You can not expect a full train on it's first run. No advertisments has being made before hand (to the 'normal' public). And there is ES Brussel - Berlin as you mentioned. Cheaper and much more easier to book. I do not like 2 different nighttrains running the same (startfinish) route when there is a lot of (new) connections to be made... Brussels should be connected by Vienna and Zurich so the Belgium part can be connected to Amsterdam-Zurich in Cologne. Do not compete, add!! Or try Brussels - Luxembourg - Strassbourg - Basel - Bern (- Brig). Three main capitals by 1 train!
Thanks for your journey report. You're doing the best format on YT, because there is no music, only ambiente and sounds from train, people, annoucments, nature and I like really the history notes. I miss the journeys in Balkan countries - Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia or Eastern Europe - Poland, Czech Republik or Baltics.
Thanks for taking us with you on this journey. I really enjoyed watching it and I really love the style of the video. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Switzerland!
Ein schönes Video! Gefällt mir sehr. Kleiner Hinweis: Bei 4:26 sehen wir ein Standard-Abteil (die Einblendung, dass es ein Deluxe Abteil ist stimmt leider nicht). Das Abteil bei 4:36 ist ein Deluxe Abteil (und nicht nur ein Standard Abteil) Glaub jedoch nicht, dass Sie schon im Dezember 2018 (wie es in der Beschreibung steht) mit diesem Zug gefahren sind, weil soweit ich weiß ist diese Strecke sehr neu dazugekommen. Ich finde die ganzen Details sehr interessant! Vielen Dank!
The new Nightjet is certificate for Germany and Austria at the moment. He runs of the Lines Hamburg-Vienna and Hamburg-Innsbruck. It's plan, that the new Nightjet can ride in Italy, Swizerland, Netherlands and Belgium to rund on the Lines Vienna- Brussels, Vienna-Amsterdam, Vienna-Zurich, Vienna-Venice and Vienna-Rome. The next line, which will be served/operate by the new Nightjet is the Nightjet Vienna-Bregenz.
I really liked seeing the route! Night trains can be a challenge for sight seeing, but with well lit cities and maybe a full moon there can still be a lot worth seeing. It's the glimpses of interesting scenery that makes the route. The hub of activity at late night train moves have an excitement of their own. I do prefer Amtrak sleepers to European sleeper cars, at least their configuration, I'm not aware about the chassis ride and stability differences. Amtrak sleepers are very expensive at about $550 for NYC - Chicago for a single person roomette because they only have two person cabins or larger. That is for a roomette that is on one side of a center walkway. The bedroom is more expensive which occupies most of the width of the car with the walkway being on one side. I personally like the roomette not just because it is cheaper, but because the beds are oriented parallel with the windows instead of perpendicular as are most sleeper compartments. Being parallel with the windows allows better viewing of the scenery while in bed rather than perpendicular with the windows. The bedroom does have a major benefit not realized at first. You can see out through the door and walkway window so scenery on both sides of the train can be viewed. You can miss the most important parts of a town or train station because you don't even realize they exist when in a roomette! Even with the high cost of a sleeper roomette there is little chance of getting one with short notice on Amtrak. Many of Amtraks sleeper train cars are sold out a couple months in advance. What I'd wish for is the return of the slumber coach sleeper compartment made for a single person and lots of them so they'd almost aways be available and at about the half the cost of the current roomettes for a single person. When a teenager I was able to upgrade from a coach to a slumber coach after 8p if they were available for just $10! I did that every time I visited my grandmother in Lincoln NE when our family was living in N.Va. D.C. area in the 1970s and 1981. It doesn't appear it is possible for there to be good passenger train service without heavy government subsidies. When freight railroads were running their premier passenger trains it is considered their main benefit to the railroad was promotion of their freight service and brand. The passenger train tickets paid for train sets, crews and maintenance, but not track time or high level track service. That was cost out as advertising and promotion. When jet travel took the business class away from the passenger trains in the 1960s there was little promotion to be realized with keeping the passenger train service. In the USA freight railroads gave up on shorter haul service with competition from trucks and mostly free road use. That was also the case with all local rail service especially interurbans for passengers. Placing all that traffic onto the roads and the likely permeant loss of the previous rail corridors is questionable economics. Europe didn't completely end rail service when it became marginally deficit in operation compared to nearly free government supported road system. Whether the USA railroads categorized their passenger train expenses this ways is likely different with the particular railroad. Railroads with their tracks and real estate impose a social cost on where they are located. They may enable industry, but that is not a requirement, so some social benefit should be seen to be taking place for this inconvenience. Seeing stylish long distance passenger trains makes that social benefit statement. Freight railroads should recognize having occasional premier passenger trains on their rails makes them seen as a social allowance worth keeping rather than to be eliminated.
For all the people whining in the comments who would never take a long-distance train if you paid them for it, this looks like a useful connection - especially for those traveling between Berlin and London, who will have a lot more flexibility in choices of which chunnel departure they can pick. Even at last minute, the price for this journey is comparable to a flight and hotel, without the hassle of an airport. I look forwards to making the journey in a peaceful, environmentally sustainable manner.
great video! one can see that if one is more interested in trains and stuff then every problem/interruption is at least much less boring and sometimes even interesting than it was or an ordinary passanger without much knowledge ....
European Sleeper has announced a €1m sharefunding round from December 27, to support marketing and sales for its extension from Berlin to Dresden and Praha from March 25 and the introduction of a dining car. Investors will get a discount on future purchases of train tickets. The operator says it has now run more than 150 night trains on the Brussels - Berlin route and transported over 30 000 passengers.
