Locomotive separates from passenger train in Romania, continues route on its own

A night train traveling from the Western Romania city of Timisoara to capital Bucharest was separated from its engine, leaving the 300 passengers stranded in a field for about an hour. The night train IRN 1696, operated by the state-owned Romanian Railways CFR, was separated from its engine close to the Radomirești locality, in Olt county, Pressone.ro reported. The engine continued its route and returned to re-attach to the train after an hour. The eight-car train was traveling the Timișoara – Bucharest route. Some 300 people were in the train. Detailing the situation, the CFR said the train stopped in the Radomireşti “automatically”. “The engine performed several maneuvers, went to the station, then returned, because it needed to test the breaks, according to procedures. It took a certain amount of time for the head of the train and the mechanic to check it entirely,” Agerpres reported. The passengers were at no time in danger, the CFR said. Besides the one-hour stop at Radomirești, the train was further delayed for two hours because of infrastructure works on the line, the railway operator said. The train was scheduled to reach Bucharest at 8:22 but arrived instead at 11:40. A passenger in the train said another unplanned stopped was made close to the capital because “smoke was coming out of the wheels and they blocked the breaks so it wouldn’t catch fire,” Pressone.ro reported. editor@romania-insider.com