Service type InterCity First service 1971 | Status Operating Current operator(s) TCDD, BDZ, CFR | |
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Locale European Turkey, eastern Bulgaria, southern Romania Start Sirkeci Terminal, Istanbul | ||
The Bosphorus Express, also known as the Trans Balkan Express (Turkish: Bosfor Ekspresi), is an international passenger train running between Istanbul, Turkey and Bucharest, Romania. It runs together with the Balkans Express until Dimitrovgrad upon entering Bulgaria, where the later continues to Sofia. The train is jointly operated by three national railways; the Turkish State Railways, the Bulgarian State Railways, and the Romanian State Railways. The train serves important cities like Istanbul, Edirne, Russe and Bucharest. The Bosphorus Express started service in 1971.
Contents
Stock
The train is pulled by a variety of locomotives in each country. Today the train consists of 3-4 cars usually mixed from the three railways. There are two Couchettes, either TCDD Intercity stock or CFR 59-50 stock, a single coach car, either TCDD or CFR, and a CFR sleeping car. Since the train uses electrified and non-electrified track, locomotives pulling the train also change. From Istanbul, the train is pulled by an E43000 electric locomotive until Kapıkule, where a BDZ class-07 diesel locomotive becomes the motive power. At Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, the BDZ class-07 de-couples and either a BDZ class-43 or a BDZ class-45 electric locomotive couples onto the train. At Russe, the BDZ electric locomotive changes with a Romanian class-65 diesel locomotive, which pulls the train to Bucharest.
The following configurations are typically used today:
Bucharest-Russe
Russe-Gorna Oryahovitsa
Gorna Oryahovitsa-Dimitrovgrad
Dimitrovgrad-Kapıkule
Kapıkule-İstanbul
Between Russe and Dimitrovgrad, 1 or 2 BDZ Coaches are added to the train for domestic travel.
Route
The journey starts by bus for 125 km at Istanbul's Sirkeci Terminal. After Edirne it arrives at the town of Kapıkule on the Turkish-Bulgarian border. The electric locomotive disconnects and is replaced with a diesel locomotive Passengers need to disembark and cross the rail tracks to clear passport control. Passengers transfer to a bus at Dimitrovgrad, reboarding the train after a six-hour journey. After the city of Gorna Oryahovitsa, the train arrives at the city of Ruse on the Danube river. A diesel locomotive once again takes over, and it crosses the Danube via the Danube Bridge and into the Romanian town of Giurgiu, stopping at the Giurgiu Nord Railway Station. Then it continues north to Bucharest. After winding its way around the city, the train enters Bucharest from the northwest into Gara de Nord station.