My long ride on Europe’s OLDEST overnight train!
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- Today I'm taking a look at Romania's classic overnight train, travelling in one of CFR Călători's 60 year old carriages and seeing what the experience of one of Europe's longest train journeys between Timișoara Nord and Iași is actually like.
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Journey Details:
Origin: Timișoara Nord
Destination: Iași
Company: CFR Călători
Train: Various + CFR WLABmee 71-31
Accommodation: Double Sleeper Compartment (T2)
Distance: 811 kilometres / 504 miles
Price: 325.45 RON (£56.60 / €66.00 / $77.80)
Time: 16 hours 20 minutes, arrived 13 minutes late
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60 years sounds really old until I realize that there are coaches still in regular service on my local commuter railroad here in the US that are 71 years old (on Metra, serving the Chicago area)
Amfleets are catching up to that too.
Sounds amazing! 😂
If this makes you feel better, replacements for those coaches that Metra uses are being constructed as we speak.
in north carolina too the piedmont stock is up there
plenty of London Underground trains are over 50 years old !
Been watching this guy for a year now...
I remember when his intro were all monotonous and robot-ish.
Time flies man
They weren't THAT bad in 2023 - the 2022 ones were pretty depressed though! 😂🤣
@@SuperalbsTravels Think you 'd be glad to be out of the house in 2022..
Yeah, only that he is now using borderline click bait thumbnails. Like this one: “Falling apart”… Didn’t hear anything like that in the video but instead he stated he slept for solid 7 hours and had one of the best night’s sleep. Looking at you @SuperalbsTravels
@@marcd6897You can literally see the tap handle and window winder falling off in the video. Maybe you should spend more time paying attention, and less time whining in the comments?
@@marcd6897 The coaches do need some love . And when they've stopped doing that, some more dilligent maintenance as well.
5 hours on a desiro would be a nightmare
You should try travelling from Craiova to Sibiu on that.
Did this several times, not too pleasant 😅
A fucking nightmare. The seats are like shit. The toilets don't work, no curtains, the worst train in Romania.
I agree it would! 😂
@@calinmarian98 I did that once with a Desiro from Baia Mare to Timișoara. Seven and a half hours. Never again.
I enjoy how neutral he describes everything instead of judging conditions. I can feel the joy.
I travelled by train in Romania last year and had a nice experience. But there is so much unused potential in Romania. They have way to much car traffic and need to update their train infrastructure as well as implementing a regularised scheduling system with trains running every one or two hours on busy routes, especially to optimize commuting. I also saw that on the route from Brasov to Sibiu nearly every station we came across was equipped with staff and they have to give way for the train. That's a signalling technique that's incredibly inefficient. There could be so many more people riding trains in Romania.
As a romanian, I'm telling you, its easier said than done.
@@TheRealVGRwell, first it has to be said 😅
Currently the Romanian government's focus is on Highway infrastructure, so I doubt there are gonna be any major rail projects in the future.
@@Ch-xc4fo actually, there are currently plenty in development, as we speak. Including major corridors :)
And CFR is intending on cutting down more trains and staff :( . 10-14 years ago there were more trains and waggons too.
The train is taking such a circuitous route due to (never-ending) track reconstruction and upgrade works. Normally, the train runs either via Oradea - Cluj, but that's closed for electrification and upgrading. Alternatively, it runs via Arad, but that too is partially closed and severely capacity restricted for upgrading works. Even Timisoara - Lugoj is normally worked via the electrified Recas line, but that's capacity and speed restricted for upgrading works, so the train is diverted via the very rural Buzias line, which normally only sees Desiro DMUs and those tiny ancient rural railbuses. By the way, those archaic railbuses are finally going away in a few years - if you want to experience riding in a 1930s railbus based on freight car technology, powered by a repurposed mining engine, sitting on 1970s plastic seats, going 30 km/h, now is your time!
Thanks for the hint. Am leaving for Interrail next week and Romania is one likely target. (And yes, I know that using an Interrail ticket in Romania hardly is worth it. But I will be travelling on more expensive railways, too.)
