Romania's state passenger rail carrier CFR Calatori will introduce new trains in the 2016-2017 train schedule, which will save a significant amount of time for the passengers who travelling from the capital Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca and Suceava.

The travel times for some of the trains connecting Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca, the biggest city in Transylvania, will be reduced by one hour. An InterRegio train will make 9 hours and 40 minutes from Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca, instead of 10 hours and 40 minutes now.

Also, the new InterRegio trains linking Bucharest to Suceava in Romania's North-Eastern Bucovina region, will cover the 450-kilometer route in 5 hours and 40 minutes, instead of 6 hours and 52 minutes.

CFR Calatori says the shorter travel times have become possible due to small work on some railway sections, which allowed the removal of some speed limits. The express train going from Bucharest to Suceava will also have fewer and shorter stops. Thus, it will only stop in Ploiesti, Buzau, Focsani, and Bacau. Most trains going on this route have some 12 stops on the way.

The new 2016-2017 train schedule will enter into force this Sunday, December 11, and will be valid until December 9, 2017. Between 1,200 and 1,300 trains will run daily between the Romanian cities, depending on the season, according to a statement from CFR Calatori.

The Snow Trains (Trenurile Zapezii in Romanian) will also be introduced this Sunday. These trains are the ones taking travellers to mountain resorts in Prahova Valley, Dornei Valley, Piatra Neamt, and Petrosani. In weekends, tickets for trips in Prahova Valley (between Sinaia and Brasov) will be reduced by up to 56%. Moreover, between January 1 and February 28, 2017, tickets for Snow Trains will be 25% cheaper from Monday to Thursday.

In terms of international traffic, the new train schedule includes direct trains that connect Bucharest to Vienna (prices for one-way tickets start from EUR 39), and Bucharest to Budapest (from EUR 29). Daily direct trains to Budapest will also depart from Timisoara, Brasov, Targu Mures, and Cluj-Napoca.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com