Budapest to Bucharest night train

[joshm1987]

Hi,
I'm catching the 1510 from Budapest arriving in Bucharest at 0842. The connecting train to Istanbul leaves at 1047. Does anyone know if that is sufficient time to make the connection? Or do I need to catch the train the following day? Does anyone know how regularly that night train runs an hour and a half late?
Cheers.

 

[stuu]

No, but I wouldn't risk that short a connection anywhere off a sleeper

 

[railfan99]

Agree with stuu it's too risky. Why not overnight in Bucharest and explore the city before joining the Istanbul train?

Years ago I travelled in the opposite direction but finished in Munich rather than Budapest. No problems, but only 30 on board from Istanbul.

 

[The exile]

Particularly with international sleepers, it tends to be a case of “When they are late, they are very, very late”. Plenty to do in Bucharest for a day!

 

[jamesontheroad]

Consider going via Brașov on the (generally) cheaper MÁV Corona night train. Good timings and full-service restaurant car, unlike the direct train to Bucharest. Brașov is a nice small town to explore and there are plenty of trains to Bucharest.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

My only experience is on the Dacia (Wien-Brasov-Bucuresti) sleeper, which turned up at Sighisoara exactly 90 minutes late.
But the line was undergoing a major upgrade at the time (extensive and slow single-line working).
I also went on to Bulgaria (Sofia) next day via Ruse, but stopped off in Brasov for a few hours with overnights in Sighisoara and Bucuresti.
It would probably help if you knew which sections of line were being upgraded this year.
Oradea-Cluj is one of them, but that shouldn't affect the route of the Muntenia via Craiova.

 

[87015]

Presumably they both stop at Videle so that would give about another two hour safety net as could leap there. Check though as Bucharest-Giurgi direct is supposed to be reopening soon which will re-route the Ruse away from Videle.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Consider going via Brașov on the (generally) cheaper MÁV Corona night train. Good timings and full-service restaurant car, unlike the direct train to Bucharest. Brașov is a nice small town to explore and there are plenty of trains to Bucharest.

Er, "nice, small town"? Maybe the city centre is twee (Saxon), but Brasov is the sixth largest city in Romania - popn 237,000 in 2021 (was 284,000 in 2002).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Romania

And I suspect the metropolitan area is significantly larger.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Er, "nice, small town"? Maybe the city centre is twee (Saxon), but Brasov is the sixth largest city in Romania - popn 237,000 in 2021 (was 284,000 in 2002).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Romania

And I suspect the metropolitan area is significantly larger.

Noted!

It is a much larger city than I recall. Although the walk from the railway station to the historic city centre probably reveals the fact. Lots of post-war modernist housing blocks and large-scale urban planning. With four hours to kill, I walked from the station to town and took the bus back later. I spent as much time queuing for and buying a bus ticket and then waiting for a bus back to the station as I did walking it.

 

[The exile]

Noted!

It is a much larger city than I recall. Although the walk from the railway station to the historic city centre probably reveals the fact. Lots of post-war modernist housing blocks and large-scale urban planning. With four hours to kill, I walked from the station to town and took the bus back later. I spent as much time queuing for and buying a bus ticket and then waiting for a bus back to the station as I did walking it.

I experienced exactly the same in 2016. Gap between the arrival of “Corona” and onward “connection” to Sibiu.

 

[peteb]

Hi,
I'm catching the 1510 from Budapest arriving in Bucharest at 0842. The connecting train to Istanbul leaves at 1047. Does anyone know if that is sufficient time to make the connection? Or do I need to catch the train the following day? Does anyone know how regularly that night train runs an hour and a half late?
Cheers.

I'd personally have 24 hours in Bucuresti and not risk a missed connection. There's some interesting old buildings and a huge 1980s "palace" to explore, as well as a vibrant old city with a decent brew pub. I found BOLT very handy, much easier than negotiating buses or trams with luggage.

 

[joshm1987]

Thanks for advice all. Going to spend 1 night in Bucuresti. Brew pub sounds very exciting!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jun 2024 ==

Sorry one more question. Given I will arrive 24 hours before the train from Bucharest to Istanbul, how important is it to reserve ahead of time? Or can I get a ticket the day before? The reservation fee is almost £15 which is almost a quarter of the ticket price!

 

[SeanG]

I'd pay the £15 just for piece of mind if I'm honest!

 

[Alfonso]

Thanks for advice all. Going to spend 1 night in Bucuresti. Brew pub sounds very exciting!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jun 2024 ==

Sorry one more question. Given I will arrive 24 hours before the train from Bucharest to Istanbul, how important is it to reserve ahead of time? Or can I get a ticket the day before? The reservation fee is almost £15 which is almost a quarter of the ticket price!

Does that include the couchette supplement? Seat 61 quotes 37 euro for a single ticket and 14 euro for a berth kn a 4 berth couchette [edit:doing a dummy booking on Romanian railways indicates the reservation is definitely in a couchette, so this would probably cost the same at the station]

 

[The exile]

Does that include the couchette supplement? Seat 61 quotes 37 euro for a single ticket and 14 euro for a berth kn a 4 berth couchette [edit:doing a dummy booking on Romanian railways indicates the reservation is definitely in a couchette, so this would probably cost the same at the station]

A reservation fee of £15 is going to include a berth fee of some description (and if it's that low it must be a couchette!) - and I would certainly recommend booking it as early as possible.

 

[deltic]

The Bucharest - Istanbul section is only 1 coach, the other coaches are for Sofia and Varna, and was fully booked when I did the trip so I would certainly recommend booking for that.

 

[rvdborgt]

The Bucharest - Istanbul section is only 1 coach

Correct, see Vagonweb. It's one couchette (C4) coach. Book a reservation as soon as you get to Romania.
Alternatively, theoretically, DB and DB agents can also book it. But often only experienced staff manage to do that, since they need to use the train number search and possibly also join a few trains before the booking can succeed.

 

[Alfonso]

Correct, see Vagonweb. It's one couchette (C4) coach. Book a reservation as soon as you get to Romania.
Alternatively, theoretically, DB and DB agents can also book it. But often only experienced staff manage to do that, since they need to use the train number search and possibly also join a few trains before the booking can succeed.

It seems to be bookable on the Romanian railways website

 

[rvdborgt]

It seems to be bookable on the Romanian railways website

If you need a ticket and a reservation, then you can book there indeed. Reservation only cannot be done online.

 

[deltic]

I got my sleeper reservations via andy@railtravelcentre.com - who was very efficient and who I believe runs the https://discoverbyrail.com/ website

 

[rvdborgt]

I got my sleeper reservations via andy@railtravelcentre.com - who was very efficient and who I believe runs the https://discoverbyrail.com/ website

Correct. He's a DB agent and knows how to use it, including the train number search.

 

[700007]

As someone who has done this same trip about two weeks ago (albeit I caught the late train from Budapest), believe it or not I would say it is safer to do the 24 hours in Bucharest. The state of Romanian Railways unfortunately is quite poor and it is very normal in my past experience for trains to run incredibly late due to poor infrastructure conditions.