@@TangoMikeLima If you want to travel through Romania, Vagonweb and their excellent consist listings are your best friend -- standards differ widely with CFR -- some of the rolling stock is quite modern and rather really nice (21-76, 21-86, 20-83, 10-90, 70-91, 44-31 and quite a few others); other stock is ancient, in very poor shape or outright terrible for other reasons (20-49, 20-68, 22-76, 22-96, Desiros, the double-deckers...). The difference between hours of torment and a very pleasant journey may be as little as half an hour's wait - and you can't tell from the train number or anything else, but Vagonweb gives you that power. If you're planning Romania, try some less-beaten paths (with worse track!) -- the most beautiful lines are rarely used by visitors - Brasov to Deda and Suceava to Ilva Mica. Brasov to Bucharest, which most rail enthusiasts take, is beautiful, but only for the hour or so to Sinaia. And, if you're up for adventure, extremely slow speeds, and breathtaking scenery, go to Sighetu Marmatiei. It's, however, the slowest trip imaginable; it's a hundred miles or so of what can only be described as a heritage railway still somehow operated in mainline traffic despite not seeing any upgrade since about 1920. And there's a great heritage steam-driven narrow gauge railway (the Vaser valley) half way up the line.
I'd really like to try those 1930s Malaxa units. Maybe I will pay a visit to Romania in May.
The general rule with trains is the older the better. In continental Europe, the best were in the late 1960s. In the UK, it was the 1930s. Even the BR Mark 1 were not entirely an improvement on the 1930s stock built by the LMS and Southern Railway.
There is still some comfortable elderly stock running in Sweden.
Well yeah, I mean look at the utter junk being built for the UK railways at the moment. 😂
The vintage charm is undeniable.
Happy to see global trains system thru ur videos. This Romanian Train, despite being old, provides the basic necessities for a traveller. Seems very identical to south Asian trains.
Thank you, I agree! :)
What beautiful sleeper coaches. So much nicer and more comfortable looking than sterile modern ones which look and feel like something from a hospital or a supermarket toilet. I wish we still had sleeper trains like this in England. Fit for royalty, yes, but this was normal standard once
Indeed, it's why I love to travel in this part of the world so much! :)
One of my sweetest childhood memories: Going on a family vacation in one of those carriages in the early 90s. By opening up a divider, two of those rooms could be combined to one big family room, which was pretty cool.
9:33 That sign is really cool! Rare to see those two logos next to each other. The two companies were merged in January 1994, a little over three years after unification. Guessing that sign was put there some time in those intervening years, right before the consist was sold to CFR.
Or it was used on trains to West Berlin ?
I've done Timisoara-Bucharest, Bucharest-Cluj and Bucharest-Chisinau.
Very impressive considering the distances and funds available. The journey to Chisinau was the best - its actually a Soviet train that has remianed unchanged since 1991, and yet it was so comfortable and authentic.
Rail travel in Romania is the way to go in my opinion
This is my childhood! We used to take those kind of sleeper trains from Germany to Austria. Loved and still love them!
the interior very much reminds me of trains in the 1980's Czechoslovakia. Brilliant video! Thank you!
Haha, I see what you mean! :) Thanks!
I have very good friend in Iasi and you saved the day with this review, now it is way less stress for planned trip to see him. A very big thank you !
Thank you for visiting Romania so many times! You're always welcome here.)
I remember this type of train design from the 80s, when they were running in Germany. They were already old then. The new Siemens train you showed is used only for regional services in Germany.
I miss these.. used to travel from Bucuresti Nord to Oradea in one of these every summer. The smell, the clacking sounds... nostalgia!!
It is so cosy! 🥰
my granny lived nearby half an hours walk ..calea vacaresti
in 1998 I took a (day) train from Timișoara to Bucharest and it remains one of the highpoints of my train experiences.
Awesome, what was it like? :)
@@SuperalbsTravels The journey began with a homeless child that was living in the station showing me to my allocated seat. 6 people in a compartment, including a couple with a baby. Though no-one knew each other, all food (homemade) was shared. Everyone took a turn looking after the baby. Many old steam engines seen in sidings. A river that the train passed alongside had seemingly flooded recently, the water level revealed in the branches of trees that had collected plastic litter in the water. Nearing Bucharest an American lawyer who had been doing legal work on war crimes in the Croatian conflict approached, he having heard that there was another native english speaker on the train. He showed me to correct platform on the underground system, which seemed more modern than most public transit stations that I'd encountered elsewhere across Europe. The locals were kind, generous and spoke surprisingly good english.
