Heute geht es weiter Richtung Rumänien.
Dazu wird am frühen Morgen des Karfreitag ein Desiro Richtung Добрич (Dobrich) bestiegen. Anfangs dieselt der etwas auf der elektrifizierten Strecke entlang des Hafens von Варна (Varna), die ich gestern schon kennengelernt habe.
Dann zweigt die Strecke nach rechts/Norden ab und die Oberleitung hört nach einigen Kilometern auf, wenn auch Oberleitungsmaste noch einige Kilometer weiter stehen.
Die Gegend rund um Добрич (Dobrich) ist eine sehr vom Ackerbau geprägte Landschaft, davon sieht man allerdings wegen der hohen Büsche links und rechts der Strecke eher weniger.
In Добрич (Dobrich) steht dann schon die gewünschte Lok - eine Ludmilla - bereit. Diese hat einen Kursschlafwagen aus София (Sofia) und einen Sitzwagen bereits eine gute Stunde eher aus Варна (Varna) hierher gebracht. Jetzt fährt dieser übermotorisierte Zug mich Richtung rumänische Grenze nach Кардам (Kardam). Der Schlafwagen fährt ab jetzt leer und verschlossen mit; dieser ist auch nur bis Добрич (Dobrich) buchbar.
Now we get to today's #CrossBorBorderRail! @jon
The train terminates at Кардам (Kardam) which is about 5 km from the Romanian border. The following part of the line in Bulgaria is still in acceptable condition, e. g. the railway crossing is still maintained.
After I had to answer some stupid questions by the Bulgarian border police, I made my way into Romania. Unfortunately, the railway line is not very close to the road in Romania. But my impression from the distance was that the tracks are still usable.
The first railway station in Romania is Negru Vodă which isn't served by trains anymore. The tracks were in poor condition and need a lot of repair if you want to run trains there again.
@jon hard to say. There are quite some busses from Negru Vodă to Mangalia and Constanţa, but apparently not a single one to Medgidia.
On the other hand, the area lives a lot from their agriculture. Thus, freight traffic may also help.
@Schleifleistenbruch Ah I see the highway follows the railway line, roughly, then before Constanța turns east to Constanța, while the railway bears slightly west to Medgidia. But Negru Vodă itself has barely 6000 people...
One day I will go and check this one out!
And thanks for the pics - it's making me miss trips to odd corners of Romania!
@Island_Martha Sadly not quite - the railway @Schleifleistenbruch was examining is the north south one labelled 810 in the map here, dark brown. It goes to the mainline that then goes to Bucuresti. A line to Mangalia or Constanta instead would probably be more useful, but there never was one.
@Island_Martha@jon@Schleifleistenbruch It is however very easy to get there from Bucharest. There is a train nearly every 2 hour, and there is also hourly local trains to Mangalia from Constanta.
@Island_Martha@Schleifleistenbruch There must be a reason. There is always a reason 🙂 It was built this way to avoid some farmer's land, or it made sense before the border was put where it is now. I just don't know what that logic is for that particular line.
@jon@Schleifleistenbruch
It may be geography. From my earlier study I read that, there the Danube breaks up into mud islands and micro streams. It's possible that the land areas are not strong or stable enough to support the weight of trains
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