I believe night trains have pros and cons. Yes, it's good to arrive overnight, but you have to check out of your hotel at noon and take your luggage around until you leave at night. Same thing arriving, can't check in to hotel until 2 or 3pm so you're taking luggage around. And I don't feel secure locking my luggage up at the station either. But that's just me.
Do you think we should have a trans EU train? I was thinking of a train starting in Lisa on going to Madrid, Barcelona, Montpellier, Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw, and the up to the baltics til Estonia. I think that would be a really cool train. Perhaps have another one from Northern Sweden or Norway to Sicily in Italy.
You say that operating a sleeper train in Europe is very complex. Is true, but not many years ago dozens, maybe hundreds of trains, with countless through cars, ran throughout Europe, and it was a daily matter.
This route doesn't seem a spopular I guess. We did Vienna to Hamburg in April and even booking months in advance the deluxe cabins were all booked out already.
I wouldn't share a room at a hotel with a stranger and even less in a cramped train compartment with up to 5 others no matter how cheap. Besides, there are daytime trains that get you from Brussels to Berlin in half the time. What are we trying to prove.
100%. It’s strange how young (and often males) think this is a fun idea. It’s very 1950’s and before and very backpacker. Almost say it’s what you’d expect in Africa, China or India.
@@doc7austin True, you have at least one change but with approx. 24 trains from Cologne to Berlin. I'd bet that I can connect with one of them. Btw, your train was late by just over 2 hours. I can see where a businessman might say instead of a hotelroom for the night I'll sleep on the train. But as a visitor to the country I wouldn't want to travel blindfolded through the countryside.
Agree, I was supposed to be on a single sleeper from Venice to Vienna. Train came and they had no sleepers, had to ride coach. I jumped off at Venice Mestre because I certainly wasn't riding coach all the way. I wasn't willing to sit in coach overnight on a crowded train with strangers. I can't sleep in a seat, so I would have been burnt to a crisp when I arrived in Vienna. Plus there is always the chance of pick pockets. What was I supposed to do? Arrive in Vienna in a zombie like condition and then wait until 2pm for a hotel room?
Thanks again for a splendid video. Those 34 minutes are over before you know it. Could you explain what "bouncing coupling" is for? Last year I booked a ticket for the Nightjet from München tot Venezia, but no train showed up, forcing me to spend a tiring night and altering my journey. This year I traveled from Amsterdam to Innsbruck (and on to Bologna). I chose the Nightjet to avoid traveling through Germany by day and probably missing connections. It was great. On the way back there was a delay of 3:45 because the consist from Viena had to do with extensive track maintenance in, you guessed it, Germany. Prices for single use of a sleeper cabin next year are about 30% higher than this year, especially in the weekends. Makes me consider to fly again.
I think one of the reasons for the low occupancy rate (at least: if the Vienna section was busier), is that the Brussels-Berlin route has not been on sale for a very long time. I noticed that it was even not possible to purchase tickets when the service started last week, whereas the Paris-Berlin route did have tickets for purchase. In terms of subsidies in Belgium: normally all sleeper trains are subsidized in the sense that temporarily, no track access charges have to be paid for new routes. European Sleeper is also taking advantage of this. However, given that SNCB is the operator for the Nightjet in Belgium, I can imagine the Nightjet is additionally subsidized this way.
Do you know if these locomotive incidents happened again ? I've booked the same trip for end april, and would like to take a further train to poland, which should depart 1h20 after the arrival of the nightjet. I don't know if i should book that one, or the one departing 2h later ?
@@doc7austin thanks :) Looks like this is not very reassuring... I spent my youth travelling between Belgium and Germany using the old classic train, never had a problem. Now with the technology of 2024, there seem to be always problems...
Thanks, you were right, we reached berlin 5 minutes after the departure of the poland-bound train i thought about. Lucky I listened to you. However the way back was nightmarish. First, the train supposed to leave berlin at 20:18, actually left at 19:34, without any message about it. And nobody was able to explain this, the wagon guy could only say "DB is chaotic". It was pure luck that we saw the train at the platform, 5 minutes before departure... And then, the train coming from Wien had a massive delay. We reached Aachen almost 5 hours late ! And due to works, we had to stop there and take an ICE to Brussels (this we had been informed of more than a month in advance).
Nightjet has recently increased their prices for sleeper berths to a really stupid price and have taken away all the good things to,help the market and promote being green. They will sell much more by reducing the price to the previous levels.
@@sagichnicht6748 that is maybe. But when people will see the higher prices too often, they will simply not bother with Nightjet at all as an alternative as they will see high prices on many occasions. It will be cheaper to travel by day train or flight and stay in a good hotel and save a great deal of money.
I take the Liège Aachen train very regularly and I am really very impressed by the images in this video. Well done. What day was it exactly? I think I even saw your train stopping!
Trains are still fairly well booked ´cos now a days you can travel in a dogcage, sorry I meant Mini-cabin, which is not so expensive in money, just don´t compare with what you get.
as I said in my video -> I travelled with the first public ÖBB Nightjet train NJ 425 Brussels-Berlin; The key word is "public"; the train on December 12 was not open for public use
I believe european sleeper must also benefit from Belgian subsidies (the governement pays for the track usage and the salaries of the train employees for the duration of the intra-belgian part of the travel). I've heard (and experienced) so many horrible things about rail travel in Germany, this is just another example. As soon as the train enters german territory, BAM loco break down (Siemens loco, please). And then another 40 minutes delay on top of that...
TWO HOURS for simply towing away the locomotive and couple the new one? Such manoeuvres usually took no longer than 20 minutes on border stations. When and how did it become so complicated??? Also why did the train stop so early in Aachen, on half of the platform?
