Bucharest North railway station

Gara București Nord
Căile Ferate Române
Location	Piața Gării de Nord, Bucharest, Romania
Coordinates	44°26′46.92″N 26°4′27.15″E / 44.4463667°N 26.0742083°E / 44.4463667; 26.0742083Coordinates: 44°26′46.92″N 26°4′27.15″E / 44.4463667°N 26.0742083°E / 44.4463667; 26.0742083
Owned by	CFR
Line(s)	Bucharest–Constanța Bucharest–Craiova Bucharest–Ploiești Bucharest–Pitești Bucharest–Ruse Bucharest–Urziceni M1 Line (Bucharest Metro) M4 Line (Bucharest Metro)
Platforms	8
Tracks	14
Construction
Structure type	terminal station
Parking	yes
History
Opened	1872
Electrified	yes (16 February 1969)
Services
Preceding station   CFR   Following station Ploiești Vest toward Arad CFR Intercity 200 Terminus Ploiești Vest toward Oradea CFR Intercity 300 Ploiești Vest toward Târgu Mureș CFR Intercity 400 Ploiești Sud toward Suceava CFR Intercity 500 Ploiești Sud toward  CFR Intercity 600 toward Galați CFR Intercity 700 Videle toward Timișoara Nord CFR Intercity 900 Terminus Bosphorus Express Giurgiu toward Istanbul Preceding station   BDŽ   Following station Giurgiu toward Sofia Romania Terminus Preceding station   Bucharest Metro   Following station Piața Victoriei towards Dristor Line M1 Transfer at: Gara de Nord Basarab towards Republica Basarab towards Străulești Line M4 Transfer at: Gara de Nord Terminus

Bucharest North railway station (Romanian: Gara București Nord) is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania. The vast majority of mainline trains to and from Bucharest originate from Gara de Nord.

History[]

The station was built between 1868 and 1872; the foundation stone was set on 10 September 1868 in the presence of Carol I of Romania. The building is designed as a U-shaped structure. The first railways between Roman – Galați – Bucharest – Pitești were put in service on 13 September 1872. Between 1895 and 1896 a new wing of the station was built, which included a "Royal Hall", due to the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.^[1] It was initially named Gara Târgoviștei, after the road nearby, Calea Târgoviștei ("Târgoviște Road", nowadays Calea Griviței), and took its current name in 1888.

The station and its surroundings were heavily bombed by the Allies in April 1944 during a campaign aimed at the Axis supply lines, since the station played an important part in the Romanian railway network and was the main departure point for troops headed to the Eastern Front (see: Bombing of Bucharest in World War II).

Under Communist times, the station received a number of upgrades, such as a footbridge (1950s or 1960s), partial electrification on 16 February 1969, and then an expansion between 1978 and 1984 and complete electrification. It is still upgraded as of today, having received a platform overhaul (replacement of tiles with asphalt from 2006 to 2010), removal of the footbridge (replaced with Basarab Overpass in 2009) and, in 2018, replacement of the original split-flap displays with LED ones.

Current status[]

There are currently 14 tracks and 8 platforms.

As of 2009, Gara de Nord served about 200 trains, including domestic trains operated by Căile Ferate Române, Regiotrans and Trans Feroviar calatori as well international trains to Hungary – Budapest, Bulgaria – Sofia, Varna and Burgas, Republic of Moldova – Chișinău, Ukraine – Kyiv, Dnipro and Chernivtsi, Austria – Vienna, Turkey – Istanbul, Russia – Moscow and Saratov, Belarus – Minsk.

The station is served by several bus ( lines 105, 123,133,178,182,205,282 and express line 780 which links the railway station with the Henri Coandă Airport) trolleybus (65, 79 and 86 on Grivița side and 62,85,93,96 on The Columnes side) and tram lines (42,45,46 on Grivița side and 44 on Dinicu Golescu side), as well as the Gara de Nord metro station. Also, the station is connected by CFR and TFC trains to Henri Coandă International Airport.

Future developments[]

In 2019 plans were announced by the Government of Romania's Ministry of Transport to convert Gara de Nord from a terminus station to an underground through station, linking with , and a partial underground link between Gara de Nord and Progresul.^[2]

See also[]

• Bucharest Metro

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Gara de Nord at Wikimedia Commons
• Trains timetable
• Station North Bucharest