Bucharest North railway station


Bucharest North railway station 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.
It was initially named Gara Târgoviștei, after the road nearby, Calea Târgoviștei 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.
Under communist times, the station received a number of upgrades, such as a footbridge, 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, removal of the footbridge 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 – Kiev, Dnipro and Chernivtsi, Austria – Vienna, Turkey – Istanbul, Russia – Moscow and Saratov, Belarus – Minsk.
The station is served by several bus trolleybus and tram lines, as well as the Gara de Nord metro station. Also, the station is connected by CFR train 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 Bucharest Obor railway station, and a partial underground link between Gara de Nord and Progresul.