night Train

This article describes the type of train. For the Polish film of the same name see Night Train (film) , for the 2004 novel see Night Train to Lisbon .

A night train ( EN 482 Munich - Copenhagen / Binz ) passing through Donauwörth station

Night train (also night train to differentiate from nightly freight trains) stands for passenger trains that run at night. In long-distance passenger rail transport , they are used to cover long distances overnight with few stops when travelers are sleeping. These trains are mostly equipped with sleeping or couchette cars . They often have through coaches , so that many destinations can be reached from a starting station without changing trains. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland there are, among other things, the train types EuroNight (EN) and ÖBB Nightjet for night trains .

Emergence

In the early days of the railroad, trains only ran during the day, if only for safety reasons, as they were initially driven largely on sight. For travelers, this meant that they had to stay in hotels for longer distances before they could continue their journey the next day. In Prussia night trains had to be ordered by the responsible Minister for Trade, Industry and Public Works , August von der Heydt . His motive was political: He tried to gain increased influence on the private railways, which were predominant in Prussia at the time. Based on Section 36 of the Law on Railway Enterprises , which obliged the railways to adapt their timetable to the needs of the post, in 1852 it obliged the railway companies to set up night trains. For every canceled night train, the Prussian state threatened a fine of 100 thalers . The minister rejected the counterclaim of the railway companies for compensation payments on the grounds that nobody could ask for money to meet legal requirements. The railway companies gave in in the face of the threat of fines, while the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft litigated it until 1855. Then the matter fell silent: the night trains made substantial profits. At first they only consisted of seating cars.

Georges Nagelmackers brought the idea of ​​the sleeping car with made-up beds, washing facilities and toilets to Europe and founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) to operate it . The first night connections of the CIWL consisted of through carriage runs in which the sleeping cars were attached to other, scheduled trains. In 1872 the CIWL got the first license for a connection with sleeping cars from Paris to Vienna. In 1882 the CIWL deployed its first night train with a dining car , sleeping car and baggage car between Paris and Vienna . On this basis, the connection between Paris and Constantinople , the Orient Express , was established in 1883 .

Night trains in Europe (demolition)

Night train connections in Europe with sleeper and / or couchette cars, 2020

See also : List of night train connections in Germany

Switzerland no longer operates night trains with the Swiss Federal Railways . On the other hand, different lines of the ÖBB Nightjet run to and from Swiss train stations, such as Zurich - Berlin - Hamburg or Zurich - Linz - Vienna . The SBB are participating in the Nightjet as part of a cooperation.

Night regional trains are mainly known as night trains in Switzerland; they mostly run as an S-Bahn . In some regions, a night surcharge of five francs is levied on night trains that run from 1:00 a.m. to closing time.

Some lines of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) run as ÖBB Nightjet in succession to the EuroNight trains from Austria to Switzerland, Germany and Italy. There is also a domestic night train connection between Bregenz and Vienna. ÖBB Personenverkehr has completely outsourced the management of the night trains to the caterer Newrest Wagons-Lits , the former CIWL . With the timetable change in December 2016, ÖBB took over part of the night train lines previously offered by Deutsche Bahn. Mainly in Germany, the lines Hamburg-Munich-Innsbruck, Hamburg / Berlin-Zurich and Düsseldorf-Munich-Innsbruck operate. From Germany via Austria to Italy there are connections on the Munich-Milan / Rome / Venice route via Salzburg. These new connections were coupled with existing connections of the ÖBB (Hamburg-Vienna, Düsseldorf-Vienna, Vienna-Italy).

The Dutch State Railways (NS) operates hourly traffic every night on the main railway lines.

In France , the SNCF operates a network of night trains under the Intercités de Nuit brand , which was significantly thinned out in 2016.

Trenitalia operates a dense network of night trains in Italy under the InterCity Notte brand . 13 daily night trains and 2 weekend connections connect Turin , Rome and Milan with cities in all parts of the country. There are three night trains to Syracuse and Palermo in Sicily , three to Lecce , two to Salerno and one to Venice - Trieste .