It was not possible to decouple the HL 18 loco from the train cars, because the locking screw was stretched; only a push maneuver of the loco against the train cars would habe solved it; unfortunately, the HL 18 broke down attempting to do so
@@doc7austin no problem, push by Vectron. What eventually was done at the end, but WHY did it take so long? The same way as it was done on border stations before, when the loco came, towed away the locomotive and pushed her through the station. Still being done daily on Slovenian border stations. Really can't see how on Earth can this take two hours.
i didn't enjoyed the travelling that i booked from Frankfurt Airport to Amsterdam Centraal because of the massive unexplained delay by 4 hours in total, i had the plan to take the first one that i didn't booked so the one who coming from Zurich and who going to Amsterdam as well but unfortunetely the train has unexplained started to be delayed from the airport 10 min before it's scheduled departure to be extended without explication by 55 min and cancel for unknown reason over 20 ppl has been concerned by train, honestly obb should to find a solution to solve the delay issues first, because massive daily delay will be always a problem for any pax who travelling with, with the last bad experience that i had with obb i don't think that i'lm going to travelling with them from germany to Netherland again nor with broken ICE 3 train as well, planes are still the only way for travelling without massive delay like OBB and ICE
How on earth are the workers able to safely couple the cars together if they have to do it manually in the middle of two train cars? Weird how Europe has not adopted american "knuckle" couplers that are almost entirely automatic
Tolles Video aber genau dass ist einer der Gründe warum ich dass letzte mal im Jahr 2001 mit dem Nachtzug gefahren bin: Verspätungen, das herumgekuppele und hohe Preise!! Nein danke, ich nimm weiterhin das Flugzeug! Der Klimaschwachsinn interessiert mich nicht!😂
@@doc7austin nicht falsch verstehen, ich bin tatsächlich auch Eisenbahnfreund, aber zwischen Interesse an Zügen generell und Passagier, ist ein großer Unterschied!! Bei all den ,,technischen Pannen und Ausfälle" fragt man sich ob die Eisenbahn generell überhaupt noch für was zu gebrauchen ist?! Stell dir vor es wäre bei Fluglinien so! Ja wo kämen wir dann hin vor lauter Abstürze?! Es wird höchste Zeit dass die Bahnen Europas sich an die Japaner orientieren: HÖCHSTE, ja fast schon MILITÄRISCHE DISZIPLIN UND VERPFLICHTUNG dem Fahrgast gegenüber! Technische Ausfälle wie hier im, verhältnismäßig, schlampigen Europa und wo die Fahrgäste ein desinteressiertes achselzucken vom Schaffner zu sehen bekommen, hätte dort disziplinare Strafen und Folgen! Und was hier noch schlimmer ist: man nimmt den Fahrgast als Versuchskaninchen!! Siemens und andere Konzerne scheint es auch egal zu sein! Hauptsache die Portemonnaies werden fett gefüllt!🤮 Und dann die Streiks.......in Japan undankbar!! 2h Verspätungen hier: wurscht, geh scheißen Fahrgast!😜🤪 30.Sekunden Verspätung in Japan beim Shinkansen: tiefste Demut vom Personal, Ansagen am Bahnsteig über die Lautsprecher mit höfliche Entschuldigungen!! DAS ist Service!👏
@@4th.Gen.V6-F-Body-4life i guess at the moment somme night trains/sleeper train lines focus less on being fast than rather on 'people who for different reasons care less about some hours. people who dont like flying (for ideologic reasons or jut being anxious), ppl who like to have some time to sleep before arriving and/or kind of like to arrive 'prepared', ppl who could use this time to continue to work/to stuff (trains have wifi, airplanes not) - you could see such trains also as kind of externalized workplace (instead of working at home, flying later but faster), ppl who just like this kind of experience etc. and this likely in combinations with some general problems/incompatibilities etc. the provider met with the infrastructure and scheduling which let them focus on rather economic general network aspects than optimizing individual lines. likely a result of the reality with all its odds. in general there are some night train lines which appear to be successful (earn really money) even if one leaves 'over enthusiastic/ideological' spam aside. but if now this specific line will work over time has to be seen. and apart from all that: it is clear that a more compatible, reliable (and also in the end cheaper) infrastructure over all of Europe was a much better backbone/frame work - not just for night trains ...
@@sagichnicht6748’b’book well in advance’. Here’s an idea for you sunshine; not everyone’s plans are in advance and sleeper fares are being jacked up. A bit of research and being less rigid would have told you that. And if you have to book that fare in advance you may as well fly.
@@ralphzechendorf1644 Are you comparing a day train vs a night train? Ok, a nightjet Berlin-Hamburg in one month time (17.1.24) for a family of three (child 12 years old), costs 179,90 EUR in a couchette, including breakfast.
I can't understand how they can prefer routes with big detours and hours of standing trains in trainstations in the middle of the night and totaling out the ride time over 10 hours. They should use direct routes and not wait for other coaches but run more direct where possible 200 km/h fast night trains on overlapping routes - they d booked and/because more attractive because reasonably fast.
This train incorporates other carriages to other destinations. The way it works is that half the carriages in the train run from Brussels to Berlin but the other half runs from Brussels to Vienna. In Mannheim, Germany, it meets up with a train thats arriving from Paris. What happens then is that the carriages get moved around, so the carriages to Berlin get coupled off the Brussels-Vienna train and onto the Paris-Berlin train. Same goes for carriages between Paris and Vienna. In that way you can have parts of a train bound for several different cities and offer more direct routes with fewer expenses.