@@blinkybagger8342aah, too bad you didn’t speak Romanian… ah…I can imagine the stories. Folks usually strike up friendships on these long journeys and exchange details…
@@LetharGPeople made some effort to converse with me through my time in Romania. As I have found elsewhere, many locals are happy to have the opportunity outside of a classroom to put to use their English language skills (even homeless children that I encountered could explain themselves adequately). Decades later I have a couple of Romanian pals that I have now known for more than a decade and the are among the more intellectually curious, thoughtful and humble people that I have met. Romania was interesting because it is European culture, accessible but so different from others that I had encountered.
Woww, this was quite a bit ago. This train no longer operates like this in 2024. Being the biggest Romanian Rail UA-camr, with my own channel, I travel a lot and review all the active routes and trains from Romania. The train with the same number only goes from Cluj to Iasi. A train on this exact route goes all the day, with 4-5 class 2 wagons, from morning until night.
I am sad that this train doesn't operate anymore on the whole route.
None the less, thank you for posting this video, I really enjoyed it.
Oh, ce mă bucur că urmărești pe Superlabs. A pleasant surprise.
O veste tristă though, cică din 31 Martie 2024 vor scoate vagonul de dormit pe trenul de noapte Timișoara - Iași și retur. O să rămână doar cușetele. Nu știu motivul CFR Călători fiindcă încă nu mi-au răspuns.
@@CalinFR Da, I-l urmaresc. Stai putin, la care tren de Iasi - Timisoara scot vagonul de dormit? 1763 / 1765 ? Cel de noapte prin Sineria - Arad? Ca atunci o sa ma pun repede sa fac o calatorie pe vagonul de dormit.
@@CalinFR😕
@@VALTERPATRICKOFFICIAL exact, la 1765/1763. Ultima dată în care circulă vagonul de dormit (as per CFR sales) e 23 martie 2024. Apoi ia o pauză întreg trenul până în 30 martie din cauza lucrărilor între Simeria și Arad (rămâne Cluj-Iasi doar) și după această dată nu mai revine vagonul de dormit deloc, pe nici un segment.
@@CalinFR abia am mers cu el acum o săptămână. De ce mai exact scot vagonul de dormit? Eu cum mai circul civilizat dintr-un capăt într-altul al țării? 😨
Great video, thanks a lot! 👍😍👍
I know this older type of sleeping car very well.
They were owned by DSG (Deutsche Schlaf- und Speisewagen Gesellschaft) and later on by TEN (Trans Euro Nacht) and commonly used on DB Nighttrains originating in Germany to destinations like Rome, Vienna or Copenhagen until the earlier 1990's.
From my own experience I can tell how comfy and cozy they were. I truly loved travelling onboard these sleeping cars overnight and still like them much better over the modern new ones we have these days like on ÖBB's Nightjet.
Nice to see they are still in use elsewhere!
Again thanks for your great video, it brought back nice memories to me!
Greetings from Germany, Simone 🙋
Great to hear from you, glad you enjoyed it! If you want to relive those memories, you know where to go! :)
Yes we may see again how the Europeans (in this case) managed to make more money by lowering the quality of the features and offering less comfort for more money
mitropa ??
this vdo is oozing atmosphere and character ... love it!
Thank you! It was a pleasure to make too. 😁
When I was a kid we still had similar sleepers to this in Bulgaria with the wood paneling and cosy incandescent lighting. It was definitely way cosier than the current monotonous grey sleepers and I look back fondly at my rare trips on them
I remember those sleeper carriages from going on holiday in Austria in the mid-1970s; we used to take them from Hamburg to Salzburg or Vienna or Villach and Yes, I remember them as very comfortable.
I MUST try this train one day!
You better be quick, they plan to replace this soon with something new.
This sleeping car will be removed entirely from this route starting March 31st 2024. Still available on other routes though like Bucharest - Vatra Dornei and Bucharest - Satu Mare among others
@@baconbreadwithbacon nope, they don't. They'll remove it entirely first. When new ones are added, one can speculate
@@CalinFRyes they want to cut out train travel so bus companies can earn more. Isolate Romania's regions even more. Fast trains are the way forward, and countries are investing heavily into rail networks. So should Romania too.
