Bucharest–Constanța

In January 1856 the Sultan granted an Anglo-French–Austrian consortium the concession for a canal across Dobruja, from the Danube at Cernavodă to the Black Sea, so that ships could skip the river's long loop north through its delta. By May the plan had been dropped, and a railway was to be built instead. The Danube and Black Sea Railway, drawn up by the engineers John Trevor and Henry Barkley and backed in London, opened on 4 October 1860: 65 km from the river port at Cernavodă to the sea at Constanța, then an Ottoman town, with grain stores at its stations. With the railway running, the canal was shelved again.

It was dug in the end. The Danube–Black Sea Canal opened in 1984, 64 km long, and it runs beside the railway past the same stations, Saligny, Mircea Vodă and Medgidia. Today CFR Călători runs fifteen trains a day each way over the 225 km from București Nord to Constanța, across the Bărăgan plain and over the Danube at Cernavodă, and from there to the sea the train keeps the canal company.

The train leaves București Nord by Băneasa and Pantelimon and heads out onto the Bărăgan, the steppe plain of black soil between Bucharest and the Danube that was turned over to grain in the second half of the nineteenth century. The InterRegios stop at Ciulnița, km 109, and Fetești, km 146. Romania began building this half of the line in 1879, once Dobruja was its own.

Over the Danube

Between Fetești and Cernavodă, 21 km, the line crosses the Borcea arm of the Danube, the island between, and the river itself. Anghel Saligny led the design and the building of the bridges, begun on 26 November 1890 in the presence of King Carol I and opened on 26 September 1895. The Danube bridge has a central span of 190 m, 30 m above high water so that the tallest masts could pass. At the opening fifteen locomotives crossed together at 60 km/h, then a train of guests at 80 km/h, and Saligny, by one account, waited under the bridge in a launch with his workmen while they did. The Borcea bridge was destroyed by the retreating Romanian army in 1916 and rebuilt by 1921.

Since 1987 the trains have crossed on a new bridge beside Saligny's. In 2013, when the new bridge was to go in for repairs, CFR decided to reopen a single track on the old one for the duration. The first station across the river is Cernavodă Pod, km 166, and the next, at km 172, is called Saligny.

Beside the canal

From Cernavodă the line and the Danube–Black Sea Canal run east together, through Mircea Vodă and Medgidia, km 190, to Poarta Albă, where the canal turns south for the port at Agigea. The canal's first attempt, in 1949–53, was a forced-labour site where thousands of political prisoners died; one of its camps was at Poarta Albă, where the Regio still calls. The work was resumed twenty years later, and the main branch was finished in 1984.

The railway runs on through Basarabi, the station of Murfatlar, and Valu lui Traian, named for the earthwork walls across Dobruja called Trajan's, which are most likely Byzantine, of the tenth and eleventh centuries. It reaches Constanța at km 225.

The trains

The line was electrified on 31 May 1977 and is double track all the way; most of it is cleared for 160 km/h. On 4 July 2014 a summer train covered the 225 km in 1 hour 55 minutes. The fastest service now is the InterCity, two hours and one minute without a stop, among them the Tomis Expres from Brașov with its restaurant car.

The InterRegios are worked by CFR Călători's locomotives and coaches and by the Alstom Coradia Stream, the first long-distance electric trains CFR Călători has bought in two decades; Bucharest–Constanța heads the list of five routes their first lot of twelve units was bought for.

CFR Călători runs fifteen direct trains a day each way between București Nord and Constanța, the same on weekdays and Saturdays, and every one is sold with a compulsory seat reservation. The InterCity (IC) trains run non-stop in about two hours; the InterRegios (IR) take 2¼ to 2½ hours and stop at Ciulnița, Fetești, Cernavodă Pod and Medgidia, some at Lehliu too. One Regio (R) each way calls at every station. Both IC and IR carry first and second class.

București Nord to Constanța

Constanța to București Nord

The other InterRegios leave București Nord at 06:30, 07:30, 10:35, 11:30, 14:25, 16:30, 18:30 and 19:31, and Constanța at 07:30, 08:20, 12:30, 14:30, 15:25, 16:30 and 20:30. IC 538 and IC 536 are the Tomis Expres, which starts and ends at Brașov; IR 1580 and IR 1584 also run on to Brașov, and IR 1589 comes from there.

Regio Călători, a private operator, runs one Regio Express each way: 11081 leaves București Nord at 08:03 and reaches Constanța at 10:25, and 11080 leaves Constanța at 12:41 for București Nord at 15:11, both with a compulsory reservation and sold on its own site. In summer Transferoviar Călători adds two InterRegios each way, running on to Mangalia; in 2026 they ran from 13 June to 6 September.

Times for Tuesday 10 November 2026, checked against Saturday 14 November, read on 20 October 2026 from CFR Călători's booking site (opens in a new tab) and Regio Călători's (opens in a new tab). The timetable year changes in mid-December.

For a journey on 10 November 2026, CFR Călători's booking site quoted an adult 83.45 lei from București Nord to Constanța on an InterRegio in second class and 122.15 lei in first. The non-stop InterCity is 95.15 lei and 138.80 lei, and the Regio 44.10 lei, second class only. Every fare includes the seat reservation, and the site warns that its prices can include advance-purchase discounts.

Buy online at CFR Călători's booking site, in its app or at the station; Regio Călători sells its own train on its own site. Fares in Romanian lei, as of October 2026.

An Interrail Romania Pass or a Global Pass covers CFR Călători's trains on this line — the InterCity, the InterRegios and the Regio. Interrail's table of railway companies marks reservations as mandatory on the InterCity and the InterRegio, and the fee is not included in the pass. The private trains are not covered: Regio Călători's (listed under its former name, Regiotrans) and Transferoviar Călători's summer InterRegios.

For this journey, a pass is not worth buying. The cheapest Romania Pass, three travel days in a month, costs €105 in second class for an adult and €79 for a traveller aged 12 to 27; an InterRegio to the sea costs 83.45 lei. It pays only on a longer trip through Romania.

Checked October 2026 against interrail.com (opens in a new tab).

Constanța is the end of the line; Cernavodă, Medgidia and Murfatlar are on its way across Dobruja, each a stop for the Regio and the first two for the InterRegios.

Stay in Constanța's old centre on the peninsula, a walk from Ovid's square, the Roman mosaic, the Casino and the Genoese lighthouse. The first trains back to Bucharest leave at 05:30, 07:30 and 08:20.

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