The Bosphorus Express, also known as the Trans Balkan Express ( tr, Bosfor Ekspresi), is an international passenger train running between

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. It runs together with the Istanbul-Sofia Express as far as Dimitrovgrad upon entering

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, where the latter continues to

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

. The train is jointly operated by three national railways: the TCDD Taşımacılık (TCDD), the

Bulgarian State Railways The Bulgarian State Railways ( bg, Български държавни железници, translit=Balgarski darzhavni zheleznitsi, abbreviated as БДЖ, BDZ or BDŽ) are Bulgaria's state railway company and the largest railway carrier in the co ...

(BDZ), and the

Romanian State Railways Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

(CFR). The train serves several important cities including

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders ...

, Stara Zagora, and

Stock

The train is pulled by a variety of locomotives in each country. Today the train consists of three or four cars usually supplied by the three railways. There are two couchettes, either TCDD Intercity stock or CFR 40-31/44-31 stock, a single coach, 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 to

Kapıkule Kapıkule is the name of the Turkish border crossing point in Edirne Province on the border of Turkey and Bulgaria. Its counterpart on the Bulgarian side is Kapitan Andreevo. Together, they form the busiest land border crossing point in Europe. ...

, where a BDŽ class-07 diesel locomotive becomes the motive power. At Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, the BDŽ class-07 de-couples and either a BDŽ class-43 or a BDZ class-45 electric locomotive couples onto the train. At Russe, the BDŽ electric locomotive is exchanged with a Romanian class-65 diesel locomotive, which pulls the train to Bucharest.

Typical configurations

İstanbul–Kapıkule *TCDD E68000 Locomotive *TCDD Couchette *TCDD Couchette Kapıkule–Dimitrovgrad *BDŽ Class-07 Locomotive *TCDD Couchette *TCDD Couchette Dimitrovgrad–Gorna Oryahovitsa *BDŽ Class-43 or BDŽ Class-45 Locomotive *TCDD Couchette *BDŽ Coach Gorna Oryahovitsa–Russe *BDŽ Class-43 or BDŽ Class-45 Locomotive *CFR Couchette *TCDD Couchette *BDŽ Coach Russe–Bucharest *CFR Class-65 Locomotive *CFR Couchette *TCDD Couchette Between Dimitrovgrad and Russe, one or two BDŽ Coaches are added to the train for domestic travel.

Route

The journey starts at in the suburb of

Marmaray The Marmaray () is a intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. A rail tunnel running under the Bosphorus strait was connected to an upgraded version of the old suburban train service (known as the banliyö), allowing trains ...

, from Istanbul's

Sirkeci Terminal Sirkeci railway station ( tr, Sirkeci garı), listed on maps as Istanbul railway station ( tr, İstanbul garı), is a railway terminal in Istanbul, Turkey. The terminal is located in Sirkeci, on the tip of Istanbul's historic peninsula, right n ...

. After passing through

it arrives at the town of

on the Turkish-

n 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. After the city of

Gorna Oryahovitsa Gorna Oryahovitsa ( bg, Горна Оряховица ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, situated in Veliko Tarnovo Province, from Veliko Tarnovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Gorna Oryahovitsa Municipality. According to t ...

, the train arrives at the city of Ruse on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

river. A diesel locomotive once again takes over, and it crosses the Danube via the

Danube Bridge The Danube Bridge (also known as the Friendship Bridge; bg, Мост на дружбата, ''Most na druzhbata'' or, more commonly, Дунав Mост, ''Dunav most''; ro, Podul Prieteniei or ''Podul de la Giurgiu'') is a steel truss bridge ...

and into the

n town of Giurgiu, stopping at the Giurgiu North Railway Station. Then it continues north to Bucharest. After circling the city, the train enters from the northwest into

Gara de Nord Bucharest North railway station ( ro, Gara București Nord; officially Bucharest North Group A) is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest origi ...

(Bucharest North) station.

Gallery

Bosphorus Express at Sirkeci.JPG, The Bosphorus Express at Sirkeci Terminal. Bosphorus Express at Bucharest.jpg, The Bosphorus Express waiting to depart Bucharest. Bosphorus Express, 2007.JPG, The old destination board on a TCDD couchette car. {{TCDD Routes Named passenger trains of Turkey Passenger rail transport in Bulgaria Passenger rail transport in Romania International named passenger trains