Bosphorus Express

Route map
	Legend
	Turkey
	Bulgaria
	Bulgaria
	Romania
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

Bosphorus Express
Bosfor Ekspresi
	The Bosphorus Express at Bucharest North station, 16 August 2019. The first car heads towards Sofia, and the 2 couchettes head towards Istanbul.
Overview
Service type	InterCity
Status	Operating
Locale	European Turkey, eastern Bulgaria, southern Romania
Current operator(s)	TCDDT; BDZ; CFR;
Former operator(s)	TCDD (Until 2016)
Route
Termini	Halkalı station, Istanbul; Gara de Nord, Bucharest
Stops	8
Average journey time	13 hours, 29 minutes
Service frequency	Daily each way
Train number(s)	81032, 492, 464 (westbound), 81031, 461 (eastbound)
On-board services
Sleeping arrangements	Private sleeping room accommodations and couchette cars
Catering facilities	Dining car
Baggage facilities	Yes
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Istanbul to Kapıkule and Dimitrovgrad to Ruse
Track owner(s)	TCDD Istanbul-Kapıkule; BDŽ Kapitan Andreevo-Ruse; CFR Giurgiu-Bucharest
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	Turkey
	Bulgaria
	Bulgaria
	Romania
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

The Bosphorus Express (Bulgarian: Босфор експрес), also known as the Trans Balkan Express (Turkish: Bosfor Ekspresi), is an international passenger train running between Istanbul, Turkey and Bucharest, Romania.^[1]^[2] It runs together with the Istanbul-Sofia Express^[3] 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), the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ), and the Romanian State Railways (CFR).^[4] The train serves several important cities including Istanbul, Edirne, Stara Zagora, 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. Since the train uses electrified and non-electrified track, locomotives pulling the train also change. From Istanbul, the train is pulled by an E68000 electric locomotive to Kapıkule, 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 Halkali station^[5] in the suburb of Marmaray, 27 km (17 mi) from Istanbul's Sirkeci Terminal. After passing through Edirne it arrives at the town of Kapıkule on the Turkish-Bulgarian border.^[6] 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 and into the Romanian 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 Bucharest North railway station.