European trains - sleeper service

[st599_uk]

https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/ ... Id=1170726

DB have just announced 2 new routes.

[mjr]

Planes and normal trains have the same issue.

Worse, as it's dozens of people and you can't get a private room no matter how much you pay. I read that the UK sleepers have been selling well when they've been able to run, despite some teething troubles with the new Caledonian coaches.

[Jdsk]

Nightjet:


https://www.nightjet.com/en/

The Man in Seat 61:
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/nightjet.htm

Jonathan

[Mr.Benton]

I received an update email today regarding the new sleeper service from Brussels to Prague. It is due to start running in Summer 2022, with ticket sales starting in the spring.
The best bit about the email was this:

We also offer the possibility to take your bicycle on board.

https://www.europeansleeper.eu/english/

The website and news letter now say that the train will not be running in the summer of 2022, and to avoid dissapointment they are not saying when it will start.
On a positive note they have rebranded and launched a new website https://www.europeansleeper.eu/en

[Jdsk]

New sleeper from Stockholm to Hamburg, starting 1 September 2022:
https://www.sj.se/en/travel-info/sj-euronight.html
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022 ... per-travel
https://www.seat61.com/international-tr ... ckholm.htm

but no wheelchairs so I suspect no other HPVs... yet.

Jonathan

[Will]

New sleeper from Stockholm to Hamburg, starting 1 September 2022:
https://www.sj.se/en/travel-info/sj-euronight.html
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022 ... per-travel
https://www.seat61.com/international-tr ... ckholm.htm

but no wheelchairs so I suspect no other HPVs... yet.

Jonathan

My understanding is that this service will be running in the low season with government support, and running on a commercial basis during the high season to avoid unfair competition with the existing Snälltåget service that runs between Stockholm and Berlin in the summer months.

They have experienced a number of issues with rolling stock. RDC are providing the rolling stock and began the refurbishment of sleeping cars in the summer of 2021 (before the announcement that SJ had won the contract), in order to have them ready in time. However, some of the carriages will not be ready due to a lack of components for the new electrical equipment that is being installed. RDC offered SJ (as a temporary solution) the use of carriages that were being used until quite recently on the Alpen-Sylt night train service between Salzburg and Westerland (Sylt). Denmark has specific national requirements linked to fire safety in the Great Belt Rail Tunnel. Denmark has taken the view that these carriages need to go through the new EU approval process and this will take several months. I believe that this service is therefore being introduced with fewer carriages than originally planned.

I think the service is being started now as it means they do not have to compete against Snälltåget until next summer, so they will have time to iron out the wrinkles in the service. This new service may push Snälltåget to be a bit more creative in the service they offer (such as including a carriage with bike spaces) in order to compete with SJ in the leisure travel market.

We should start to see the new ÖBB NightJet trains coming in to service at the end of this year. I expect that ÖBB will decommission the double decker sleeper carriages (due to their issues with corrosion), but there should be a number of couchette and sleeper carriages in usable condition that are now surplus to requirements. I think there will be a mad scramble to purchase these carriages by a number of rolling stock companies (such as RDC), existing sleeper train companies (such as Snälltåget and Urlaub Express), and startup sleeper train companies (such as European Sleeper). I would also not be surprised if state railway companies (such as SJ) bought some of these carriages and I would expect ÖBB to get top dollar for them. Hopefully this will lead to a number of new sleeper train services being introduced.

Will

[Will]

ÖBB and Siemens have just done a live online presentation of the new NightJet trains. One thing that will be of interest to people on this forum is that the new NightJets include a multi-function carriage that has space for 6 bikes:

From the press release (Google translate from German):

"The multifunction trolley will offer new and improved transport options in the future: 6 Bicycle parking spaces for all cycling enthusiasts as well as more space for luggage and e.g snowboard equipment."

The new NightJets will be used on a number of routes, including Amsterdam-Vienna and Amsterdam-Innsbruck (by 2025).

Will

[Jdsk]

That sounds excellent. Thanks for the heads-up.

https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pre ... n-nightjet

Jonathan

[MrsHJ]

Sounds very like the guards can to me - not that I’d complain- cross border travel in Europe with a bike can be a pain so any provision is brilliant.

[Tiggertoo]

6 Bicycle parking spaces for all cycling enthusiasts

One assumes they meant to say : '6' cycling enthusiasts.

[Jdsk]

"Europe’s next-generation night trains aim to draw passengers away from planes":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... rom-planes

Jonathan

[pal]

Sounds very like the guards can to me - not that I’d complain- cross border travel in Europe with a bike can be a pain so any provision is brilliant.

Or it could be a similar set up to (some of) the current NJ trains: a space for three bikes (on hooks - but well-spaced ones!) at the end of some of the sleeper carriages. This is from the Hamburg-Vienna NJ, which I took last week

Perhaps a bit less secure than the guard’s van, but has the advantage of meaning you don’t have to run up and down the train to locate your bike (esp given that these night services tend to split and reconfigure during their journey, so the guards van can be in a quite different place when you wake up from when you went to sleep…)

Anyway: I agree that this is good news! (Esp because catching the train at Amsterdam will be much more convenient than having to detour across to Hannover…)

[Will]

My understanding is that the new multifunction carriages will be a low floor version of the Siemens Viaggio Next Level coaches that are being used for the new NightJets. We haven't seen the inside of these low floor carriages yet.

This video shows various carriages being tested in Austria earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5kw5YWByUw

The video shows a rake of carriages that include two low floor carriages in RailJet colours and one low floor carriage in NightJet colours. I suspect that on the new NightJets, the bike spaces will be in the area above the bogies (normal floor level), and the low floor part will be for disabled access (sleeper compartment) and seating.

Will

[CJ]

Lufthansa were (in)famous for being one of the few scheduled European airlines that charged for bikes.

That's not very fair to bring up nowadays, since most airlines have been charging for bikes for years - and charging so much that one may easily pay less for a seat!

[simonhill]

Lufthansa were (in)famous for being one of the few scheduled European airlines that charged for bikes.

That's not very fair to bring up nowadays, since most airlines have been charging for bikes for years - and charging so much that one may easily pay less for a seat!

...and you would be entitled to make a similar comment if easyJet or Ryanair started to run trains.

Note I did say scheduled.