Train Ride

How long is a 1.5 hour train ride from Sinaia to Bucharest?

Last weekend I went up to Sinaia with two other women. We were awed by the beauty of creation all around us during the ride. The trees were changing colors and the mountains are always beautiful! We had a wonderful day together-touring the castle, walking through the shops, stopping at the monastery, and eating lunch together.

We decided to take the 5pm train back to the city, bought our tickets and waited. It appeared that all would be normal for our train ride. We arrived at Campina 30 min later and stayed at the station for an hour-much longer than the standard 3-5 min stop. I had heard there was some construction being done on tracks so I didn't think too much about it. No information is given, so you just sit and wait-there really isn't anything else you can do.

We finally pulled out and continued toward Bucharest. 5 min into the journey, we heard some strange noises and then in another few minutes. The second set of noises were quickly followed by a thump and a slowing train. It isn't unusual to stop between stations, but this stop was rather extended and people started looking out the windows and even getting off the train. We later found out that the power lines had fallen, cracking the front window on the train. We would be unable to move until they were righted. There was the option of walking to the next major road to catch another form of transportation, but it was getting dark and raining.

So, we waited. There was an American team on the train-further toward the back. We went and sat with them to get regular updates from the Romanians traveling with them who went out to talk with people and take pictures.

The repair train showed up some time later and finally we were able to make our way toward Bucharest. Instead of arriving at 6:40 as planned, our train pulled in at 10:00. So, the 1.5 hour ride was 5.