Europe's sleeper train network is expanding. Can it go the distance?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2023
- For more than a century, sleeper trains have provided a way for everyone, from budget backpackers to royals, to get around Europe.
But these services are expensive to run and come with many operational challenges not faced by the more efficient high-speed rail. Mounting cost issues led several big operators - such as Germany’s Deutsche Bahn - to scrap them over the last decade.
Hopes are now building that the night train is heading in a new direction. In May, a start-up called European Sleeper launched a service that travels between Brussels and Berlin.
A lack of sleeping railroad cars meant the company had to refurbish older trains with a more “classic” product that its founders hope will tempt people on board for the 13-hour journey - despite its significantly higher cost than a 90-minute flight.
Large operators like Austria’s ÖBB have also committed to their night train products, rolling out modern carriages with improved amenities. Smaller challengers also have big plans.
Traveling by rail can be much more pleasant than flying, proponents say, as long as costs can be kept relatively affordable (and the journeys run smoothly). More passengers also see trains as a convenient, reduced carbon emissions alternative to air travel.
So, are sleeper trains back on track? Watch the video above to find out more.
#cnbc #rail #railway #sleeper #sleepertrain #trains #carbonemissions #nighttrain #nightrail
-----
Subscribe: cnb.cx/2wuoARM
CNBC International TV: cnb.cx/2NGytpz
LinkedIn: / cnbc-international
TikTok: / cnbci
Facebook: / cnbcinternational
Instagram: / cnbcinternational
Threads: www.threads.net/@cnbcinternat...
Twitter: / cnbci 
Авто/Мото
Sleeper trains:
1. Can potentially replace a hotel on your trip.
2. Let you carry more baggage on board for free than planes.
3. Are more comfortable than planes, even if you're not actually trying to sleep on the plane.
4. Can save you a trip to/from the airport to the city centre.
It helps if you're traveling with a partner, of course, to avoid sharing a room with a stranger or paying for an empty bunk.
Pod hotel trains would be nice. No need to travel with a partner.
@@placeholdername0000 That's what the new OBB nightjet trains have. They're very interesting
@@placeholdername0000 average plane ticket prices are not that cheap. Only ehen you book 3 months in advance ) .
Amsterdam Berlin (a shared 4 cabin bed) for coming friday is actually lower than the cheapest easyjet flight . On top you save a night in a hotel.
@@lws7394 But pod hotels would make it even cheaper.
@@placeholdername0000 Pod hotels are so versatile . You even can get buried with them !!
Pod hotels , aren't that hostel bed experiences at hotel prizes ?!
btw, i thought i reacted to another message ...🧐🥸😬
It's hard to describe how lovely it is to live in Vienna and take an ÖBB nightrain to a new destination every time I go on holiday with my son.
Wien ist wunderbar und so schön ich liebe diese Stadt
@@phillipbanes5484 how... uncomfortable
I took the train from Mestre (Venezia) to München. The fact that it went through Austria with a snail's speed didn't bother me, because - as it often happens - there was a spontaneous party with slivovica.
What is often overlooked: Sure, you can fly from capital to capital, but the night trains also connect smaller cities. If your trip to/from the airport already takes 3 hours, the train can be an interesting alternative.
shhhh you'll scare the capitalists
Not if it's triple the price and you still have to sleep upright in a seat next to strangers.
@@mstrmrenMy sleeper train from Graz to Warsaw was actually 60€ less than a Wizz Air flight to Warsaw. The cost is actually nof that bad
What you failed to say is that a sleeper train travels much slower than a normal train, and you can always take a normal everyday train between those cities, without the need for a sleeper train.
I'm kind of surprised they didn't show more of ÖBB. They are after all the ones who successfully restarted nightrains in Europe and who run the vast majority of the routes. Not to mention, this year they will be getting brand new rolling stock specifically made for night train services. Also I'm confused by the prices they found... ÖBB Nighttrains, even in proper bed compartments, are significantly cheaper than what they show.
