Comet (train)

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The comet was the only night train that was classified as a long-distance express train by the Deutsche Bundesbahn . It mainly operated from Hamburg to Zurich , initially only to Basel SBB .

history

Long-distance express train

The night long-distance express train pair Komet with the train route Hamburg-Altona - Hanover - Altenbeken - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Basel - Zurich was introduced for the summer schedule of 1954 . In Germany it had the train numbers Ft 49/50, on the Swiss Federal Railways the designation “ZM” (Zurich – Basel) and “HZ” (Basel – Zurich). The railcar VT 10 551 was intended for use on this connection . Since there was only one vehicle, but the travel time between Hamburg and Zurich was more than 13 hours, each direction of travel could only be offered on every other day at most. The timetable therefore provided for alternating three trips per direction and week. The VT 10 551 caused difficulties from the start. It was not used for the first time until the end of July 1954. Until then and during the following downtimes, a locomotive-hauled wagon train operated as an alternative , which had to be kept in constant supply. Long stays with the manufacturer followed. It was not until the summer of 1955 that the Deutsche Bundesbahn took over the train . Because of this complex operation, the vehicle was taken out of scheduled service for the 1958 summer schedule.

From the summer of 1958, the train was offered daily and ran via Heidelberg instead of Mannheim. It was now hauled by a locomotive and consisted of a sleeping car , couchette car , a half-dining car , baggage car and, as an innovation, a covered car train car .

From the summer of 1960, the train route to Hamburg - Basel was shortened and a sleeping car was brought to Chur . In the following years the through car runs were expanded, with the Stockholm - Milano , Stockholm - Chur, København - Chur, Großenbrode - Chur and Hamburg - Genève cars added.

Express train

From 1963 the train was classified as an express train , the through cars from Denmark and Sweden were eliminated, but there was now a train part from Bremen to Basel or Chur. From then on, the train was no longer routed via Kassel and stopped at Frankfurt (Main) Süd station in order to avoid changing direction at night.

In 1970 the train number changed to D 470/471 Hamburg - Basel with through coaches Bremen - Genève, Hamburg - Chur and Hamburg - Chiasso. The motorail coaches now ran between Bremen / Hamburg-Altona and Lörrach .

EuroCity

From 1987 to 1991 the comet was known as EuroCity Night and the route was extended to Hamburg - Chur.

Express train

From 1991 to 1995 the train was again run as an express train with the route Hamburg - Basel and individual through coaches to Chur.

CityNightLine

From 1995 the operation was transferred to the newly founded City Night Line CNL AG . The train was now made up of new double-decker sleeping cars , a dining car and recliner car (converted from couchette cars). The train type was initially EuroNight , from 1998 City Night Line . Later, couchette added. From 1999 the train ran between Hanover and Karlsruhe via Bielefeld and Dortmund . In 2004 the train number changed to 408/409, in 2009 to 478/479, with the route again going via Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe .

Nightjet

Deutsche Bahn has not operated its own night trains since 2016. Since one was the in 1970 and 2004 used train number 470/471 EN Nightjet the ÖBB operated, who drove from Hamburg to Berlin and Basel to Zurich. Since December 2017, the nightjet 470/471 has only been running between Berlin and Zurich with a wing train 400/401 from / to Hamburg, which is combined with the 470/471 between Hildesheim and Zurich, which means shorter travel times to and from Hamburg as well as service made possible by Hanover. Double-decker sleeping cars (formerly CityNightLine) are offered between Berlin and Zurich, single-decker sleeping cars "ComfortLine" (formerly Deutsche Bahn) between Hamburg and Zurich, and both parts of the train carry couchette cars (including one wheelchair accessible car) and compartment car, between Hamburg and Zurich there is a seasonal open-plan car Bicycle transport guided.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Goette, p. 124.
  2. ↑ a b Goette, p. 125.
  3. ↑ F 49/50 Komet on the Welt der Modellisenbahn page