The Bosphorus Express, also known as the Trans Balkan Express ( tr, Bosfor Ekspresi), is an international passenger train running between
Istanbul,
Turkey and
Bucharest,
Romania. It runs together with the
Istanbul-Sofia Express
The Istanbul-Sofia Express ( tr, Istanbul-Sofya Ekspresi, bg, Истанбул-София Експрес, Istanbul-Sofiya Ekspres) is an international passenger train operating daily between Istanbul, Turkey and Sofia, Bulgaria. The train runs ...
as far as
Dimitrovgrad upon entering
Bulgaria, where the latter continues to
Sofia. The train is jointly operated by three national railways: the
TCDD Taşımacılık
TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş. ( en, TCDD Transport, reporting mark TCDDT) is a government-owned railway company responsible for the operations of most passenger and freight rail in Turkey. The company was formed on 14 June 2016, splitting off from th ...
(TCDD), the
Bulgarian State Railways (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
Istanbul,
Edirne,
Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province.
Name
The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...
, and
Bucharest.
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
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper 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, where a
BDŽ
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 ...
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, from Istanbul's
Sirkeci Terminal. After passing through
Edirne it arrives at the town of
Kapıkule on the
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
-
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. 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
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 o ...
and into the
Romanian town of Giurgiu, stopping at the
Giurgiu North Railway Station
Giurgiu (; bg, Гюргево) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian cit ...
. Then it continues north to Bucharest. After circling the city, the train enters from the northwest into
Gara de Nord (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