Those new nightjet trains are very sexy. With the solo pod concept as a brilliant addition.
Cann't agree more! And with those cheaper prices, you get a very decent and free breakfast. In sic weeks I'll have my first experience from Amsterdam to Innsbruck!
@@wouterpaap9343 Cool, I wish my country (Norway) had any form of night trains towards Europe. But no, our government prefers to build highways and airports. Rail never gets first priority.
@@rowaystarco That is because of the bad connection from Oslo to Denmark. Did you know that the fastest way to travel from Oslo to Malmo? Via Stockholm! And yea, I hear stories about Norway wanting to build floating car tunnels through the fjords. A direct train from Oslo to Hamburg would need at least 19 hours at this moment. Helas, not likely to happen in this day and age.
Do you know when are they releasing the new coaches and when are they aviablee? I want to travel in one of the mini capsules, I've seen the new sleeping car made by Siemens in Wien
I have never been outside of the U.S., but thanks to RUclips, I can say that without a doubt, VR Rail's Lapland Express in Finland has one of the best winter overnight sleeper train experiences in Europe. Double decker electric train that coasts through snowy forests as night turns to dawn. 😌
Wow! That is one more reason I plan to visit Finland soon!
If you need to be somewhere in the morning, a flight between 12 and 6am means you get absolutely no sleep that night, because getting to your flight takes a minimum of 2-3 hours. Even a 7am flight means leaving your house at 4:30am, and disrupting your night of sleep.
A sleeper train that leaves at 8pm and reaches at 9am allows you to comfortably settle in and be rested by the time you reach, making the most of a night that would be wasted in travel anyway.
Plus I hate flying somewhere the night before and having to pay for a hotel so I can be somewhere in the morning. The night flight plus hotel usually gets me to the price where I decide to just skip sleep, skip the trip or miss whatever is happening in the morning.
...and then you take to the airport because the meeting takes place in a business hotel there....
@@JO-nh6mowho tf does in person meetings in the year 2023, and in an airport hotel?
There's a new sleeper service from Bergen to Oslo in Norway where you get a seat similar to a business class plane that goes completely flat. No privacy but I would not mind that style service whatsoever if it was well integrated with a shower service at the end of the journey.
Hope this catches on more places tbh.
They have offered shower facilities+breakfast for a fee in Oslo/Bergen before. I think it's still possible to buy shower+breakfast in Bergen, and possibly only breakfast in Oslo.
Yeah its interesting, in Norway couchettes (shared 4-6 person compartments with lie flat bunks) don't really exist. VY recently bought some used ones that Deutsche Bahn formerly used, and renovated them with better insulation, but these can only be booked for groups. The new lie flat seat option costs about the same as a typical couchette bunk, and there's less room for people onboard that carriage, but it seems to be able to work during the day too as a first class option which is interesting.
Sleeper trains are awesome! I used to take a sleeper train from Arnhem (NL) all the way to Innsbruck (AT) to go on a ski trip. You board in the evening at your hometown and arrive next morning in the Austrian mountains for a skitrip. Unfortunately they are still more expensive then budget airlines, but that will probably end when SAF is mandatory for airlines and their fuel becomes three times more expensive.
What's SAF?
@@Desmaad Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Part of my last holidays included traveling between Milan and Amsterdam. I could fly from Malpensa or Linate, or I could take an EuroCity train to Zurich, explore the city, and then take a sleeper to Amsterdam. Buying four months in advance the train+sleeper was more convenient in price and comfort than train/bus+plane+train. No lines, no extra charges for my baggage, and I had the best sleep in ages. Definitely worth it.
I take the EuroCity from Venice or any city to Innsbruck every year and the ride is very scenic. I recommend.
Well, a 1 1/2 hour flight is:
City center to the airport: 1 hour.
Waiting time in the airport (security etc.): 2 hours
Flight 1 1/2 hour.