@@uk..bruiser..4046 bine boss. Așa e cum zici 👍
always love your video, keep going👍
Thank you! Will do! 😍
When it would be so easy to be completely negative about an experience on such an aged train, thank you for being fair and making this an exciting journey. Safe travels
Amazing review, thanks
Thanks for watching!
Amazing train ride with old sleep car in Romania. The good part is: you can make videos on window. Good job! Thumbs Up
All the best from Romania
Andrew
great video as always bro 💯
Great trip report
Thank you!
We have two same regional trains in Hungary from Győr to Pécs called Helikon Interregion and from Szombathely to Pécs called Pannonia Interregion. I am looking forward to watch what is it like in Romania. 😊
There is something really great about travelling on old coaching stock. I always enjoy heritage lines in the UK.
When I was younger I took this train on standard class and stayed up most of the night. The scenery around Vatra Dornei is breathtaking, too bad you missed it.
You've got a new sub!
Pleasantly surprised with the generous presentation of our trains... Relics rather :)
Thank you very much! 😁
Great Video!
Thank you!
Great. Thank you!
Thanks for the video, it's always great to follow your rail adventures.
As always, Romanian trains are a strange mix of wonderful and quite bad. I took this train from Timișoara to Iaşi last month (but via Arad), in a 6 people sleeper car. It was one of my best train experiences ever ! Not because it was very comfy, even if it was not bad, but thanks to the people I met on the way, and the AMAZING scenery around Vatra Dornei.
In contrast, I had a 7 hours long "night" trip back in 2018 in one of those Desiro, from Sibiu to Timisoara (IR1811). It was by far the worst experience I ever had in a train. It was so terrible I could barely walk when i finally arrived in Timișoara Nord, and i'm not even talking about the single toilet that was broken. It was the first and last time I cheaped out on my night train ticket.
Brutal trip! 😭
Awsome train journey volog
Thank you! :)
Very interesting!👍🏼
Well made.
Keep on filming!😊
I‘ll subscribe…🍀
Thank you! 😃
Been following you for a while. You have a lovely style of storytelling.
PS. Sadly, some UK train operators can only dream of just 13 mins delay over 500 miles.
Excellent review; and though I, as you, would prefer more modern coaches, this journey and carriages was delightful. Thank you. Alberto from North Central Florida, USA
Amazing video
Thank you so much! :)
@@SuperalbsTravels no worries
10:33 I laughed so much , best part of the video ! 😂😂
It caught me by surprise, but hey, it works! 😂
Brilliant. Thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Nice video ❤
Thanks 🤗
I hope you liked going back in time. I love going with trains in Romania.
Was really fun!
love this video! you should really try a regional train for 5 hours. it's going to make you appreciate every small inconvenience on trains in the west
Hahahaha, okay maybe I will... I found one that is over 6 hours!
I travelled with a CFR Couchette 2021 from Sibiu to Budapest.
An ex Deutsche Bundesbahn Bcm...
Retro MAX !
Awesome! 😂
Even Romanians think that the trains are garbage. Glad you've liked it
Thats very cool!
Yes, because when I am born in poverty, all I want is new and modern. Once I move my way into the world and get ahead, I start to appreciate these things ;)
@@CalinFRc'è ai ma? Sărăcie este în Timișoara nu la Iași, cel mai urat oraș al Ro este TM, complet insipid. Toată lummea urca spre Oradea Cluj Arad, toți evita Tm. Asta cu banatul a expirat de mult. Foamea in Moldova a fost tot din cauza celor din Sud care s-au refugiat acolo și mâncau tot ce prindeau și tăiau toți copacii pana n a mai rămas nimic. Vai voi trăiati in lux hahaha.
your mother is garbage
@@uk..bruiser..4046De unde ai scos istoria asta alternativa? Esti plin de muci la cur si cacat la bot.
Regarding the price, in order to actually understand it, you have to multiply by 2.5 time in order to see how us Romanians perceive it (purchasing power). Great review overall!
same carriages are still used in finland, they have been refurbished, but almost identical!
They was supposed to be taken out of use in 2016, but they are still used during busy seasons!
Oh, memories. Back in 2016 I took this night train from Cluj-Napoca to Iaşi. The sleeper carriage was different, I guess from east german railways, but it looked "more luxurious", but still very old fashion. Overall this was the best sleeping in train I've ever had.