@@drdewott9154 no news to me. My statement holds. Yes, it's more expensive trough the purchase of more EMUs like Norway will get them soon from Stadler and it will need a view more train drivers with night bonus salaries but also less of the dangerous shifting (personal with danger - just today a worker died in southern Austria between the buffers! - and night bonus). Needs to be a quick direct connection, be my guest making the whole run of one line even longer. Two times a night, an early train and a late train on each relation trough overlapping routes. No waiting around. Use the speed possible. Shorter travel times from city to city mean really short nights for some destinations or just seats for workers who need a late or an early short distance ride.
@@dreimalnein22 Even then IDK if thats a good business model for the consumer. I mean even just looking at ticket prices on this route, which does see competition, then Nightjet is by far the better deal. Take couchettes, which in accomodation and services are identical between the Nightjet and European Sleeper, the 2 companies competing on this route. The Nightjet tickets are regularly aroud 69 euros, sometimes as low as 55 euros one way overnight in couchette. Yet for European sleeper, the more direct service, the price is usually a whopping 100 euros, I've never seen their prices below 90 euros.
People tend to want to sleep for around 8 hours, and nobody wants to arrive in a sleeping city at 5 in the morning... thus it just doesn't make sense to have shorter travel times for night trains. But running at higher speeds will enable routes with longer distances in the future. Hence why the new NightJet trainsets are capable of 230km/h.
So you get almost 14 hours on a train (not counting a bonus delay of X hours) without a restaurant car, without a bistro, without a café, without a bar, without en suite facilities, but with a breakfast that would cause a riot in a penitentiary canteen. And all that for the princely sum of €190 or so. This can only appeal to climate crazies and train fanatics (also a mental affliction, albeit mild and harmless, judging by the ones who show up at an ungodly hour at a godforsaken station to film locomotives trundling back and forth). Everybody else will take a proper jet instead of a "nightjet". OK, maybe not those unfortunates suffering from aerophobia, another mental condition. Perhaps ÖBB should consider adding a shrink to the onboard staff, and renaming their service the Lunatic Express. Or Thunberg Train.
It should be worth noting that Nightjet uses dynamic pricing similarly to airlines meaning the further you'll book in advance, the cheaper the prices will be. The ticket for Doc's trip cost 230 euros only because he bought his ticket at the very last moment. If you book 2-3 months in advance, you should be able to get such a ticket for between 80 and 120 euros, which is not just on par with many private hotel rooms in price, but also gives you transportation included across multiple countries.
@@drdewott9154That doesn't really make any sense when the train is empty though. If the train is empty, the late fares should be low to attract more riders.
@@dijikstra8 It should also be worth noting that most nightjet departures are very busy and often full or close to full. Idk if this route just got a slow start because of a lack of promotion, but I'm sure the pasenger numbers will grow higher
What for a monstrosity is this? It leaves BRU, platform-crawls southern Belgium and then southern Germany to Manheim!!! Then theads up to FRA then onto Berlin! I can see what they are doing and using Manheim as a mini-hub for their Vienna, Paris & Berlin services... All a little left hand. I thought EU rail policy was to compliment and reduce the need for air travel. This looks like some company trying to cash in on EU subsidies. What it does highlight and a deeper problem is the incompatibility of the various networks (voltages / AC Vs DC etc).
well, the Belgian government is subsidizing this train by covering fees on Belgian soil; yes, it is the Mannheim mini hub, which is the cause why the Brussels-Berlin Nightjet train is running as far South as Mannheim
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You can not expect a full train on it's first run. No advertisments has being made before hand (to the 'normal' public). And there is ES Brussel - Berlin as you mentioned. Cheaper and much more easier to book. I do not like 2 different nighttrains running the same (startfinish) route when there is a lot of (new) connections to be made... Brussels should be connected by Vienna and Zurich so the Belgium part can be connected to Amsterdam-Zurich in Cologne. Do not compete, add!! Or try Brussels - Luxembourg - Strassbourg - Basel - Bern (- Brig). Three main capitals by 1 train!
Thanks for your journey report. You're doing the best format on YT, because there is no music, only ambiente and sounds from train, people, annoucments, nature and I like really the history notes.
I miss the journeys in Balkan countries - Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia or Eastern Europe - Poland, Czech Republik or Baltics.
more content on czech republic will be published this weekend on my channel
@@doc7austin Thanks, that's great!
Thanks for taking us with you on this journey.
I really enjoyed watching it and I really love the style of the video. Keep up the good work!
Greetings from Switzerland!
yes, next week we will be going from prague to vienna on a diesel train
@@doc7austin Nice!
Thanks for sharing your experience ! I wish i could ride these trains more frequently.
Ein schönes Video! Gefällt mir sehr.
Kleiner Hinweis: Bei 4:26 sehen wir ein Standard-Abteil (die Einblendung, dass es ein Deluxe Abteil ist stimmt leider nicht). Das Abteil bei 4:36 ist ein Deluxe Abteil (und nicht nur ein Standard Abteil)
Glaub jedoch nicht, dass Sie schon im Dezember 2018 (wie es in der Beschreibung steht) mit diesem Zug gefahren sind, weil soweit ich weiß ist diese Strecke sehr neu dazugekommen.
Ich finde die ganzen Details sehr interessant! Vielen Dank!
well, a nice report about this remarkable night train: slow and expensive; easier to take the plane unfortunately!
yes, i agree with you.
The new Nightjet is certificate for Germany and Austria at the moment. He runs of the Lines Hamburg-Vienna and Hamburg-Innsbruck. It's plan, that the new Nightjet can ride in Italy, Swizerland, Netherlands and Belgium to rund on the Lines Vienna- Brussels, Vienna-Amsterdam, Vienna-Zurich, Vienna-Venice and Vienna-Rome. The next line, which will be served/operate by the new Nightjet is the Nightjet Vienna-Bregenz.