Waiting for luggage: 1/2 hour
Airport to city center: 1
Total: 6 hours. At least.
Yes, I would calculate a minimum of 4 hours. most likely about 5 hours for a trip like that. Can cut down on city center to aiport if using a fast airport express train. Once again trains to the rescue.
The most important part is that more or less all of this time is wasted. You might get a bit of time to do some work while waiting for the plane at the airpot. Maybe on an airport express train. And maybe a little bit of cramped work on the plane itself. Still a lot of low quality time to get work done, and relaxing/sleeping is pretty much out of the equation. Business class on European planes are rubbish, so an upgrade makes little sense for most flights too.
and imagine for a 2 or 3 hour flight
Not true: book higher class, have s status or another form of priority travel and the waiting time in the airport is no longer than 30 minutes. Some people live near airports, so 1 hour from house to airport lounge before flight boarding is doable. And rather than coming up with unrealistic lead times for air travel, how about you include the delays on the railway and ad some hours. Especially since state railways and railways companies are prioritising domestic rail over international rail. Leading to a lot inefficiencies and (recently) to cancelled (sleeper) trains.
Also consider the time you need to get to your checkin counter, the security checks, etc. - that gives sleeper trains an advantage when it comes to time saved :)
and the removal of stress and mental load of getting to places on time when you're already inside the terminal!! Plane rides are absolutely inefficient
You never need to go to a check-in counter if you don't have checked bags, and bag drop takes 5min max. Security could take anything between 5 and 30 minutes, and you usually wait around and hour or two, which I would gladly spend in an airport terminal instead of sleeping in a room with five other strangers for triple the price-
@@mstrmren yeah because going on a long trip without checked bags is very practical. You have an option to rent a cabin for yourself too if you're willing to pay the premium. Either way it's the same argument if you want to take the plane. I'll ride the plane if I want a shorter ride but if taking the train is cheaper and more relaxing then I can take that too.
@@JohnM-ch4to Taking the train is not cheaper.
A lot of the time, the train is available for boarding for an hour or so before departure, so if you want to board early and get your head down, you can do that. If you want to board at the last minute, you can do that.
I remember taking a night train when I was a kid and it was the deepest sleep I ever experienced. I guess it was the gentle movement that put me to sleep literally as if I were a toddler.
Same here. When I was a child we went on vacation to Italy. I would go to sleep in (for example) the Netherlands, and wake up in the Swiss Alps. As a child it felt as if i was on a huge adventure.
what a nonsense title. CNBC left out the Number of HOURS waste on this supposed '1 hour' flight. I live 30 minutes from the airport. When I fly now (post 9/11). I need to leave 3 hours ahead. By the time I park, get a bus shuttle to the airport terminal check my luggage, clear security and walk to Gate, they recommend you get there at least 45 minutes before your flight departs. Then the boarding process begins (I have been on flights that took an HOUR to call out all the special groups, get seated, taxi to runway, then depart). And now repeat the process when you get to your destination (especially if flying internationally). I used to take Taxi's/Uber but I had a few close calls where I almost missed my flight when relying on others. And now factor in all the delayed/cancelled flights (that would take up a dedicated video). When taking the train, I need WAY less time. There is no check in/security process. It takes me 15 minutes to get to the departure track, get on the train/put up my luggage and sit down.
I love traveling by sleeper train. Airports are annoying.
The price comparison is a little unfair, for example I am flying to Berlin soon. Land at 10pm and have to pay for hotel for that night. So actually the sleeper train would have to be compared to the flight plus one night hotel cost to be fair. In many cases a hotel in a city centre will be over €100
This.
Sleeper trains are also great for tourists and other travelers who are going between two cities they don't live in. These people don't have the option of sleeping at home for free no matter how many flight options they have.
What I'm saying is... sleeper train operators need to advertise more to tourists lol.
@@TheRealE.B. Completely agree.
