The Agnita railway line was a rail line in

Sibiu County Sibiu County () is a county () of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat () is the namesake town of Sibiu (). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben megye'', and in German as ''Kreis Hermannstadt''. Under the ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Originally it ran from

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Sighișoara Sighișoara (; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Schäsbrich'', ''Šesburχ'', or ''Scheeßprich''; ; or ) is a Municipiu, city on the Târnava Mare, Târnava Mare River in Mureș County, central Romania. Located in the ...

Mureș County Mureș County (, , ) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative reor ...

. There also was a branch line to

Vurpăr Vurpăr (; ) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, central Romania. It is composed of a single village, Vurpăr. It lies on the Transylvanian Plateau in the central part of the county, northeast of the county seat of Sibiu. In 2002, it ...

. However the final section from Sibiu to Agnita was closed in 2001.

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

(CFR) classed the line, along with the Vurpăr branch, as line 204 in the last years of operation. The

Sibiu Steam Locomotives Museum The Steam Locomotives Museum () is a railway museum in Sibiu, Romania. It houses a collection of steam locomotives and engines. Inaugurated in 1994, the museum comprises 23 standard gauge locomotives, 10 narrow gauge locomotives, 3 snowploughs an ...

holds the last remaining original locomotive from 1896.

History

The line was originally built by the Sighișoara – Sibiu Local Railways Company which started work from Sighișoara in 1895 reaching

Agnita Agnita (; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Ongenîtlen''; ) is a town on the Hârtibaciu river in Sibiu County, Transylvania, central Romania. It is considered the locality in the center of the country. The town administers two villages, namely Coveș (; ...

by 1898 and Sibiu in 1910. The Vurpăr branch was opened at the same time as the Sibiu extension. As the line originally lay within

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, the

Hungarian State Railways The Hungarian State Railways (, , formally MÁV Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (MÁV Zrt.). The full official name of the company is MÁV-csoport () now commonly known as MÁV) is the Hungary, Hungarian natio ...

operated services until 1919, when

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

became part of Romania. CFR then continued to operate services until 1965 when the original section from Sighișoara to Agnita was closed. In 1993 the

Vurpăr branch line The Vurpăr branch line was a narrow-gauge rail line Sibiu County, Romania. Originally it stretched from Cornăţel on the Agnita railway line to the terminus in Vurpăr. CFR classed the line, along with the Agnita railway line, as line 204 in t ...

was closed, with the rest of the line following in 2001.

Reopening

Societatea Feroviară de Turism (SFT) originally planned to reopen the line as a tourist route but plans were shelved in 2006. After threats from CFR Infrastructură that track would be lifted all the rail infrastructure became protected as a historic monument in 2008. Currently there is an active project called ''Asociația Prietenii Mocăniței'' ("Friends of the Narrow-gauge railway") and aimed at restoring the line for tourist operation; it operates occasional tourist steam trains on parts of the line. The first steam event took place in Agnita in 2010 on the occasion of the Sibiu extension's centenary. There was a second event in September 2015 with special trains running from Cornățel station.

Bibliography

* *

References

{{Reflist Railway lines opened in 1898 Railway lines closed in 2001