The Romanian Night Train Operated by a Train Manufacturer
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
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You know how much I love night trains folks, and when I heard that Romania had a brand new night train operated by a train manufacturer, I had to make the journey to Romania! This journey was FULL of surprises. Good and bad!
Enjoy, and don't forget to like/leave a comment to help the channel :-)
- TRIP INFORMATION -
Date: September 2023
Railway company: Astra Trans Carpatic
From: Arad to Bucuresti Nord
Time: 11h12
Price: 380 RON - 76,54€
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00:00 : Intro
01:22 : Astra Trans Carpatic
02:41 : French cousin?
03:25 : Boarding
03:48 : Room tour
05:11 : Bathroom tour
05:39 : Shiny but unfinished
06:06 : Departure from Arad
06:34 : Shower time ? Almost
07:18 : Timișoara
08:42 : Walkthrough
11:08 : Mid roll ads
11:36 : Throughts about the night
12:04 : What's going on ?
13:08 : Breakfast with a view
14:13 : Arrival / Thoughts
15:02 : Outro
What's your opinion folks? Would you have liked this night with Astra or be disappointed ? Let me know !
This night train is quite special and with you need to change the train in Arad to go to Budapest you need to take CFR and Astra is almost always late ... So you will most probably lose your connection ! Be careful !
I think I would have liked it but not as much as most both older and newer sleepers. I love that they brought wood back into the interiors of trains, but there were a lot of things about the construction of these sleepers that felt cheap and were just poor quality low effort solutions. I think the problem is that the budget did not stand to rework the things that broke on this design, so they just keep it slabbed together with tape and other low effort fixes.
That bathroom fan is going to be a problem, I swear that is bound to wake someone up when the toilet is being used at night.
Attention everyone, simply Railway has 300 videos and his CZcams channel is 5 years old.🎉
Still 4 years ago.
YET!
Man, the finishings of the cars are like the story of every thing built in Romania. It sterts great and has a lot of potential but somehow it gets lost on the way and the result will be shiny on the outside but fragile and cheep on a closer look.... And this service is the highest quality train service in Romania.
Don't be such an cry baby.
Dracula would not be proud
1970's carriage outside but 2023 inside!Romania was a big train building country and many of the British Rail Class 56 freight locomotives were built there and driven across Europe to England the drivers sleeping in the cabs!
The grids and if you ask this on the train simulator Forum community the UK built class 56 by BREL are better than the Romanian built 001-030 batch
Most of the problems you pointed are lack of maintenance, doorknob not fixed, window shade not replaced, and so on, even on the outmost premium trains if there's a lack of maintenance it will broke down eventually after too much wear and tear, i don't say the rolling stock is premium but are pretty nice, they are running these trains for almost 6 years now, wouldn't hurt to give them a proper maintenance.
@SuperalbsTravels had a better experience, and i myself used the 4 bedding twice and didn't had so many problems, oh well to top it off the strike is the cherry
ps: they use to have their own locomotives, but i haven't seen them in the last year or more, probably it's more advantageous to rent a locomotive since the maintenance is probably included
Končar is Croatia's largest rail manufacturer. It also produces, like Astra, trams, but also multiple units, especially those ones for HŽ.
I had such deja-vu with this video untill i remebered that Superlabs Travel also posted a video on the same train a few days agon. His ride went a lot beeter than yours but such is the gamble when taking a train in Romania.
That's what I was gonna say!
They even recently introduced low-floor trams, the Astra Imperio, which are the first ever Romanian fully low-floor trams. These're currently in operation in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Oradea.
They are based on the Siemens Combino/Avenio design but are poorly built
@@vladtomoiaga4721 actually, they aren't. at least they're in another dimension compared to the V3As or the BLFs. in bucharest they're holding up well. there are a couple of them with broken glass, but that's due to bucharest traffic. do a little research before spitting out this shit
Sure.