I really liked seeing the route! Night trains can be a challenge for sight seeing, but with well lit cities and maybe a full moon there can still be a lot worth seeing. It's the glimpses of interesting scenery that makes the route. The hub of activity at late night train moves have an excitement of their own. I do prefer Amtrak sleepers to European sleeper cars, at least their configuration, I'm not aware about the chassis ride and stability differences.
Amtrak sleepers are very expensive at about $550 for NYC - Chicago for a single person roomette because they only have two person cabins or larger. That is for a roomette that is on one side of a center walkway. The bedroom is more expensive which occupies most of the width of the car with the walkway being on one side. I personally like the roomette not just because it is cheaper, but because the beds are oriented parallel with the windows instead of perpendicular as are most sleeper compartments. Being parallel with the windows allows better viewing of the scenery while in bed rather than perpendicular with the windows. The bedroom does have a major benefit not realized at first. You can see out through the door and walkway window so scenery on both sides of the train can be viewed. You can miss the most important parts of a town or train station because you don't even realize they exist when in a roomette! Even with the high cost of a sleeper roomette there is little chance of getting one with short notice on Amtrak. Many of Amtraks sleeper train cars are sold out a couple months in advance.
What I'd wish for is the return of the slumber coach sleeper compartment made for a single person and lots of them so they'd almost aways be available and at about the half the cost of the current roomettes for a single person. When a teenager I was able to upgrade from a coach to a slumber coach after 8p if they were available for just $10! I did that every time I visited my grandmother in Lincoln NE when our family was living in N.Va. D.C. area in the 1970s and 1981.
It doesn't appear it is possible for there to be good passenger train service without heavy government subsidies. When freight railroads were running their premier passenger trains it is considered their main benefit to the railroad was promotion of their freight service and brand.
The passenger train tickets paid for train sets, crews and maintenance, but not track time or high level track service. That was cost out as advertising and promotion. When jet travel took the business class away from the passenger trains in the 1960s there was little promotion to be realized with keeping the passenger train service. In the USA freight railroads gave up on shorter haul service with competition from trucks and mostly free road use. That was also the case with all local rail service especially interurbans for passengers. Placing all that traffic onto the roads and the likely permeant loss of the previous rail corridors is questionable economics. Europe didn't completely end rail service when it became marginally deficit in operation compared to nearly free government supported road system.
Whether the USA railroads categorized their passenger train expenses this ways is likely different with the particular railroad. Railroads with their tracks and real estate impose a social cost on where they are located. They may enable industry, but that is not a requirement, so some social benefit should be seen to be taking place for this inconvenience. Seeing stylish long distance passenger trains makes that social benefit statement. Freight railroads should recognize having occasional premier passenger trains on their rails makes them seen as a social allowance worth keeping rather than to be eliminated.
For all the people whining in the comments who would never take a long-distance train if you paid them for it, this looks like a useful connection - especially for those traveling between Berlin and London, who will have a lot more flexibility in choices of which chunnel departure they can pick. Even at last minute, the price for this journey is comparable to a flight and hotel, without the hassle of an airport. I look forwards to making the journey in a peaceful, environmentally sustainable manner.
If the Vectron may ride through Belgium, why doesn't it town the train from Brussels to Aachen?
probably that vectron ms is not certified to run that section
great video! one can see that if one is more interested in trains and stuff then every problem/interruption is at least much less boring and sometimes even interesting than it was or an ordinary passanger without much knowledge ....
yes, on my channel you will see the entire journey experience
Great video as always Doc
sure; check out the other brussels-berlin night train video (european sleeper)
European Sleeper has announced a €1m sharefunding round from December 27, to support marketing and sales for its extension from Berlin to Dresden and Praha from March 25 and the introduction of a dining car. Investors will get a discount on future purchases of train tickets. The operator says it has now run more than 150 night trains on the Brussels - Berlin route and transported over 30 000 passengers.
but is european sleeper even earning money with its sole train?
@@doc7austin🤷🏽♀️
I believe night trains have pros and cons. Yes, it's good to arrive overnight, but you have to check out of your hotel at noon and take your luggage around until you leave at night. Same thing arriving, can't check in to hotel until 2 or 3pm so you're taking luggage around. And I don't feel secure locking my luggage up at the station either. But that's just me.
if you live in brussels or berlin, the night train is a good option (no need for hotel check-in/out)
Many hotels and hostels have supervised left-luggage areas where you can leave your stuff until check in time, I have done this more than once.
@@osasunaitor That's true..
The spark beneth the catenary is because the ice forming on it disrupting so the pantagraph contact as the train moves
At €230 I don't expect to be sold out quickly
perfect train video great
Do you think we should have a trans EU train? I was thinking of a train starting in Lisa on going to Madrid, Barcelona, Montpellier, Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin, Warsaw, and the up to the baltics til Estonia. I think that would be a really cool train. Perhaps have another one from Northern Sweden or Norway to Sicily in Italy.
Would Lisa be Lisbon? In which language? Thank you
16:38 it's a new loco and it didn't get aproved for Switzerland yet! as soon as it is, the red X will be removed.
You say that operating a sleeper train in Europe is very complex. Is true, but not many years ago dozens, maybe hundreds of trains, with countless through cars, ran throughout Europe, and it was a daily matter.
but did those train earn any money; there is a reason why most of them were cancelled
This route doesn't seem a spopular I guess. We did Vienna to Hamburg in April and even booking months in advance the deluxe cabins were all booked out already.
i assume there is competition by the european sleeper train on the same route: brussels-berlin
absolut genial - danke für das geniale Video!
ja bitte !!!
