496 minutes.

– Along the way, to the destination, the IR 79 train accumulated minutes of delay (two hours and five minutes) as a result of traffic restrictions on the railway infrastructure.