End of the Line
In the summer of 2009 I was traveling south by train on an 23 hour trip from Chernivtsi, Urkaine to Sofia, Bulgaria. As the border between Ukraine and Romania is not one between European Union countries, the passengers underwent a customs/passport inspection. It turns out there was plenty of time for this inspection since the entire train was lifted and its wheel chassis removed and replaced with wider gauge wheels. Apparently the train tracks are a different width in these countries so that every time a train crosses the border, this labor intensive effort is required. Customs inspectors topping their … Read on…