I wouldn't share a room at a hotel with a stranger and even less in a cramped train compartment with up to 5 others no matter how cheap. Besides, there are daytime trains that get you from Brussels to Berlin in half the time. What are we trying to prove.
100%. It’s strange how young (and often males) think this is a fun idea. It’s very 1950’s and before and very backpacker. Almost say it’s what you’d expect in Africa, China or India.
unfortunately, there are no direct daytime train between brussels and berlin; the ICE 406 brussels-cologne is very unreliable
@@doc7austin True, you have at least one change but with approx. 24 trains from Cologne to Berlin. I'd bet that I can connect with one of them. Btw, your train was late by just over 2 hours. I can see where a businessman might say instead of a hotelroom for the night I'll sleep on the train. But as a visitor to the country I wouldn't want to travel blindfolded through the countryside.
@@xr6ladit can be fun, depending on who you travel with. But not for €230
Agree, I was supposed to be on a single sleeper from Venice to Vienna. Train came and they had no sleepers, had to ride coach. I jumped off at Venice Mestre because I certainly wasn't riding coach all the way. I wasn't willing to sit in coach overnight on a crowded train with strangers. I can't sleep in a seat, so I would have been burnt to a crisp when I arrived in Vienna. Plus there is always the chance of pick pockets. What was I supposed to do? Arrive in Vienna in a zombie like condition and then wait until 2pm for a hotel room?
Thanks again for a splendid video. Those 34 minutes are over before you know it.
Could you explain what "bouncing coupling" is for?
Last year I booked a ticket for the Nightjet from München tot Venezia, but no train showed up, forcing me to spend a tiring night and altering my journey. This year I traveled from Amsterdam to Innsbruck (and on to Bologna). I chose the Nightjet to avoid traveling through Germany by day and probably missing connections. It was great. On the way back there was a delay of 3:45 because the consist from Viena had to do with extensive track maintenance in, you guessed it, Germany.
Prices for single use of a sleeper cabin next year are about 30% higher than this year, especially in the weekends. Makes me consider to fly again.
I think one of the reasons for the low occupancy rate (at least: if the Vienna section was busier), is that the Brussels-Berlin route has not been on sale for a very long time. I noticed that it was even not possible to purchase tickets when the service started last week, whereas the Paris-Berlin route did have tickets for purchase.
In terms of subsidies in Belgium: normally all sleeper trains are subsidized in the sense that temporarily, no track access charges have to be paid for new routes. European Sleeper is also taking advantage of this. However, given that SNCB is the operator for the Nightjet in Belgium, I can imagine the Nightjet is additionally subsidized this way.
15:39 oh wow imagine ÖBB using a leased locomotive, first time (don't think so tho)
Do you know if these locomotive incidents happened again ? I've booked the same trip for end april, and would like to take a further train to poland, which should depart 1h20 after the arrival of the nightjet. I don't know if i should book that one, or the one departing 2h later ?
book the one 2h later
@@doc7austin thanks :) Looks like this is not very reassuring... I spent my youth travelling between Belgium and Germany using the old classic train, never had a problem. Now with the technology of 2024, there seem to be always problems...
Thanks, you were right, we reached berlin 5 minutes after the departure of the poland-bound train i thought about. Lucky I listened to you.
However the way back was nightmarish. First, the train supposed to leave berlin at 20:18, actually left at 19:34, without any message about it. And nobody was able to explain this, the wagon guy could only say "DB is chaotic". It was pure luck that we saw the train at the platform, 5 minutes before departure...
And then, the train coming from Wien had a massive delay. We reached Aachen almost 5 hours late ! And due to works, we had to stop there and take an ICE to Brussels (this we had been informed of more than a month in advance).
Nightjet has recently increased their prices for sleeper berths to a really stupid price and have taken away all the good things to,help the market and promote being green. They will sell much more by reducing the price to the previous levels.
The Nightjet prices are dynamic, less demand automatically leads to lower prices.
@@sagichnicht6748 that is maybe. But when people will see the higher prices too often, they will simply not bother with Nightjet at all as an alternative as they will see high prices on many occasions. It will be cheaper to travel by day train or flight and stay in a good hotel and save a great deal of money.
@@sagichnicht6748lol @ dynamic. Yea that will really get people out of cars.
@@simonpilkAgreed
Not a great advertisement. Thank you. No voice is appreciated as is your detailed video. 👍🏻🏴
yes, i am one of the few channels doing it that way -> no narration
@@doc7austin I’ve noticed that you keep awake and film unlike others. Best Wishes for Christmas and for a better New Year for humanity. 👍🏻🏴
I take the Liège Aachen train very regularly and I am really very impressed by the images in this video. Well done. What day was it exactly? I think I even saw your train stopping!
December 14
I was not there! It was another day. Thanks for your reply!
Trains are still fairly well booked ´cos now a days you can travel in a dogcage, sorry I meant Mini-cabin, which is not so expensive in money, just don´t compare with what you get.
Wonderful 👍
Can you ride with the new Nightjet? (Nightjet 2nd Generation)
The 1805 is not broken that always do this when they dont have night jet vetron from brussel
More than one hour between Bruxelles Midi and Liége Guillemins?
the train took the classic main line between both cities
Diese 193 Vectron Lok könnte die Zulassung für die Schweiz verloren haben, da sie allenfalls keinen Stromabnehmer für die Schweiz auf dem Dach hat.
