The Vurpăr branch line was a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

rail line

Sibiu County Sibiu County () is a county () of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat () is the namesake town of Sibiu (). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben megye'', and in German as ''Kreis Hermannstadt''. Under the ...

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

. Originally it stretched from Cornăţel on the

Agnita railway line The Agnita railway line was a rail line in Sibiu County, Romania. Originally it ran from Sibiu Sibiu railway station, railway station to Sighișoara in Mureș County. There also was a branch line to Vurpăr. However the final section from Sibiu ...

to the terminus in

Vurpăr Vurpăr (; ) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, central Romania. It is composed of a single village, Vurpăr. It lies on the Transylvanian Plateau in the central part of the county, northeast of the county seat of Sibiu. In 2002, it ...

. CFR classed the line, along with the

, as line 204 in the last years of operation. The Sibiu Steam Locomotives Museum holds locomotives used on the lines.

History

The line was originally opened by the Sighisoara - Sibiu Local Railways Company in 1910. As the line originally lay within

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, the

Hungarian State Railways The Hungarian State Railways (, , formally MÁV Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (MÁV Zrt.). The full official name of the company is MÁV-csoport () now commonly known as MÁV) is the Hungary, Hungarian natio ...

operated services until 1919 (when

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

became part of Romania). CFR then continued to operate services until closure in 1993.

Reopening

Societatea Feroviară de Turism (SFT) originally planned to reopen the line as a tourist route but plans where shelved in 2006. After threats from CFR Infrastructură that track would be lifted all the rail infrastructure became protected as a historic monument in 2008. Currently there is an active project called ''Asociația Prietenii Mocăniței'' ("Friends of the Narrow-gauge railway") and aimed at restoring the line for tourist operation along with the

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vurpar branch line Agnita railway line Railway lines opened in 1910 Railway lines closed in 1993