ISTANBUL - BUCHAREST (Bucuresti) - night train (BOSFOR)

Christiaan
Traveller
4 comments

Hi!

I have just a short question. Is this train currently running because I can not get this line through Route Planner.
A week ago this direct connection (Budapest Keleti-)Bucuresti-Istanbul (via Gorna Orjahovica) was working, but currently all connections go via Sofia and then attach to Balkan Express. Could be a reason for non working summer holidays?

I am preparing a brief InterRail travel plan for my trip in February and I want to include this line in it, but due to mentioned situation I am bit nervous. :)

Thank you for reply and greetings from Slovenian Coast.
Kristijan

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi Kristijan.

The current information I have is like you said via Sofia.
I will update it as soon as I have news about the direct connection:

Istanbul Sirkeci Dep: 2200
Sofia Arr: 1035

Sofia Dep: 1940
Bucuresti Nord Gr. A Arr: 0544

Peter

Petipatapon
Traveller
2 comments

It seems that the train between Bucharest and Istanbul works again. Departure 12h30 in Bucharest, arrival 7h50 in Istanbul. Does anyone can confirm this information?

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Hi.

[b]Bucharest - Istanbul[/b] is here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/bucharest-istanbul-night-train/f1639[/u]

[b]Istanbul - Bucharest[/b] should also be available like mentioned in the first post by direct train:
www.bdz-rila.com/index.php?m=960&id_razpisanie=4&lang=2
The direct connections is also mentioned in the Thomas Cook train schedules.

Peter :)

CesarAli
Traveller
37 comments

This route is shown really messed up in Bahn.de with over 24 hours of travel? Can it be true?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Search results from schedule planners in this part of Europe are always to be taken with a grain of salt. The results I get are really messed up and do not inlcude the direct train that does still run in under 24 hours, including bus replacements of course. ;)

nittentrikken
Traveller
15 comments

[b]The short version first:[/b]
Planning to go by train in and out of Istanbul this summer? Find other alternatives!

[b]The longer version:[/b]
The Bosphorus Express is not running at the moment. No trains in and out of Istanbul are. I am in Istanbul at the moment, and my plan was to go to Romania with the direct night train to Bucharest. Though, due to major constructıon works on the railway, trains from Europe will have to stop in Kapikule at the Hungarian border. I do not now how long these construction works will last, but as far as I understand, they are planned, and so it will hopefully lead to a better train connection in the end :)
In addition to this, some kind of construction work or some other problem are cancelling many trains in Bulgaria as well. This means that travellers from Istanbul to Bucharest will have to go by buss from Istabul to Kapikule, catch another bus from Kapikule to some town in Bulgaria (I do not remember which) and then (finally) a train to Bucharest. There are no direct bus replacement service.

The information I could find was minimal and would often differ from sation to station (or even from person to person at the same station), but this is the information I got at the Sirkeci station in Istanbul, so it should be correct.

The combination of train cancelleations in both Turkey and Bulgaria also causes a complete cancellation of the Sofia-Istanbul connection this summer. The woman at the ticket office in Plovdiv only spoke a little English, so I didn't get excactly when the trains on this connection will run again. And then it will probably only run to Kapikule and be replaced by bus from there to Istanbul. If you are planning to go from Sofia or Plovdiv to Istanbul this summer, I can reccommend the bus connection run by the Turkish (?) company called Metro. It runs several times every day and once every night for affordable prices.

I have no idea how long these constructions works will last... As mentioned, good information has been annoyingly difficult to find. No-one mentıoned anything about the cancellations in Bulgaria before the day of my departure, and no-one in Bulgaria knew anything about the cancellations in Turkey -- even though they affect connections to Bulgarian citıes. Therefore I am sorry that I can't gıve excact information to you...

nittentrikken
Traveller
15 comments

And by the way... I read the eastern sıde of Istanbul is also closed for trains due to works on the Bosphorus Tunnel...

evelien1
Traveller
3 comments

Thank you so much for this update! At july 30th, I will travel from Bucharest to Istanbul. I was searching on the internet about the facilities of the train, so used I the train schedule of the Deutsche Bahn. I found out that the direct train was not mentioned anymore... Neither on the Dutch website... I could not find any new information of the Bosfor Express. I called several train companies but they could not give me an answer. They all said that I had to ask at the trainstation of Bucharest... I also found out at the Deutsche Bahn that from August 13th on, the direct train will operate again.

Now it's finally confirmed that it is not possible to do the trip in 19 hours, so I decided to look for a plane ticket. Please let me know when new information is available and that the train DOES go, otherwise I will book a flight next week.. I really hope a flight is not necessary, but I'm afraid it will...

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi!

The train runs also before 13 August, however with the above mentioned bus replacements on long parts of the journey - up to you to decide if you want to do that.
Even after 13 August the train will not run through all the way to Istanbul/Halkali, there will remain some parts with bus replacement, but definitive information will only become available at short notice.


Flo 8)

evelien1
Traveller
3 comments

So if i'm correct, there are 2 places where you have to catch the bus? how much longer does it take with the replacements?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

The information I have from nittentrikken's report above plus from other sources suggest:

Bucharest - Gorna Orjahovitsa: train
Gorna Orjahovitsa - Dimitovgrad: bus
Dimitovgrad - Kapikule: bus
Kapikule - Istanbul: bus

Track construction works in Bulgaria will last until December, whether a train will operate in Turkey from August onwards is not clear as of now.