Awesome, Romania sure has a lot of brilliant second-hand vehicles.
At least there is no frequent cancelation of trains like in some countries. Glad you enjoy the ride!
Exactly! It will always get you there, eventually. :)
Those cabins take me back to taking a night train from Amsterdam to Tirol to go skiing in the 90s😅
Wow, I bet that was an experience! 😍
@@SuperalbsTravels I mean the actual skiing was the most exciting part but yes, as far as I remember the beds were comfortable enough, and in the beginning, before cutting costs, the breakfast was really good. And as a 9-13 year-old, a night train is magical regardless
I bet this had some heart and sould wand wasn't one of these modern sterile trips. I like it
It was absolutely amazing if I am honest!
Interesting thanks for posting. I wish BR had kept its old coaches, its MK1's were much better than anything since
Five hours in a 'regional train' isn't unusual for Amtrak (US). We did this a couple of months ago for Amtrak California run down the coast to San Diego from north of Los Angeles. So try out their regional train....it might be fun. Meanwhile, we've been on one of those overnight trains on the Budapest / Bucharest run. The car we were in was the same type but rather better condition. The fun bit here is crossing the national border, this happens around midnight -- you get woken up twice, once by the Hungarians, then by the Romanians.
Do they still do that? I did that journey in 2004, and the border crossing was the most film noir experience I’ve ever had; aggressive dogs and handlers stationed the length of the train, which was shunted out into an empty floodlit train yard; armed police and grim border guards; a full search of every compartment, including the roof cavities. Wouldn’t have missed it!
@@chriswalford4161 Our journey was in 2016. There was still residual activity but no dogs, searches or what-have-you. The two Hungarian border guards looked the business -- HiViz vests, all the usual police stuff from the utility belt, portable computer for the passport information. The Romanians had a little old guy with a small notebook and ballpoint pen. (BTW -- The train started out with an electric locomotive, when it split it got a diesel and then for the last leg from Brasov it was back to electric.)
Yes everybody loves drugs and other trafficking
I once did 3h in one of these Siemens regional trains on the way from Craiova to Sofia and it looks like you have to do it, too. Luckily the cracks windshield and windows were held together with tape otherwise I would had tought it would be unsafe 😅
I like it how everything you touch just falls off.🤣😂
You should try it, how bad can it be?
Not sure I want to spend 5hr+ on a local unit! 😂
@@SuperalbsTravels Surely it would pull a lot of attention, right?
@@yugomonke1Hahaha, hopefully... 😂
Didn’t use any 21st century snobbery when narrating this video, very good!
Great trip. Sometimes, older carriage have better ride quality than modern one, in terms of seating or bedding.
Very true! This one was amazing!
You can try these 1930s railcars on the lines Timisoara-Stamora Moravita (all trains), Timisoara-Buzias-Lugoj, Podu Olt-Piatra Olt-Caracal-Corabia, Craiova-Pitesti-Curtea de Arges (only some local services/mixed with Desiros and loco-hauled trains).
Like the birds on the window sills.
I must note that the old trains were much better thought out in terms of creating a comfortable and cozy environment.
Of course, they are inferior to new trains in terms of noise and vibration insulation. But for me this has never been a problem. On the contrary. As a child, I adored trains because I slept listening to the sound of the wheels. Now almost everywhere there are seamless rails. And sometimes I really miss these measured knocks on a trip.
looks good. I looked at this on paper and was not that enticed by it but I think Ill try it. I have done the Astro train out of Bucharest- that was pretty decent.
Astra Trans Carpatic was amazing! But this is a more authentic railway experience. Both are solid options.
As a tourists some years ago I traveled to Temesvár (or as in video: Timisora) by train. It became one of my most memorable journeys ever. In fact I was happy when I finally came back safe because of the many Gypsies and all kind of suspicious people traveling on the train. It looks like those who are not poor or who are a bit more educated do not travel by Romanian trains. I didn't know this.
The rest room should be avoided if possible. I almost threw up. The train was from old times in my case too, with similar layout than in the video above. The comfort was not great, but for me it was enough on this local/passenger train for a 2X2 hours travel (back and forth).
My wife traveled recently to Kolozsvár (or in Romanian: to Clui Napoca) with an express train, and she says that it was much more cultured than the regional Romanian train I traveled by, and the passengers were also better looking people. The price was as low as the video above informs.
