My experience of Romanian and Hungarian trains is that they are bang on time to the nearest minute and much more reliable than British ones.

Remeber that the train she'll be getting to Istanbul is an international one, which will be higher standard than the ones that do local trips.

The sleeping car I got to Romania in 2008 was more comfortable than a British one. The problem was the amount of disturbance caused by passport checks and the Red Bull guy - if I'd realized this was going to happen I'd have tried to travel at a different time so the border crossing was during the day (I'm not sure if that's possible). I slept much better in the ordinary six-seat cabin, which had three other passengers, though the seats were very hard.

One potential problem - getting on and off Continental trains involves climbing straight up from the trackside on a ladder (US trains did the same when I was there). For a British passenger this feels like something out of an old movie. Disabled people need help being lifted on, and somebody who doesn't fit the standard sizes of Rohan clothing might be in that category. Trains don't stop for long at stations, either.