Leaving Bucharest, via Tokyo: The new underground artery to the airport will have 12 stops

By 2018, inhabitants of Bucharest, tourists and everybody else looking to catch a flight or get downtown from the airport will be able to get in the subway and reach their destination in half an hour. At least that is what Metrorex is promising.

The new artery, the 6th for the Bucharest underground system, will have 12 steps spread out over a length of 14.2 kilometers. The track will start at 1 Mai Square (subway station already functional in the north of the Capital), and stop along the way at Montreal Square, Baneasa Shopping City, The American Embassy and the Research Station, writes zf.ro.

The 12 stations: Pajura, Expoziţiei, Montreal Square, Băneasa Train Station, Băneasa Airport, Tokio, Washington, Paris, Bruxelles, Otopeni, Ion I.C. Brătianu and Henri Coandă -Otopeni Airport. 

EUR 1bln is the total investment, out of which Metrorex currently has EUR 320mln from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

Taking the subway to the airport is, for some politicians, an expensive perk that is not economically viable. According to Relu Fenechiu, former Minister of Transportation, and Victor Ponta, the investment is huge and doesn’t seem to be to relevant, for the estimated traffic.

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The current minister of Transportation, Ramona Manescu, is a supporter of the project, arguing that studies show 40.000 people would use this line daily. 600.000 people use the subway daily in Bucharest, and the city is connected to the airport via an express bus route (783) and a train route. The train however doesn’t stop at the airport, and another transfer is necessary, via bus.

In recent years, transfers between Otopeni Airport and Bucharest have been getting easier. The bus route has a night program, and special machines have been installed in the airport where travellers can make taxi requests, at a normal tariff.