Pages tagged: night trains

European Rail News
History
published on 15 November 2024
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
We chanced this week on a timetable for European night trains in 1999. So it’s interesting to look back and see which trains were running 25 years ago. By 1999, many European high-speed lines were already up and running, so the overnight network had already been trimmed back from its peak in the 1970s and 1980s.
News
published on 8 July 2023
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
July 2023 sees changes to train services in Italy, France and Spain with a number of important new routes launched. They include Naples to Bari, Madrid to Marseille and Lyon to Barcelona.
News
published on 29 May 2021
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
This past week has seen new direct overnight services on three key routes, one a French domestic service and the other two both international routes. We'll take a closer look at the offer which brings new night trains to Nice, Split and Amsterdam.
News
published on 12 February 2021
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Engineering work on the line between Bologna and Florence, where the overnight ÖBB sleeper services to Rome and Livorno are routinely routed via the 18-km long Appennino Tunnel, means diversions on some days. So some Italian cities, not normally served by Nightjet services, will benefit from an occasional direct overnight train to Vienna or Munich.
News
published on 1 November 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
As Europe's rail operators face reduced demand because of the pandemic, many services are being suspended from early November. We review developments in Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Russia and elsewhere.
History
published on 12 August 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Can you hazard a guess as to how many night trains to Scotland might have left London every evening sixty years ago? Four or five? A dozen perhaps? Enjoy our detailed review of Scotland-bound night trains in 1960/61.
News
published on 30 July 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Here is an update on European night train services as of July 2020. In this post we particularly take a look at night sleepers which, for one reason or another, have not yet been reinstated. But there are also some entirely new routes.
Journeys
published on 16 July 2020
by Paul Scraton
There are proper night trains, the ones with couchettes and sleeping berths. And then there's the more spartan variant of the night train. merely offering passengers a seat for an overnight journey. Paul Scraton joins the 21.48 from Aachen to Berlin and discovers a certain ascetic pleasure as the ICE train rumbles eastward through the night.
History
published on 6 May 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Macron's demand that Air France trim French domestic air services ups the game for rail operator SNCF. The move set us thinking about which French president of the last 100 years has been the most ardent supporter of rail travel.
Practical Info
published on 20 March 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
We take a look at Europe's fragmenting network of international rail links as passengers stay at home during the Coronavirus pandemic. Rail operators in western Europe have responded a little more slowly to the growing threat than those further east.
News
published on 6 October 2019
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
As throughout Europe, new train timetables for Germany kick in with the annual timetable change in December each year. This year the new schedules start on 15 December. Here’s a rundown of some of the key changes which we are expecting in and around Germany.
News
published on 4 November 2018
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Austria generally enjoys a fine range of international links, and with new rail timetables starting across Europe on 9 December 2018, there are further improvements on journeys to, from and through Austria.
Practical Info
published on 4 November 2017
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Next month sees new railway timetables starting in many European countries. We review what Berliners can expect when those new 2018 schedules come into effect on Sunday 10 December 2017. The highlight is a new fast link from Berlin to Munich, knocking two hours off the current journey time.
Practical Info
published on 19 August 2017
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
The main line south from Karlsruhe up the Rhine Valley towards Switzerland is closed due to track damage. Here we explain which train services are affected and suggest alternative routings.
News
published on 2 December 2016
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Much has been made in mainstream media of the decision by Deutsche Bahn (DB) to withdraw from the premium end of the night train market. Yet it's important to remember that the great majority of Europe's night trains are unaffected by DB's decision to axe its entire CNL division.
News
published on 2 November 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Deutsche Bahn now runs an overnight bus service from eastern Slavonia (in Croatia) and Zagreb to southern Germany. Border controls on the Austrian-German frontier mean that no long-distance trains are running from Salzburg into Bavaria. So, with no overnight train from Zagreb to Munich, DB is nudging travellers onto the bus instead.
Practical Info
published on 7 April 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Another European night train has slipped from the schedules this week with the withdrawal of the Madrid to Barcelona overnight service. This was the sole remaining overnight service in the train category known as Estrella.
Practical Info
published on 25 March 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
We look at the revised timings of Russian Railways' Paris-Berlin-Moscow service which will from mid-June 2015 depart Paris Gare d'Est station at 20.05, creating a new overnight option between Paris and Berlin.
Practical Info
published on 26 January 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
With an Expo theme that foregrounds environmental choices (Feed the planet, energy for life’) the organisers of Expo 2015 are keen that visitors to the World Fair leave their cars at home and travel by train to Milan for the event. So much so, that Expo 2015 looks set to break all records when its comes to the sheer number of visitors arriving directly at the exhibition site by long-distance train.
Journeys
published on 14 November 2014
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Each issue of the new European Rail Timetable contains a Route of the Month. These are texts, which highlight the particular appeal of one selected European rail route.
History
published on 8 November 2014
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
The spotlight this weekend in European media is very much on a country that slipped quietly into political history: the German Democratic Republic (DDR). Whatever your view of the DDR, you have to admit they knew how to run a railway. We'll take a closer look at the country's overnight train services.
published on 13 October 2014
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
With new European rail schedules coming into effect on Sunday 14 December, here’s a summary of some key changes in the new timetables.
News
published on 12 August 2014
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Yesterday’s ‘Letter from Europe’ reports on the decision to axe the night train from Switzerland to Denmark. It is, sadly, part of a wider trend. A raft of European night trains looks set to be cut. Deutsche Bahn’s City Night Line (CNL) network is being severely pruned.
News
published on 10 March 2014
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
The direct rail service from Paris to Moscow is run by Russian Railways (RZD) using their sleek modern sleeping cars. It is, we think, one of Europe’s most interesting trains — and, for those who want to splash out on the top-of-the-range luxury sleepers, one of the most comfortable train journeys in Europe.
published on 18 August 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Is Elipsos nearing the end of the line? In late 2012, The Spanish rail operator cut its routes to Italy and Switzerland. What remains are two night train routes: from Barcelona and Madrid to Paris. And with upcoming competition from fast TGV daytime services from Paris to Barcelona, we wonder if Elipsos' days are numbered.
published on 21 July 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
European Rail News reported last month on the revised train timetables in operation following the Elbe flooding in early June. Europe’s main east-west rail route was severed by those floods, necessitating the diversion of all trains running west from Berlin towards Hanover and beyond. The current interim timetable will be extended until next Sunday, then from Monday 29 July a new schedule will be introduced, the gist of which we present here.
published on 27 June 2012
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Damage to a bridge in Amsterdam is affecting many rail services to and from the Dutch city. The situation is fluid and travellers are advised to check the current situation before travelling. Night trains to and from Amsterdam are the most seriously affected.
published on 6 May 2011
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Are not the finest parts of many long train journeys those fleeting glimpses of a city or a country that you get just prior to arrival at your destination? There is a superb moment on the train journey through Slovakia towards Budapest, a view dominated by the huge basilica at Esztergom.