​From December 11, after an eight-year break, Intercity trains are returning, but abnormally, some of them will be slower than InterRegio trains, although tickets will cost 15-20% more. Also, the IC trains will be equipped with upgraded coaches that are currently running on the IR trains, so they will not be completely new coaches. CFR Călători also promises Wi-Fi Internet

The speed of the IC train starts at 57 km/h

Unfortunately, we do not have the proper infrastructure for IC trains, nor very new coaches. In addition, especially in Transylvania, there are hundreds of kilometers where the average commercial speed can reach no more than 55 km/h.

IC trains between Bucharest and Constanta and between Brasov and Constanta will be the fastest. From Cluj to Bucharest, the average speed will be below 57 km/h…

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The IC 531 train will take 10 hours and 17 minutes for the 626 km between Bucharest and Arad, while the international Ister train, IR 472, will take 10 hours and 13 minutes via Sibiu on the 599 km route. The IC train will stop for 16 minutes in Tejus, from where the branch to Cluj departs. Stationary is logical and necessary, it was less necessary to upgrade trains to IC, given that there are no new cars, and the average speed from one end of the country to the other is less than 60 km/h.

If new carriages, like those that make up the IC trains in Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic, had been purchased and arrived in the country during these months, there would be logic for the return of the IC trains. However, it doesn’t really make sense.

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Between Arad and Bucharest, the IC train will take 10 hours and 33 minutes, because the stop at Teiuș will last 33 minutes when the train receives carriages from Cluj. The average speed will be 59 km/h along the entire route and 55 km/h between Tejus and Brasov. Between Arad and Teyush, the average speed will be 66 km/h.

The fastest train from Arad to Bucharest will NOT be the InterCity, but the Dacia train from Vienna, which follows an identical route to the IC train, with the difference that it does not stop at Teiuș.

The IC train Iasi – Bucharest will take 6 hours 10 minutes, more than two IR trains are currently running the same distance. And on the way back, the difference is real.

After December 11, the Intercity train will NOT be the fastest between Bucharest and Iași, but the IR 1661 train, as the IC train will stop for 13 minutes at Pascan, where the train disconnects carriages to Suceava station. Between Paskan and Iasi, the average speed will be 74 km/h.

And on the route Bucharest – Suceava, the IC train will take five minutes longer than the currently fastest IR (5 hours 39 minutes compared to 5 hours 34 minutes). An IC train has an average speed of 79 km/h.

Between Cluj and Bucharest, the IC train has an average speed of 58 km/h and 57 km/h in the return direction.

The Tomis Express train has an average speed of 87 km/h on the 391 km between Brasov and Constanta.

Trains IC 581 and 582 Bucharest – Constanta have an average speed of 112 km/h.

What CFR Călători says about IC trains

“After an 8-year break, the Intercity train category is being re-introduced on routes where speed and technical conditions allow this service. 12 trains have been designed to run on this new route,” CFR Călători representatives say.

“The composition of IC trains is provided by the number of more than 30 passenger cars (first-class cars, second-class cars and second-class cars with catering facilities). All carriages are modernized and equipped to modern standards, with air conditioning, eco-friendly toilets, semi-automatic access doors and intermediate doors, electrical sockets for charging mobile phones or laptops, sound system, digital display, shelves for oversized luggage at each end of the cabin. .

In these trains, travelers use Wi-Fi Internet, the carriages are equipped with the appropriate equipment and are capable of moving at a maximum speed of 160 km/h, and some of them even 200 km/h,” the company says.

In the new Mers al Trenurilor 2022-2023, an average of 1,100 trains operated by CFR Călători will run daily, depending on the season.