The Venice - Milan - Lyon - Paris night train run by the Trenitalia subsidiary Thello was suspended in spring 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic until further notice.

In some countries ( Russia , Ukraine , Poland , Norway , Sweden ) night trains are still the mainstay of long-distance transport, not least because of the large area of ​​these countries. In 2019, the Swedish government commissioned its transport authorities to develop a concept for a night train network with trips to several European cities. Politicians in Norway and Denmark also expressed interest in night train connections.

In Germany, Deutsche Bahn AG has no longer offered night trains since the 2016/2017 timetable change. The causes named include outdated vehicle material, increasing competitive pressure and poor quality. As a replacement, the nightly ICE service was expanded from four to ten trains, plus additional seasonal connections. Internationally, IC night buses were to be used, but this was not implemented. The decision was regretted by passengers and scientists. According to information from mid-2016, the group achieved a record deficit of 30 million euros on sales of 90 million euros. DB therefore negotiated with ÖBB, the second largest night train operator in Germany, about expanding the ÖBB offer. As of December 2016, as a result of the talks, ÖBB took over part of the night train services in Germany from Deutsche Bahn. It operates all night train connections under the name ÖBB Nightjet .

In a study by DB Mobility Networks and the International Union of Railways (UIC), novel high-speed night trains are being investigated. A trip at up to 300 km / h from Madrid to London would be possible in 12 hours. However, the trains would have to be coordinated with the much slower freight traffic and the train path rents reduced.

The Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD e.V.) calls for the night trains to be permanently maintained and for them to be expanded into a cross-border, Europe-wide night train network. Night trains are to be permanently preserved as an ecological means of transport with a high level of travel comfort through sleeping cars, couchettes and seated cars and no further cancellations of offers and connections are made.

Operators in several countries, but not in Germany, are currently taking growing environmental awareness as an opportunity to consider a return to the classic night train business or an expansion of night train connections (status: 2019).

In October 2019 it became known that Deutsche Bahn was looking into re-entering the sleeper and couchette car business; a few months later, however, it announced that it would not reintroduce these trains.

operator

Sleeping car of the ÖBB Nightjet in Zurich main station

ÖBB Nightjet , couchette compartment Show
as spherical panorama

Current operators (selection) are:

• Transdev GmbH : Operates the Berlin Night Express between Berlin and Malmö.
• Newrest Wagons-Lits , (a subsidiary of the French Newrest group and successor to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits ): Manages sleeping cars that are used in night trains from Austria.
• Regiojet , as has been operating night trains between Prague and Košice since June 2015
• Trenhotel as a train type of RENFE in Spain
• Russian Railways (RŽD) : Operates the EN Paris - Moscow
• Trenitalia : Operates EN night trains in Italy. There are international connections from Italy to Munich and Vienna.
• Wagon Slovakia Košice, as based in Slovakia
• JLV, as based in the Czech Republic
• Utasellátó based in Hungary
• HŽPP (Hrvatske željeznice putnički prijevoz) operates sleeping and couchette cars from Zagreb to Munich and Zurich
• the Great Western Railway operates the Night Riviera Sleeper between London and Cornwall ( Penzance )
• Serco operates the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Scotland
• Amtrak also operates sleeping cars on its long-haul trains, some of which are en route for several days, mostly with one or two-person compartments; but no couchette cars.
• BTE BahnouristikExpress operates the private car night train ARZ, which runs from Hamburg-Altona to Lörrach.
• From July 2020, Railroad Development Corporation will operate the seasonal Alpen-Sylt night express through its AUTOZUG Sylt subsidiary . The Alpen-Sylt Night Express runs from Westerland (Sylt) via Hamburg-Altona, Frankfurt (Main) Süd, Munich-Pasing to Salzburg (A), which consists exclusively of couchette cars.