@@PDZspotting They're good if you compare them to V3A, but crap if you compare them to any modern tram of today, like the Siemens Avenio. The crappiest thing is the fixed bogie (well, with a 4 deg. rotation angle, which is close to fixed bogie) that destroys the tracks at curves. It is the same technology used on the Siemens Combino in Budapest and Budapest had to rebuild the entire infrastructure for lines 4/6 because of them. That's why those tram aren't even allowed on different routes in Budapest, except some times on line 1, which was also completely rebuilt.
By the way, the Bucharest Imperio tend to need a longer time to reconnect traction after crossing a wire switch or a trolleybus set of wires... thus sometimes remaining in the middle of the intersection because of this :))
Same technology is used for the 2-segments trams that were already delivered in Galaţi and Arad, although the ones in Galaţi I think use Romanian-built electronic system.
Great trip. Not long ago watching Astra Trans Carpatic, this time watching again with different experience. Ah yes that strike moment.
Arad's mix of contemporary history fits perfectly into this city, as well as its special character of architectural beauty from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire that disappeared by the Treaty of Versailles. Thank you very much for this trip through the Carpathian mountains, best regards Frédéric in southern Brittany
Arad is also the headquarters of the local manufacturer Vagoane Călători, which has a strong presence in Bucharest and the rest of Romania, also in Central Europe with the ASTRA Imperio low-loader trams, in partnership with Siemens.
"The former Austro-Hungarian Empire that disappeared by the Treaty of Versailles". No. Arad was never Austrian, it was Hungarian, part of the apostolic kingdom of Hungary for no less than nine centuries. And Hungary as a multi-ethnic State was dismantled under the treaty of Trianon, not of Versailles. I'm not Hungarian but you'd better check your facts.
A guy did make this trip from Arad to Bucharest like today, you are making the same trip as him !
Yeah, Superalbs, I just watched his video yesterday and now I see this one 😹
Superlabs Tavels did exactly the same trip recently
Yes
Very nice carriages. Very clean and colourful.
I think the cabin looks great. And so does the wood panelling. Much better than most other Western European night cabins you’ve been in. But it does need maintenance.
Romania needs cheap labour for maintenance. Time to open the gates for refugees from Africa
12:52 Even Bucharest is nicknamed "Paris of the East".
These locomotives were designed and built in the 80s and In the 90s, together with Yugoslavia at the time, they are still found on the railways of all the former Yugo states, in Serbia we call them Romanians, and for that time they were excellent
Nice. Yesterday we were also stranded in Köln HBF and Liège-Guillemins.
3:56 Here in czechia we say: if the tape doesn't fixed it. You didn't used enough tape 😅😅
Amazing work
Big like from Oradea-Romania 💖💖
4:15= look , one bedbug ! Visible !
Great video, man! Congrats! 😊
this is like the ultimate show off how good your own product can be.
Nice Video
The extra storage over the corridor is a great idea.
Those beds remind me that I wish that train operators would just put sleeper-style beds into otherwise couchette-tier accommodations. They can't be that much more expensive to build than couchette bunks, especially if you don't care about how good they are as daytime seats (which on most sleeper trains you really don't) - most of the time I want the more comfortable bed of a sleeper, but don't really care about all the bells and whistles (like shower, included breakfast, more space, etc).
Spiffy color the train. I thought the wood finishes added luxury to the train buf unfortunately it merely put a cover on shabby.
Thanks Thibault.👌💚🖖💚
I think for just one night it would be ok but if they just fixed a few things it would be great. The wood panels look nice but not necessarily comfortable for a bedroom. Very impressed with entrance area to train though, so easy to board!
Great video, greetings from Elburn, IL Metra station!