What a pity that Romania does not place more emphasis on regional train travel, because it's more environmentally friendly than traveling by car, or by minibuses. They should begin with the fight against the Romanian corruption, because almost nobody bought ticket on the Romanian train I traveled by - except me, who is Hungarian. The Romanian passengers only gave a tip to the conductor and they were allowed to travel for free. I'm not surprised that regional trains in Romania are so undeveloped.
I always wonder what do you do when you reach the end of these train journeys.
And yes, Id love to see you ride on the train you don't want too 😊
Depending on my schedule, I'll take a look around the place I end up, or take another train onward! Lots of different reasons to travel. 😁
Yep, that's a very nice place to spend a day. Sad there's no inflight (yeah, I know) food offering, but I wouldn't expect it, tbh, on a four coach consist.
True, the best option is to bring your own snacks.
Reminds me of an Italian sleeper train I travelled on some 22 years ago...
You seem to have overlooked one feature of many sleeping cars of that era, assuming that carriage still has it: a self-emptying chamber-pot in a cupboard under the washbasin that empties onto the track when you put it away after using it. I believe that many coaches that originally had that facility had it removed on refurbishment because it was deemed unhygienic, though.
I can remember when the Cornish sleeper train had that feature!
Until recently, it was unusual to have holding tanks at all in most countries, hence the typical warning labels to avoid using toilets during station stops.
Small correction: the second carriage isn't a couchette car, it's a Halberstadt type 22-96 car with seats, divided into 3 compartments at each end with a 5 seat configuration and a semi-compartimented seats in the middle
Oh my god! It's meant to be a couchette car, I bet the passengers booked in that had a very miserable night! Thanks for the correction.
would be interesting if you tried one of the longer Rail-Bus routes... some of them can get rather fascinating...
As always, I really appreciate the way you are doing the rails - but I am still waiting to check east Asian tracks like that one in Thailand and in Viet Nam as well as the even the famous, but pretty run down night train from Lisbon to Madrid - check it out! //
Lisbon to Madrid doesn't run anymore... sad!
But some more Asian journeys will be coming up in the future on my channel.
@@SuperalbsTravels Oh, real sad, that was a great experience!
Better built than modern stock. ❤
Seriously, in what sense? Just because of nostalgic vibes? Have you tried the Finnish double decker sleeping-cars? Or a new generation Nightjet sleeper?
@@TangoMikeLimaprice of the ticket please?
It will be replaced by one of lower quality but more expensive
@@eedragonr You clearly have made up your mind and facts won’t help. Bye.
@@eedragonr In low season a ticket in an own compartment in a very modern sleeping car Helsinki-Rovaniemi (12 hours) can be had for clearly under 100€. (Just look for videos here on UA-cam that show Finnish night trains).
The problem with a generalisation is that a single counter-example can disprove it.
Timisoara is my hometown and I can tell you that the regional rides are such fun (if you don't care about back pains and drunk people) -> so no fun. Through the place I moved now (20km apart from Timisoara) both regional rides and the IR1831 (the former IR1838 - your video probably was filmed a couple years ago while it was still running) pass, so I'm no stranger to these. There are plans and projects to modernize the infrastructure and the rolling stock, but it's gonna take a while.
P.S. The only regional ride I would recommend you to do is the Timisoara Nord - Remetea Mica station (1hr ride) because of the scenery and the fact that the operator, Regio Calatori, bought a "new" diesel railbus.
What are those new diesel trains like? Are they former SNCF units? :)
@@SuperalbsTravels As far as I know, they are not. The diesel trains are called VT2E and I think they came from DB. But you'll have to time it right, because they are not running daily on that Timișoara Nord - Remetea Mică route.
@@just1daniVery interesting!