Former operator

Route sign of a discontinued night train of the DB

• DB Fernverkehr : Until December 2016 offered a network of Europe-wide night train connections from Germany, most recently under the City Night Line (CNL) brand . After the rail reform , the German night train network was reduced by eliminating through car connections , but upgraded again by modernizing the rolling stock. With the timetable change in December 2007, the earlier night train offers of the DB Group DB Nachtzug (NZ) and UrlaubsExpress (UEx) were merged with the City Night Line brand . From January 1, 2010, DB Autozug took over the entire business operations of City Night Line CNL AG . At the end of September 2013, DB AutoZug was dissolved and merged with DB Fernverkehr AG.
• Mitropa
• German sleeping car and dining car company
• Elipsos Joint brand of the Spanish and French railways RENFE and SNCF . Night trains were offered in the form of hotel trains until December 2013. Lines between Paris and Barcelona / Madrid were served.

Car types and equipment

Different types of wagons are used in night trains, depending on the operator. For example:

• Sleeping car with one to four beds per compartment , with wash basin, occasionally with shower and toilet room in the compartment
• Couches with four to six beds per compartment
• Reclining car with seat backs that can be folded back ("recliner")
• Seating car
• In the successor states of the Soviet Union and in Asia in general (e.g. Thailand , China , India ), other types of wagons are also in use, for example compartments with eight beds, sleeping or couchette cars in which the beds are arranged on both sides of a central aisle parallel to the direction of travel and are only separated from the aisle by curtains or couchette cars with compartments without doors.

literature

Night trains have an established role in literature. Agatha Christie's crime novel Murder on the Orient Express has become a classic. Pascal Mercier's novel Night Train to Lisbon even mentions this type of train in the title. In the novel, Next stop: Southern Cross of Roland Siegloff plays the plot in two night trains that roll simultaneously from Budapest and Paris to Berlin through the night.

Web links

Wiktionary: night train  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• FAZ.net: On the last legs. , Print version: FAS November 9, 2014, p. V 1st comment: “Because they are no longer profitable, Deutsche Bahn is discontinuing many of its night trains forever. A farewell trip from Berlin to Paris before it's all over in December [2014]. "
• VCD e. V .: [2] The night trains are to be kept permanently.
• Night train remains private homepage
• Night trains travel through Europe: Tips for routes and booking , Spiegel online October 17, 2019

Footnotes

1. ^ Wolfgang Klee: Prussian Railway History . Hohlhammer, Stuttgart 1982. ISBN 3-17-007466-0 , pp. 122, 215f (note 7).
2. ↑ ^{a b} ÖBB Corporate Blog: We are expanding our range of night trains in Germany. Published on October 7, 2016 ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 1, 2016 
3. ↑ Night trips by ÖBB oebb.at , accessed on February 17, 2010.
4. ↑ Trains de nuits - SNCF Intercités intercites.sncf.com , accessed on March 31, 2013.
5. ↑ Intercity Notte - Altri treni - Trenitalia. Retrieved July 21, 2020 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Railway company: Climate discussion stimulates demand for night trains. In: Spiegel online. July 23, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} DB AG (Ed.): Future Rail - Together for more quality, more customers, more success . Berlin 2015, p. 24 ( deutschebahn.com [PDF]). deutschebahn.com ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Night train to nowhere. faz.net, May 10, 2016.
9. ↑ Kerstin Schwenn: The end of the journey in pajamas . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 123 , May 30, 2016, p. 22 ( faz.net - with different publication date).
10. ↑ International Union Of Railways [UIC]; DB Mobility Networks Logistics (Ed.): UIC-Study Night Trains 2.0 New opportunities by HSR? ( vertraeglich-reisen.de ). vertraeglich-reisen.de ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Christian Schlesiger: Deutsche Bahn is examining the comeback of the night trains. In: Wirtschaftswoche . September 13, 2019, accessed November 22, 2019 . 
12. ^ Deutsche Bahn sticks to the no to night trains. In: time online. December 6, 2019, accessed December 8, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Trenitalia homepage trenitalia.com ( memento from September 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 16, 2010.
14. ↑ International connections of Trenitalia trenitalia.com ( Memento from September 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 17, 2010.
15. ^ Company profile of DB Autozug dbautozug.de , accessed on February 16, 2010.
16. ^ Company profile of City Night Line CNL AG citynightline.de ( Memento from December 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 16, 2010.
17. ↑ Publisher information on Next stop: Südkreuz [1] , accessed on January 4, 2019