Private train to connect Romanian mountain city to seaside city via capital

Romanian private rail passenger carrier RegioTrans recently relaunched its direct train from Brasov to Constanta via Bucharest, on June 20, 2014. The train will be available only for the holiday season, until the beginning of September, the company announced. The company launched this route last year. The train leaves the mountain city of Brasov daily at 6:16 and reaches the Black Sea city of Constanta at 12:17. The return train departs Constanta at 18:15 and gets to Brasov 20 minutes after midnight. The train has air conditioning and free wireless. A trip from Brasov to Constanta, or return, takes six hours and costs RON 70 (EUR 16), for a full second class ticket. Tickets can be bought online, on the company’s website, but this does not have an English version. A second class ticket for state owned carrier CFR Calatori for the same route is RON 82.5 (almost EUR 19). CFR has three direct trains from Brasov to Constanta each day. RegioTrans operates more than 40 routes in Romania, including some longer ones such as Brasov – Timisoara or Brasov – Iasi. The company’s revenues last year were of more than EUR 50 million, posting a 10 percent increase compared to 2012. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com