To correct myself, those were used for local transport in Austria, and were produced by LHB (currently part of Alstom group)@@SuperalbsTravels
7:05 - I say Yes! :D - try the Siemens Desiro Night Train from Baia Mare to Timisoara. Priced as InterRegio of course. I wish you a good night :))
Not the overnight one! 😭😭😭
I’ve only travelled by train in Romania once, the short hop between Braila and Galati. For some reason it takes an hour or more o cover around 30km. It consisted of a massive electric locomotive hauling a single, duplex carriage. Having said that it was on time, clean, comfortable, the track quality seemed fine and it was very inexpensive - less than the equivalent of one Euro. Both stations are classic, Communist brutalist style with very limited facilities beyond each having a steam locomotive on a plinth outside. Both cities have trams but in neither case do they serve the railway station. I’ve still got the ticket as a souvenir. It’s actually a little card folder but does have the railway logo. I guess this service is now worked by multiple units.
I've taken the regional train from Baia Mare to Arad - over 6 hours 😅
The former Yugoslavian Railways had quite a lot of those 3 bed sleeping cabin carriages and after the break up of Yugoslavia they ended up in the hands of the various successor states although I never saw any Bosnian or Macedonian ones on my travels.
I am from Romania so I'd like for you to experience the regional train. Please do it 🤣🤣🤣
Burdujeni is the original name for what is now known as Suceava station. It used to be a border crossing station between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and pre-WW1 Romania. The station on the Austro-Hungarian side of the border was called Suceava, thus the Romanian border station had to be called differently. The old Suceava station still exists today and it is known as Suceava-Nord.
Hi, what do you use to know for example wich type of loco is ? Wich carriage is ? Built by who ? When ?(all the questions like this)?
Many sources. Try these!
www.vagonweb.cz/
www.railfaneurope.net/list_frameset.html
The cabin contains 3 beds, with the top one being folded away, it's outline is visible at 4:47 in the video :)
True, but as they only sell two beds, I decided not to mention it. :)
The second locomotive exchange and the reversing occured in Cluj, while you were probably sleeping😂
Wow Hungary is sure beatiful!!!
Propaganda
I actually prefer old carriages over the new modern plastic white ones. These feel just more cosy, friendly and warm.
Interesting reverse psychology attempt regarding the regional trains there! Of course we'd love you to do it!
Oh no!!! 😭😭😭😭
0:17 reminds me of the movie "murder on the orient express"
Hahaha, thankfully without the 'murder' bit! 😂
So,CFR with a sixty years old carriage, a journey of 16 hours. And just 13 minutes late. Not bad at all! Try Deutsche Bahn. New Material (ICE), a planned journey of let's say 5 hours. And often at least 30 minutes late. I think DB can learn something from the Romanians. Or at least we as customers. Don't judge the book just by its cover.
On the other hand, the Romanian timetable seems to be quite leisurely and generous to help them keep to it.
@@chriswalford4161If they make a plan and manage to keep to it,I can respect it. At least a person can plan their trip with the known time of arrival.
I had a lot of major delays in Romania too, so it's not all perfect!
@@SuperalbsTravels I know, but it is primairily about DB. They could do better...
I'd recommend travelling to/in Armenia. It has beautiful scenery and some old trains. It's a great experience!
I already have! Unfortunately, I only used the brand-new trains there, which was a shame.
@@SuperalbsTravels That‘s unfortunate. If you ever go there again, try asking the staff at the ticket office when the old trains are driving. They have services with only new and only old trains.
@@lx_9696 the train from Batumi to Yerevan is really old but also stylish. Loved it in 2014 and 2017.
@@lx_9696Actually, I checked the website and it said my train was a Soviet ER2, but a different train turned up, and they even chaged me more! 😂
@@lx_9696See here: ua-cam.com/video/KMPPfry9JLc/v-deo.html
Whenever you do your next video in India, please try out this route. Howrah to New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat express. You will be mesmerised not only by the train but also by the beautiful scenery of rural Bengal.
Thanks, I'll consider it! :)
Amenity packs always amuse me. Unless total emergency, why wouldn't you pack your own toothbrush/paste? Having a small toiletries bag in my backpack would be essential.
I agree, it does seem rather pointless. Don't think I used any of it!
13 minutes delay on a 16 hour journey is excelent for romanian railways standards
Exactly! 😅
new öbb railjet would be cool to see
Jeez, you might as well make a Romania series lol 😅
I always try to travel on as many different trains when I travel, no matter where! :)
3+ hour journeys on Desiros and other regional DMUs should be internationally considered as torture
VIA Rail in Canada continues to operate used coaches from Amtrak that were built before Elizabeth II became Queen of the United Kingdom! Thankfully funding is now available for their replacements.