Warum hat sie die Zulassung dann überhaupt bekommen?
there‘s no way they‘re using ELL Vectrons now 💀
You did not travel with the first one, because the first one left on 12 december from track 10 with about + 30 minutes
as I said in my video -> I travelled with the first public ÖBB Nightjet train NJ 425 Brussels-Berlin; The key word is "public"; the train on December 12 was not open for public use
Do the sleeper trains operate on alternate days offering service 6 days per week or do they run on the same day?
This Brussels-Berlin train only runs 3 days a week
@@doc7austin Does European Sleeper operate between Brussels and Berlin on other days?
@@samtrak1204asking the right questions!
Yes, no one likes shunting these days and these delays kill other groups of coaches.
yes; if one through car group is delayed, it delays all the other through groups
I believe european sleeper must also benefit from Belgian subsidies (the governement pays for the track usage and the salaries of the train employees for the duration of the intra-belgian part of the travel).
I've heard (and experienced) so many horrible things about rail travel in Germany, this is just another example. As soon as the train enters german territory, BAM loco break down (Siemens loco, please). And then another 40 minutes delay on top of that...
the loco breakdown was most likely due to wrong handling by the belgian sncb locomotive driver;
@@doc7austinwhat makes you think that? Drivers have to undergo extensive training to operate abroad, I know because I'm one.
8:04 8/10😊
ÖBB Locks haben auch Schäden?
Die kaputte Lok gehörte zur belgischen SNCB/NMBS, die den Zug nur zwischen Brüssel und Aachen zieht.
TWO HOURS for simply towing away the locomotive and couple the new one? Such manoeuvres usually took no longer than 20 minutes on border stations. When and how did it become so complicated???
Also why did the train stop so early in Aachen, on half of the platform?
It was not possible to decouple the HL 18 loco from the train cars, because the locking screw was stretched; only a push maneuver of the loco against the train cars would habe solved it; unfortunately, the HL 18 broke down attempting to do so
@@doc7austin no problem, push by Vectron. What eventually was done at the end, but WHY did it take so long? The same way as it was done on border stations before, when the loco came, towed away the locomotive and pushed her through the station. Still being done daily on Slovenian border stations. Really can't see how on Earth can this take two hours.
i didn't enjoyed the travelling that i booked from Frankfurt Airport to Amsterdam Centraal because of the massive unexplained delay by 4 hours in total, i had the plan to take the first one that i didn't booked so the one who coming from Zurich and who going to Amsterdam as well but unfortunetely the train has unexplained started to be delayed from the airport 10 min before it's scheduled departure to be extended without explication by 55 min and cancel for unknown reason over 20 ppl has been concerned by train, honestly obb should to find a solution to solve the delay issues first, because massive daily delay will be always a problem for any pax who travelling with, with the last bad experience that i had with obb i don't think that i'lm going to travelling with them from germany to Netherland again nor with broken ICE 3 train as well, planes are still the only way for travelling without massive delay like OBB and ICE
How on earth are the workers able to safely couple the cars together if they have to do it manually in the middle of two train cars? Weird how Europe has not adopted american "knuckle" couplers that are almost entirely automatic
Tolles Video aber genau dass ist einer der Gründe warum ich dass letzte mal im Jahr 2001 mit dem Nachtzug gefahren bin: Verspätungen, das herumgekuppele und hohe Preise!! Nein danke, ich nimm weiterhin das Flugzeug! Der Klimaschwachsinn interessiert mich nicht!😂
ja; das kann ich gut nachvollziehen
@@doc7austin nicht falsch verstehen, ich bin tatsächlich auch Eisenbahnfreund, aber zwischen Interesse an Zügen generell und Passagier, ist ein großer Unterschied!! Bei all den ,,technischen Pannen und Ausfälle" fragt man sich ob die Eisenbahn generell überhaupt noch für was zu gebrauchen ist?! Stell dir vor es wäre bei Fluglinien so! Ja wo kämen wir dann hin vor lauter Abstürze?! Es wird höchste Zeit dass die Bahnen Europas sich an die Japaner orientieren: HÖCHSTE, ja fast schon MILITÄRISCHE DISZIPLIN UND VERPFLICHTUNG dem Fahrgast gegenüber! Technische Ausfälle wie hier im, verhältnismäßig, schlampigen Europa und wo die Fahrgäste ein desinteressiertes achselzucken vom Schaffner zu sehen bekommen, hätte dort disziplinare Strafen und Folgen! Und was hier noch schlimmer ist: man nimmt den Fahrgast als Versuchskaninchen!!
Siemens und andere Konzerne scheint es auch egal zu sein! Hauptsache die Portemonnaies werden fett gefüllt!🤮 Und dann die Streiks.......in Japan undankbar!!
2h Verspätungen hier: wurscht, geh scheißen Fahrgast!😜🤪
30.Sekunden Verspätung in Japan beim Shinkansen: tiefste Demut vom Personal, Ansagen am Bahnsteig über die Lautsprecher mit höfliche Entschuldigungen!! DAS ist Service!👏
@@4th.Gen.V6-F-Body-4life i guess at the moment somme night trains/sleeper train lines focus less on being fast than rather on 'people who for different reasons care less about some hours. people who dont like flying (for ideologic reasons or jut being anxious), ppl who like to have some time to sleep before arriving and/or kind of like to arrive 'prepared', ppl who could use this time to continue to work/to stuff (trains have wifi, airplanes not) - you could see such trains also as kind of externalized workplace (instead of working at home, flying later but faster), ppl who just like this kind of experience etc. and this likely in combinations with some general problems/incompatibilities etc. the provider met with the infrastructure and scheduling which let them focus on rather economic general network aspects than optimizing individual lines. likely a result of the reality with all its odds. in general there are some night train lines which appear to be successful (earn really money) even if one leaves 'over enthusiastic/ideological' spam aside. but if now this specific line will work over time has to be seen. and apart from all that: it is clear that a more compatible, reliable (and also in the end cheaper) infrastructure over all of Europe was a much better backbone/frame work - not just for night trains ...
