Romanian Trains

Whatever you do, do not buy tickets at Rail Ninja. They will take your money, and since the website appears to not work they will not be able to buy tickets for you as well (as that is all Rail Ninja does: It just purchases tickets from the website...)

What ticket are you trying to buy? For most trains you can just buy tickets at the station when you are there.

Yup, not opening for me either and I have an EU IP address. So, its their server is down I suspect. Wait a few hours

Yup, dont buy from any thrid party unless there is no other option. You would think since rail had a 150 year head start that they would be in a better posistion with technology, but air travel remains 100% easier to book. Maybe because air is private and trains are government run.

Thanks. I didn't know about railninja. 24 hours is a long time to be down, but I'll wait. My airbnb host suggested I buy in advance because BUC-Brasov is a popular route and we're traveling on a Sunday. Worst case scenario, I'll buy them when we get there, but I'm a plan-ahead type A, so we'll see.

Wanderlust58, I am like you. Rather have it done. Sometimes websites have issues with N.American IP addresses, but I am in the EU and its not working for me, so its a local issue. I even did a web search to double check the address. It will resolve.

Thanks Mr. E. That's reassuring. As I said, it was working fine a few days ago, so I'm sure it will return.

I know it’s aggravating to get to the “I’m ready” point and then they aren’t. But you have time.

Also, I just tried the app and it didn’t work - UNTIL I set my VPN for Romania. Then it worked perfectly. So if you don’t get the website address to work for you before you leave, you may have to wait till you arrive in country to buy.

"but air travel remains 100% easier to book. Maybe because air is private and trains are government run."

Yeah. It's crazy you still can't book the NY Subway online. :-)

But, honestly, you are aware that Airlines have it quite a lot easier here, right?

Anyway, there is also a private company operating that route, and their website appears to be up:

https://www.astratranscarpatic.ro/

According to seat61 their trains are also nicer.

(Select en in the top left to get the site in English).

Regarding booking with third parties: Some third parties are OK. But Rail Ninja is not just a third party. Its an online scam.

Note that "buying in advance because it is a popular route" does not mean you need to book months in advance. Bucharest - Brasov would not be popular if you have to camp on a website to get tickets.

Anyway, there is also a private company operating that route, and
their website appears to be up: https://www.astratranscarpatic.ro/

Excellent solution.

EDIT: Ooooops. Nope.

You could also try the CFRC app. My notes indicate I bought my train ticket on the website. But I also wrote that I was able to see my ticket in the app.

The Trans Carpatic website is up, it is just the booking engine which is down, which is odd, suggesting there is a bigger problem with Romanian internet. According to a facebook post from last August by the Man in Seat 61 they use ex DSB (Danish Railways) diesel units.

Times are-
Bucuresti Nord 0635 0744 1420 1540
Brasov 0901 1011 1647 1809
with returns at 1044, 1146, 1710 and 1830

Yes! I got on the website using my VPN set to Romania. Thanks to everyone. BUT, when I go on to book and carefully enter Sunday, August 23, the schedule comes up Tuesday, August 23 (right under the "Bucharest Nord departure station). On their calendar "Du" and using Google translator, Sunday is dumenica. Close enough? Am I losing my mind? Am I reading this incorrectly? Just clicked again, and the calendar is showing "You, saddle, go" for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am not an equestrian. Not that important, and I'm about 99% sure of just buying now, but please chime in if you think I should wait another day to see if their website catches up to the correct day of the week. Usually, I just make a decision and pull the trigger, but this is driving me nuts. Thanks.

IC531 does indeed only have one stop, after Brasov the train splits with half continuing to Arad, the rest to Cluj Napoca- each section having a 1st class car, so the chance of 1st class really being full has to be close to NIL- https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=CFR&kategorie=IC&cislo=531&nazev=Avram+Iancu&rok=2026

I've also just looked at trainline (which I never ever normally do) but they only have regular flixbus departures for £4.48 per person (presumably a bit cheaper booked direct, although how cheap can you go?). They can't book the trains.

I could understand a 1 day difference, due to time zones but 2 is weird. If it was me, and it really isn't, it feels a bit too uncomfortable, I would wait another day or two.

Another thing I never say- might it be worth asking the Man in Seat 61 for advice, especially on the blue and red seats, and the 'saddling up?'- https://www.seat61.com/email.htm

On your VPN does the Trans Carpathic website work any better?

isn31c, thats one of my issues with trainline. They arent honest enough to tell you the real options. They dont sell MAV tickets either, whcih means if you go to trainline you would think there are no railroad tracks in Hungary and to get to Vienna you have to pay OBB prices at twice that of MAV.

Wanderlust, TTM, CW, and I bought ours on August 26th for a September 17 train (it was a Wednesday), and I remember noticing all the empty first class seats when we were on the train. In fact, I think CW made a comment about that, saying that we probably didn't need to book it as early as we did. 😊

I know that you're chomping at the bit to get this booked, and I completely understand that because I can be the same way. But it probably wouldn't hurt to wait a few more days and see what happens with that.

Another option is (as TTM mentioned) to get a VPN and use that. I don't know if you're aware of this, but Firefox actually gives you a free VPN when you're using their browser, so you could try it on Firefox and see what happens there. In fact, sometimes just switching to a different browser even without a VPN makes all the difference. ETA: I just tried it on Firefox, both with and without the VPN, and couldn't even get through to anything. If it were me, I would wait. I honestly don't think you'll have any trouble getting seats, especially in first class. And that's where we were.

Another edit: I just saw what CW wrote, and I would try the app. That's how I bought mine as well. I just pulled it up, and it's working fine right now. However, I noticed that you can only buy tickets at this point up to August 31, so maybe that's the problem. The dates may not be available yet. At any rate, it wouldn't hurt to try the app.

Thanks for everyone’s help and advice. I was able to get in today using the Romanian. VPN and there are plenty of seats. So, I’m going to the beach for a few days, let things settle a bit, and then I’ll deal with it when I get back. If they sell 150 seats in a few days, I’ll pick a different train.