I must say that the strikes are no that often here. As for the engine, it is leased from a cargo company.
you are very correct about Romania, very similar to France haha not just in language but culture, when we strike, we STRIKE. Love this train, honestly think its a good baseline for "FINE" or even "GOOD" depending on how clean and functional, I have had good luck with them on most occasions. I love CFR the most overall, but Astra is preferred for certain trips such as this, 100%, if I don't want to break the bank or pay nearly as much as I would have for gas for the car. Either way, as someone that lived in the USA for a while, I will always be thankful for the sheer density of train lines in romania. Even my old 94 year old grandma has a station near her home haha, and her closest neighbor is 3 farms away lol.
It was "open access" only in the first months of service. It is now a subsidized service under a PSO contract like every other passenger railway undertaking in Romania. And it's not the first RU owned by a train manufacturer... first is Softrans, owned by Softronic, who used to carry freight with locomotives modernized and, eventually, built by them. Now they do the same for passenger traffic, operating 3 EMUs of their own design, but on a PSO contract.
To understand the reason for both Astra and Softrans, we need to look a bit to the recent history of passenger tranins in Romania... in 2011, the European Commission sent a letter accusing that the state owned company is being illegally financed. Fortunately, this didn't cause an infringement, but the state had to stop all direct investments into CFR Călători, that included an order for sleeping cars to Astra (!) and the first EMU from Softronic. The investments from the period 2008 - 2011 were slowly deducted from CFR Călători's subsidies over a period of 10 years (untill end of 2022). But this left the manufacturers with some rolling stock available... causing them to start operating it themselves.
Back to Astra, the sleeping cars are of the same type as 9 units delivered to CFR Călători (which maintained them a bit poorly), the couchettes are part from an order for Iran (I don't know if money or the embargo caused the company not to send them there anymore) and the 2nd class cars are part from an order cancelled by RegioJet (CZ).
There is also a restaurant car built in 2011, that they hoped to sell it to CFR Călători, than to Arena Ways, than to RegioJet... but the car is still there, you can see it in the drone footage, it's the brown one. It would appear that, apart from the obvious lack of conformity with the TSIs (as it was manufactured in 2011), the wood used to decor the interior of the restaurant is not fireproof, so the car can't be allowed in service.
14:00 - the loco is rented from a freight company called GP Rail Cargo, which is a subsidiary of G.F.R., the largest private rail company in Romania.
P.S.: Romanian will probably note the swear words at 10:08, apparently one of the passengers was really pissed on someone :))
Thank you for all your additional knowledge on the video :-)
2:41 These are not SNCF Corails but former Eurofima OBB and CFR🙂
Thanks for making this interesting video. Such a short distance away from Bukarest I'd have checked if there's a bus stop nearby with a connection and would have left the train for catching it.
très beau train Roumanie c'est magnifique l'intérieur surtout les porte rouge laquées
Honestly, that looked like a lot of fun.
It was :)
@@SimplyRailway Can you imagine our respective former employers running passenger trains?
Interestning to see that "pretending to be rich" design came into trains too :P
“France and Romania have a lot of things in common”, even the strike!🤣🤣🤣
It might be a cheaper way to take a train from Vienna or Budapest to Arad and transfer Astra night train to Bucuresti instead of the direct night train operated by CFR.
Romanians relish playing the "Latin people" tune, while in fact they're an underdeveloped Balkanic tribe, of Byzantine identity (in religious terms) and have almost completely dropped the teaching of French in schools after 1989 (it was compulsory under Ceausescu) . Their "Latin" identity is just a trick to play friends and mates with France, enjoy a powerful protector and give themselves an illusion of grandeur.
LMAO 😂we are not 100 percent latin,we have turkish influence and some slavic, as for our faith we are still christians,I understand 90 percent french but speaking is more difficult,we have french in school even now but for us romanians france is useless because we dont get much from them anymore@@majy1735
It's like French corail 😊
It says a lot about the Eurofima design when you can still make beautiful modern-looking coaches from it. I believe SBB was the only other operator that built sleeping cars with these prints.
