The speed restrictions that never leave: where, and since when, Romania's trains slow down

#How much built up in five years

A speed restriction usually goes up where the track, a bridge or the signalling can no longer carry trains at the speed the line was built for, or where work is under way. CFR lists it in the bulletin with a starting kilometre, an ending kilometre and the speed allowed. In the bulletins for the first ten days of April, restricted track first shrank, to 1,314 km in 2023, then grew three years running: 1,819 km in April 2026, 28% more than in 2021.

The harshest restrictions grew faster. Track where trains may not exceed 30 km/h went from 593 to 824 km, up 39%. And the latest bulletin, valid from 21 to 31 October 2026, has 2,015 km, more than any of the six April bulletins.

Not every restriction binds every train. The bulletin's notes limit some stretches to freight trains only (134 km in April 2026), passenger trains only (104 km), trains hauled by diesel-hydraulic locomotives (76 km) or electric trains (48 km). Leaving out the freight-only stretches, restricted track for passenger trains grew from 1,378 to 1,777 km, up 29%, and 392 km appear in every April bulletin since 2021. The figures below count every restriction, as the bulletin does.

Kilometres of track: on a double line, a restriction on both tracks counts twice. Overlapping restrictions on the same track count once.

A quarter of the track restricted in April 2026 has stood since 2021. 447 km, or 25%, was also restricted in each of the other five April bulletins. Another 402 km appears in every April since 2022, 2023 or 2024, and 338 km since 2025. Only 632 km, a third, is new in April 2026. Bulletins before 2021 were not read here, so some restrictions marked "since 2021" are older.

#The longest restrictions standing since 2021

The restrictions below appear on the same kilometres in every April bulletin from 2021 to 2026. The comparison is yearly, so it cannot show whether a restriction was lifted for a while between two Aprils; it shows that in every April bulletin, it was there. Some bind only certain trains, and the table says which.

On the Sfântu Gheorghe – Brețcu line in Covasna county, all 44 km between Sfântu Gheorghe and Târgu Secuiesc have been under restriction in every April since 2021. For freight trains the limit fell from 30 to 20 km/h. Passenger trains had limits of 40 and 50 km/h beyond Moacșa in 2021; in 2026 they have stretches at 40, 30 and, between Covasna and Imeci, 20 km/h. Eight passenger trains stop at Târgu Secuiesc on an ordinary Wednesday in March 2026.

Between Bistrița Nord and Bistrița Bârgăului, 30 km have carried a 15 km/h restriction in every April since 2021, but the bulletin limits it to freight trains hauled by diesel-hydraulic locomotives. For other trains, including the 13 passenger trains that stop at Bistrița Bârgăului on a Wednesday, the April 2026 bulletin has a 3.5 km stretch at 30 km/h and three shorter ones at 50.

On the Blaj – Praid line, restrictions run without a break for 77 km, from Târnăveni to Praid. Between Târnăveni and Bălăușeri every train runs at 30 km/h, and at 20 for 15 km. From Bălăușeri to Praid the restriction binds only trains hauled by diesel-hydraulic locomotives: 40 km/h to Sovata, 20 to Praid. Between Bălăușeri and Praid there have been no passenger trains since the 2021–2022 timetable, according to the page on stations left without trains.

#The lines with the most restricted kilometres

114 of the 146 lines in the bulletins have at least one restriction in April 2026. The Bucharest – Craiova – Timișoara main line has the most restricted kilometres. The Chitila – Pitești – Craiova line and the Apahida – Dej – Baia Mare line added the most restricted kilometres. On the Pod Mureș – Coșlariu – Curtici line, restricted kilometres fell by half.

#Where restrictions disappeared

On a few lines, the 2021 restrictions have gone, or nearly, from the April 2026 bulletin, while passenger trains still run: none is left on Berzovia – Oravița or Pitești – Curtea de Argeș, and under a kilometre on Buda – Slănic and Timișoara – Cruceni. The bulletin does not say why a restriction goes.

130 Berzovia – Oravița – Iam (43 → 0 km), 311 Buda – Slănic (34 → 0.1 km), 109 Pitești – Curtea de Argeș (29 → 0 km), 132 Timișoara – Cruceni (13 → 0.5 km)

#CFR's numbers and the bulletins

CFR's 2025 activity report counts 553 restrictions over 1,331.21 km at the start of the year and 567 over 1,687.93 km on 31 December 2025. The April 2025 bulletin has 1,698 km of restricted track, so the figure reported for the start of the year is lower than the April 2025 bulletin. The report does not say how it counts, and the gap is not explained here.

The report splits restrictions in two: those already written into the timetable and those trains meet on top of it. The page on journey times from Bucharest explains what the split means for each trip.

#How the restrictions were counted

The source is CFR SA's speed-restriction bulletins (BAR), one for each of the eight regional branches, for the decade 1–10 April of every year from 2021 to 2026, plus 21–31 October 2026. Every row with a starting kilometre, an ending kilometre and a speed on running line was read (track I or single line, and track II), with the CFR line number printed above each table. Restrictions on points and diverging tracks inside stations are not included, nor are rows with two speeds (such as "30/70" at a mobile worksite). The erratum published for 21–31 October was not applied.

The notes column says which trains a restriction binds: freight only, passenger only, trains hauled by diesel-hydraulic locomotives, electric traction only, or trains with two coupled locomotives. Totals count every restriction, as the bulletin does. On the map, the speed shown for a stretch is the lowest one that binds passenger trains, or the freight speed where the stretch binds freight only. The table of the oldest restrictions shows the lowest speed in the bulletin with the trains it binds, and each line's chart shows every row.

On each line and track, kilometre intervals are merged, so restrictions repeated in several branches' bulletins or overlapping are counted once. For each kilometre restricted in April 2026, its "first April" is the earliest year from which the kilometre appears restricted in every April bulletin up to 2026. The method was written down before the count was run. One test set then failed: a fifth of the lines with restrictions in 2021 have none in 2026. A check of the table headers showed that the lines were not renumbered; only their restrictions had gone.

The map places restrictions on the line's real route from OpenStreetMap, using the station kilometres written in the bulletins. Tested on stations held out of the calculation, the median error is 0.46 km, and at most 1.3 km in nine cases out of ten. 1,521 of the 1,819 km of April 2026 (84%) could be placed on the map; the rest, mostly on short freight lines and in ports, appears only in the line's chart.

Kilometres are track kilometres: a restriction on both tracks of a double line counts twice. The page on journey times from Bucharest counted the September 2026 restrictions by adding them without merging, so the figures on the two pages do not compare directly. A restriction does not mean a line is dangerous: it is the measure CFR uses to keep traffic safe where the track no longer allows normal speed.

Download every restriction, by year (CSV)

#Sources

• CNCF "CFR" SA, speed-restriction bulletins (BAR), decades 1–10 April 2021–2026 and 21–31 October 2026, all eight regional branches
• CNCF "CFR" SA, 2025 activity report, section "Speed restrictions" (in Romanian)
• OpenStreetMap, Romania's railway network (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), downloaded on 25 October 2026
• Romania's stations without trains: how many trains stop at every station, 2014–2026 (timetables from data.gov.ro)
• Nine hours and seventeen minutes: how long the train takes from Bucharest, 1939–2026