It's empty because sleeping car high prices.
So how do you explain that sleeping trains are actually frequently booked out then? One is well advised to book them well in advance usually.
@@sagichnicht6748’b’book well in advance’. Here’s an idea for you sunshine; not everyone’s plans are in advance and sleeper fares are being jacked up. A bit of research and being less rigid would have told you that. And if you have to book that fare in advance you may as well fly.
yep, in France they have lower prices (180 euro for a family of 3 in first class, single fare Paris-Côte d'Azur), and the train was full, even in May
@@ralphzechendorf1644 Are you comparing a day train vs a night train? Ok, a nightjet Berlin-Hamburg in one month time (17.1.24) for a family of three (child 12 years old), costs 179,90 EUR in a couchette, including breakfast.
I can't understand how they can prefer routes with big detours and hours of standing trains in trainstations in the middle of the night and totaling out the ride time over 10 hours. They should use direct routes and not wait for other coaches but run more direct where possible 200 km/h fast night trains on overlapping routes - they d booked and/because more attractive because reasonably fast.
This train incorporates other carriages to other destinations. The way it works is that half the carriages in the train run from Brussels to Berlin but the other half runs from Brussels to Vienna. In Mannheim, Germany, it meets up with a train thats arriving from Paris. What happens then is that the carriages get moved around, so the carriages to Berlin get coupled off the Brussels-Vienna train and onto the Paris-Berlin train. Same goes for carriages between Paris and Vienna. In that way you can have parts of a train bound for several different cities and offer more direct routes with fewer expenses.
@@drdewott9154 no news to me. My statement holds. Yes, it's more expensive trough the purchase of more EMUs like Norway will get them soon from Stadler and it will need a view more train drivers with night bonus salaries but also less of the dangerous shifting (personal with danger - just today a worker died in southern Austria between the buffers! - and night bonus).
Needs to be a quick direct connection, be my guest making the whole run of one line even longer. Two times a night, an early train and a late train on each relation trough overlapping routes. No waiting around. Use the speed possible. Shorter travel times from city to city mean really short nights for some destinations or just seats for workers who need a late or an early short distance ride.
@@dreimalnein22 Even then IDK if thats a good business model for the consumer. I mean even just looking at ticket prices on this route, which does see competition, then Nightjet is by far the better deal. Take couchettes, which in accomodation and services are identical between the Nightjet and European Sleeper, the 2 companies competing on this route. The Nightjet tickets are regularly aroud 69 euros, sometimes as low as 55 euros one way overnight in couchette. Yet for European sleeper, the more direct service, the price is usually a whopping 100 euros, I've never seen their prices below 90 euros.
People tend to want to sleep for around 8 hours, and nobody wants to arrive in a sleeping city at 5 in the morning... thus it just doesn't make sense to have shorter travel times for night trains.
But running at higher speeds will enable routes with longer distances in the future. Hence why the new NightJet trainsets are capable of 230km/h.
So you get almost 14 hours on a train (not counting a bonus delay of X hours) without a restaurant car, without a bistro, without a café, without a bar, without en suite facilities, but with a breakfast that would cause a riot in a penitentiary canteen. And all that for the princely sum of €190 or so. This can only appeal to climate crazies and train fanatics (also a mental affliction, albeit mild and harmless, judging by the ones who show up at an ungodly hour at a godforsaken station to film locomotives trundling back and forth). Everybody else will take a proper jet instead of a "nightjet". OK, maybe not those unfortunates suffering from aerophobia, another mental condition. Perhaps ÖBB should consider adding a shrink to the onboard staff, and renaming their service the Lunatic Express. Or Thunberg Train.
I know well ahead that there wont be a dining car on the train, so i bought some snacks at bruxelles-midi beforehand
It should be worth noting that Nightjet uses dynamic pricing similarly to airlines meaning the further you'll book in advance, the cheaper the prices will be. The ticket for Doc's trip cost 230 euros only because he bought his ticket at the very last moment. If you book 2-3 months in advance, you should be able to get such a ticket for between 80 and 120 euros, which is not just on par with many private hotel rooms in price, but also gives you transportation included across multiple countries.
@@drdewott9154That doesn't really make any sense when the train is empty though. If the train is empty, the late fares should be low to attract more riders.
hmmm; but if the train is almost empty and you charge high fares, you at least generate some revenue
@@dijikstra8 It should also be worth noting that most nightjet departures are very busy and often full or close to full. Idk if this route just got a slow start because of a lack of promotion, but I'm sure the pasenger numbers will grow higher
What for a monstrosity is this?
It leaves BRU, platform-crawls southern Belgium and then southern Germany to Manheim!!! Then theads up to FRA then onto Berlin!
I can see what they are doing and using Manheim as a mini-hub for their Vienna, Paris & Berlin services... All a little left hand.
I thought EU rail policy was to compliment and reduce the need for air travel.
This looks like some company trying to cash in on EU subsidies.
What it does highlight and a deeper problem is the incompatibility of the various networks (voltages / AC Vs DC etc).
well, the Belgian government is subsidizing this train by covering fees on Belgian soil; yes, it is the Mannheim mini hub, which is the cause why the Brussels-Berlin Nightjet train is running as far South as Mannheim
Are there plans to haul this train with a vectron
hopefully, the vectron MS could through-run on the Aachen-Brussels segment from next spring (2024)