SNCB did too :)
Impressive! How old are those coaches? They seem rather modern. A fun trip!
they are around 5 to 6 years old
East to West @simplyrailway is best 🏆🌄🎂
Nice video. It's not easy to design and implement (manufacture) things to last in environments where they are subjected to abuse. People can be rough with things. All you can do is have a system where you check everything regularly. Too bad about the shower and the blinds. Looks like they did alright other than that, for the most part. $100 Euro for your accommodation seems reasonable, compared to here in Canada.
Funny breakfast break 😂
Boa viagem lindo trem simplys
Got yourself a real speed demon there, didn't you. The strike: at least you got to see something of the countryside even if it was only in one spot.
True that :)
crazy experience😯😯😯😯😯😯
Great entertainment !
About Romanian railstock engeneering: "Karpatenschreck" / "Ceausescus' Rache" ... )))
That's the DR Baureihe 119/DB Baureihe 219/229 during the German Democratic Republic era the depot for them was inside Rbf Dresden Friedrichstadt alongside DR Baureihe 104-106 Goldbroiler DR Baureihe 110-112 DR V100 DB Baureihe 204.
Yes, BR119/219/229 ... the infamous "U-Boot" --- CarphatianTerror-Ceausescu
'sRevenge-Submarine ) I was in Dresden a couple years ago during the Steamfestival at BW Altstadt - onboard a 01-202 solo-hauled eleven-carriage steam-special("Elbflorenz") to Bln-Schönweide/Ostbhf passing through Friedrichsstadt twice
sorry about the "Goldbroiler" --- great name though ) ---- personally not having further knowledge regarding thermic shunting engines ...
best regards @@EpicThe112
It was very nice, but next time do that trip across Transylvania it's much more scenic I promise you that much.
Holy cow I been watching you for 3 years we’re did the time go
You can compare them to the Belgium I11 wagons :)
At 12:00 you state the train was east of Bucharest, but from the map it looks like west.?
Striking for better conditions is an acceptable reason for being late in my opinion.
Ahah true!
The red doors were a warning sign in my opinion. But the decor inside the room, ceiling nights and wall seemed to be quitre modern and classy. Not Orient Express luxurious, but classy. Am curiuous if it was just your room that was broken ir if it was common problem. Bad design? bad maintenance?
On the strike, cool opportunity t hang around outdoors in good weather. But have to wonder i train driver could have accelerated to arrive early in Bucharest prior to start of strike. Did train staff make announcements only in Romanian or also other languages?
The company is from Arad, west of Romania but they had to create a new company located in Bucharest to be allowed to put a train on rail. Every company in Romania is forced to open a head office in Bucharest. Ford an Renault, even they have plants in Craiova and Pitesti, had to create their offices in Bucharest.
👍👍
I have never been with astra trans but i can tell you that is way better than cfr
I am from Sri Lanka. Although our railway system (Ceylon Government Railway) is state owned and still under-developed, However we have railway coaches manufactured by Astra Rail Industries, Romania. They are still in use, some after refurbishing.
Year No of Coaches Length Current Status
1976 13 55ft. 1st Batch of Romanian coaches
1979-1980 188 55ft. & 45ft. 2nd Batch of Romanian coaches
1981 90 55ft. 3rd Batch of Romanian coaches
1989 130 55ft. & 45ft. 4th Batch of Romanian coaches. Later refurbished
1990s 312 55ft. & 45ft. 5th Batch of Romanian coaches. Later refurbished
Srilanka 🤮🤮
Well, for far-east Europe railway still good quality. They at least try to provide luxury conditions. Maybe cars equipment shoulnd to be fixed with tape, but... Except blue light in sleeping room, IMO its bad conception for sleeping well.
Hmmmmmmm. Basicilly the same video as Superalb. The same train, allmost the same video, one day after another. So, did you travel together?
No we did not travel at the same time, just a pure calendar fortuity :-)
Бывший соцлагерь стабильно отличается горами мусора😢😮
Some might like the shiny walls but I prefer the old fashioned wood products, wouldn’t recommend this manufacturer to fit out any trains elsewhere, nice post again
Ahhhh, Thibault x Superalbs almost a collab
5:32 Thibauuuuuuuuuu....
