Simplon Express (1906-1919)
| Simplon Express | |
|---|---|
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| Train type: | international long-distance train |
| Was standing: | Out of service |
| Countries: |
 France Switzerland Italy  from 1912: Austria-Hungary |
| First drive: | 1906 |
| Last drive: | 1919 |
| Successor: | Simplon Orient Express |
| Former operator: | CIWLT |
| route | |
| Departure station: | Paris |
| Intermediate stops: | Lausanne , Montreux , Brig , Domodossola |
| Destination station: |
from 1906: Milan from 1908: Venice from 1912: Trieste |
| Cycle: | three times a week |
| Train numbers: | 493/494 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Rolling stock: | Sleeping and dining cars |
| Train run | |
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The Simplon Express was an international long-distance train that ran on the Paris - Milan route from 1906 and later via Venice to Trieste . After the First World War , the train route was extended to Istanbul , so that the train became the Simplon-Orient-Express . The name is derived from the Simplon route , which was used to cross the Alps .
history
With the construction of the Simplon line , France saw new opportunities for international passenger traffic. In May 1906 the Simplon Tunnel was opened as the last section of the line and in July of the same year a new luxury train of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL), the Simplon Express , was introduced.
The train left Paris in the evening and reached Milan at noon the next day. From March 1, 1908, the train ran daily and was extended to Venice, from 1912 to Trieste. A sleeping car and a baggage car from Calais were also added to the train, which provided the connection to London . Through coaches also ran via Frasne – Les Verrières - Pontarlier – Neuchâtel - Bern to Interlaken .
The through cars from Calais were brought to Paris by the Chemins de fer du Nord (Nord). From Paris, the journey with the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee (PLM) continued towards Switzerland. In Frasne , the through coaches to Interlaken were uncoupled and brought to Les Verrières . The section from Les Verrières to Neuchâtel was taken over by the SBB , then the Bern-Neuchâtel Railway (BN) continued to the federal capital and from there again with the SBB to Interlaken.
The main train rolled from Frasne on to Vallorbe , where the traction passed to the SBB, which brought the train to Lausanne . The journey continued on the Simplon route to Domodossola , where the train was transferred to the Italian State Railways (FS) for the last section . Special for the time was the electric traction from Brig through the Simplon Tunnel to Iselle , with three-phase AC locomotives from BBC being used. The total travel time from London to Milan was 25.5 hours in the first year.
The Simplon Express was an important feeder for tourists to the Swiss holiday regions of Lake Geneva , Valais and the Bernese Oberland . The first poster for the train advertised the destinations Lake Geneva and Zermatt , but also the federal city of Bern and Milan.
After the First World War , the train was extended beyond Trieste to Istanbul. He was the replacement for the previously southern Germany and Vienna trains running Orient-Express , so the train from now Simplon-Orient-Express was called.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Express d'Orient 1889 - 1900. In: Chemins de fer d'Europe et du monde. (French).
- ^ A b c Irene Anastasiadou: Constructing Iron Europe: Transnationalism and Railways in the Interbellum . Amsterdam University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-90-5260-392-6 , pp. 36 ( google.ch ).
- ↑ General Directorate of the Swiss Federal Railways (Ed.): Report of the General Directorate of the Swiss Federal Railways on the management and the accounts of 1907 to the Swiss Federal Council for the attention of the Federal Assembly . 1907, p. 155 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-676257 ( e-periodica.ch ).
- ↑ a b c Poster Été 1906: Simplon Express
- ↑ New Simplon Express . In: Swiss Hotel Review . tape 15 , no. 6 , 1906, Transportation.
- ^ A b F. Marty: The CIWLT and its contribution to tourism in Switzerland . In: Switzerland . tape 49 , 1976, p. 2 .