BTW, thank you nittentrikken for your informations! :)

evelien1
Traveller
3 comments

Thanks!

That doesn't sound too bad, but how long would it approximately take?

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Buses run with the same timings as the train (links in first post).

kalinka
Traveller
28 comments

I asked BDZ, how the connection from Sofia to Istanbul will be the next months and they told me, that there is a train from Sofia to Plovdiv, another train from Plovdiv to Yabalkovo, a bus from Yabalkovo to Kapikule and another bus from Kapikule to Cerkezköy. They still say, that you can take a train from Cerkezköy to Istanbul - but people who did the trip, had to take the bus as far as Istanbul. So you shouldn´t expect a train between Yabalkovo/Dimitrovgrad and Istanbul.

CesarAli
Traveller
37 comments

Look what i found;)

aswana-cliche.blogspot.com.tr/2014/06/train-rides-2014-crossing-bulgaria.html?m=1

And with the Info it could be a journey with less bus time than expected? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

This is dated 8th April, before construction works started in Bulgaria...

CesarAli
Traveller
37 comments

Tomorrow bus from sirkici leaves towards capikoy 2 hours of bus.
Then train until dimitrovgrad and Then bus again for 2-3 hours and Then from Gorna train again to Bucharest.
P.s. Seats only :) .

CesarAli
Traveller
37 comments

Theres no train until Gorna which means 10 hours bus from Istanbul.

The train towards budapest from Bucharest leaves 17:20 and not 17:30.

And the train from Timisoara doesnt leave 7:30 but 7:12.

CesarAli
Traveller
37 comments

Journey done 27.june.

Bus to kapikule. 22.00-03.00
Train couchette to gorna. 20 mins swap time. The other train is usually late.
Gorna- Bucharest normal regional train with seats.

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

OK thanks! :)
So there was a couchette car to Gorna? Wow...

Waschbaer
Traveller
1 comments

Hey guys,
short update on the bus route: We were brought to Plovdiv with one bus change before the border. It was a big hassle, nobody knew where to get off and the entire staff was incredibly unhelpful.
I can only recommend taking a regular bus from Istanbul to wherever you want to go. It's cheap and WAY more convenient.

Peter
Traveller
9333 comments

Thanks for this information! :)

bwojtyna
Traveller
2 comments

Has anyone done this in summer 2016 yet?

Looking to go this way in September. Seems like bus north of Gorna, and bus still from Istanbul to halkali or cerkezkoy.

Anyone else done this more recently?

Coryza
Traveller
57 comments

I did in May, and as far as I know it's still the same situation: [u]https://rail.cc/blog/train-turkey-istanbul-ankara/[/u]

bwojtyna
Traveller
2 comments

Coryza, the info about being persistent and knowing your schedule was very helpful. We definitely ran into a language barrier. Here is a super lengthy recount of our experience in direction of Istanbul to Bucharest.

My wife and I just recently completed our train trip from Istanbul to Bucharest (and then on to Vienna and Paris) and wanted to share details since I know it's a less travelled line.

The details:
We left at 10pm on the dot from Sirkeci via a bus. I asked about option of a train from Halkali when buying tickets (which was a painless process, the gentlemen spoke perfect English), but he said it wasn't possible. Talking to a local made it sound like trains were running from Halkali, but I'd have to buy them on my own and figure out how to get to border crossing on own as well. When inquiring about possibility of this changing, he was optimistic, but no date provided.

The bus was very comfortable, and there were about a dozen people with us. We made one odd stop only an hour outside of the city for nearly 20 minutes. The rest was nonstop, and we made it to Kapikule by 2am.

The train station is very run down, we all shuffled into a small waiting room with little to no instruction and waited. And waited. Eventually the train with people headed to Istanbul arrived. They went through border control, then we eventually did. All of this took an hour, then we finally got on the train which was just a single BDZ coach and loco. And appeared to be the last of what they had before scrap. Doors didn't work, toilet was in miserable condition. I didn't want to use it standing up ;) we waited almost a full hour one the train before departure, all in the name of staying on the schedule. Speaking of which, the document on BDZs website is what I used, and it remained very accurate timing wise. http://www.bdz.bg/en/time-table-international/sofia-istanbul-bucharest.html

Border control happens onboard train once in Bulgaria, but still lots of sitting to maintain schedule. All with fluorescent lights full on, in a large open air coach. Bring an eye mask...
Switched to a two car train in dimitrovgrad, where they were compartment style, and few enough people we had one to ourselves. Finally some sleep. Train stayed on time through Bulgaria, very pretty views for the parts I was awake.

Gorna Orjahovica was a poor experience for us, where we had to change trains again. It was unification day in Bulgaria, a national holiday we learned, so very few staff around. The few that were spoke no English, and the French and Turkish I knew was of 0 help. A guy who knew Romanian even had trouble. Knowing train numbers and destinations in Cyrillic are highly recommended.

From here on out our experience deviates from the norm because of the holiday. The normal train was cancelled, so we had an extra hour before the other one came. That train went to russe, and then was split in two before going into Romania. We spent nearly two hours at russe station, and then the Romanian portion was now a local train, stopping everywhere. Finally made it to Bucharest over 4 hours later than scheduled. Id like to blame unification day for most of that, so may not hold true for others. Due your homework I suppose

Flo
Traveller
10724 comments

Hi bwojtyna ,

thanks for the update! :)


Flo 8)

anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments

There are no couchettes for single passengers, only four passenger couchettes, so the info at the top is outdated.