12:06 If this strike happen while in the train in the Great Britain, this is an unregrettable pish.
That would be Ok I just think that delay would have sucked
Eleven hours to go three hundred miles?! That's a pretty slow time!
Looked like everything except except the bed linen was shiny. Would have commented 'tacky' but with all the other issues (taped up door handle, shower, A/C) it's beside the point. However..... Enjoyed the vid anyway!
Did you bring any of this up to anyone from the company, either in real time or in a follow up email or call after? They have no pressure to fix the issues otherwise.
Sent the company CEO to Dracula's HQ
Creo que algunos coches son ex-Renfe serie 10000
Wow, the condition of the R.O.W. was deplorable, who allows that much vegetation to grow up in it???
Anyway, Thsnks Thibault!!!
If this is only 5km from end of the route. Then getting a taxi or uber the rest of the way would have been fine.
I can't say whether the finishes are actually cheap - the specific thing we are seeing is a lack of maintenance, a lack of response to things being broken. Which is weird given that the company BUILDS the things and thus is familiar with... uuuh... tools, and materials, and suppliers, and so on.
How did CORAIL ride on Romanian tracks?
It was pretty smooth actually. A bit more noisy than the French one but okay
Finition?
Astra vagoane utilise les B11u VU82 comme modele pour les voitures astra elles sont toutes sous lisence alsthom . Pour l'ONCF au maroc ce sont tous des corails identiques . Je suis assez surpris que le teanscarpatic se soit degradé si rapidement . Les voitures astra les plus reussies sont celle d'arenaways et regiojet
Traveling by train is wonderful, unfortunately in Brazil there are no trains that make long journeys.
And you know what's most interesting about this comment, the only 2 long-distance trains in Brazil use trains from Astra Vagoane, which were factories in 2014 for Vale.
China will build it....Brazil will be Chinese colony in the future
So it’s a railway with “a sense of adventure?” 😅
You should have asked the train conductor for another coach bro. 7:27
et si l'état français commandait des voitures nuits chez ASTRA ?
Wait... Romania, train, still operational.. Can't be true.
you got two hours more to rest in a luxury sleeper train,what more do you want,its not orient express but still...😅
What did you think you were on Orient Expres ? That is not a high speed train, is called,,personal,,
80 RON = 16 euro, not 76.
Wow no first class for this short trip?
This was first class equivalent :)
So, to summarise: Astra build their own passenger cars _and_ run them as well. Therefore, also because it's a short train, they could easily build a couple of outstanding passenger cars to show off what they're capable of. And then, they come up with this? Too many people, from the bottom to the top of the organisation, don't care enough. That sort of attitude isn't going to cut it in the European Union.
the trams Astra builds are also pretty poorly finished.
You reviewed the same train that superalb travels reviewed 2 days ago. Coincidence?
It looks great on the surface. But, as we say in English, DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER. The wood paneling looks very dated, old fashioned.
Is this a hungarian locomotiv in hungarian town ‽ You know , what you toke from us after the first world war !
So a bit crap really. Shame when they had a chance to excel with the fantastic CoRail blueprints
The train looks nice overall but comes off as cheap. Very much trying to be fancy but poorly executed for a cheaper price tag. And honestly the colours and shiny fake wooden finish is just very gaudy and in poor taste.
Like chinese stuff! They seem good att glance but once you investigate them more they will crap and the finish is 70%
😅😅😅 Romania low quality
An interesting report, in line with my experience of Romania. That country is in a complete state of disrepair (especially their railways, as their gvt has formally decided to go car-centric). Romanians are a terribly messy nation: nothing works, nothing is properly maintained, they're thoroughly unreliable people. And, as you point out, this is the most exclusive train service you can get in Romania, since their national operator CFR is far worse. Romania is really a shabby country.