Although on the other hand, most routes are completely sold out on many days, so the question is whether they really need to advertise that much at all haha. :p
In fact , for the day after tomorrow you can buy a sleeper bed in a (shared) 4 person cabin for Amsterdam Berlin at €119 , whereas the cheapest fly ticket on Skyscanner goes for €154 (easyjet in the evening ) .
That is not bad ..
Not really. You pay way more for a sleeper train than for a flight plus hotel.
Of course that if you consider that you gain one day in the city you can even save one night in the hotel at the end.... but you do your stupid math as you want.
I would take a sleeper train everywhere in Europe, except €200-300 one way is too expensive and often they're fully booked. I don't expect them to literally cost the same as a budget airline, €50 or whatever. But if they can bring down the price by €100 each way and increase capacity, I'd take them all the time!
For one person, the price of a bed in a shared couchette (with simple beds) is often between 60-150 Euros, for sleeper compartments it is indeed more, usually about 150-300 euros. Personally, I am fine with a couchette style bed but if possible, I prefer privacy. Booking a whole compartment for yourself is often very expensive (understandably). The new Nightjet coaches have 'pods', where a 4 bed-couchette is basicly split up in four private mini-compartments. These can be sold for the price of a bed in a shared compartment. This means that booking early can get you tickets on a route such as Amsterdam-Vienna for about 60 Euros, while still assuring privacy and being relatively comfortable. Having some of these pods on every train, as well as keeping the 4 or even 6 bed-couchettes for larger groups can definitely work, I think.
Capacity is indeed another issue. This will not be solved quickly, but every year, new routes are added and you already see competition on certain routes. Berlin-Stockholm sees 2 operators (SJ and Snalltaget), Brussels-Berlin will soon have 2 operators (European Sleeper and from December, Nightjet) and Amsterdam-Prague will also have two (the weekly GreenCityTrip and from the start of next year, European Sleeper will expand to Prague) and Prague-Zürich also has two (Nightjet and EuroNight) trains. I see a bright future. High-speed night trains will be the next level, that can really be an alternative to cross-continental flights on the long run.
Yeah but remember it's replacing an intercity train ticket (say £50) and a hotel (say £150) so really, it's not too bad
I travel a lot, I never in my life had a flight for 50 Euros. That is a budget flight on a Wednesday morning or something, but in real life you usually want to travel same time as everyone else - Thursday or Friday and Sunday or Monday. A Flight, even a cheap one, is 100 to 150 Euros one way (and often you actually have to book both ways to get that price) if you book in a realistic timewindow of one or two or three weeks ahead. Yes sleeper trains are more expensive, especially if you want a singe compartement and so on (I dont like them anyway) but those really cheap flights are only rare cases.
@@arnoldhau1 I have absolutely had flights for 50 euros. Domestic and within Europe. But it's rarely including any decent amount of luggage and it's very rare these days. The "golden" age of dirt cheap flights was about 10 years ago. It wasn't very sustainable in my opinion.
@@rowaystarco I just checked for a journey I need to do and even though it is almost a month to the journey and I can take a ticket without refund and rebooking (something usually not possbible in business as meetings get rescheduled all the time, it is a power game) and it is not a typcial Monday-Friday journey the cheapest offer is more than 200 Francs.
Maybe sometimes when you can choose the time and place, but wo can?
A ninety minute flight, depending on the season, can have about 4 hours of airport security added on to it.
Four hours? Maybe you should leave your nunchucks and knives at home in future. It usually takes me 10 minutes to get through security.
@@-_James_- 4 hours security is unlikely of course. But I would say you can probably end up spending 4-5 hours for entire plane trip, when you factor in getting to and from the airports, checking in luggage, going through security and worst case going through passport control. After security you'll wait for boarding to to open and then for everyone to board. At some airports you can end up taxiing for 10-20 minutes. When you land you'll have to walk to baggage pick up, wait for the baggage to come, possibly through a passport control again (luckily not regularly required in Schengen countries) and then as mentioned get from the airport to the city.
I need 2 hours on each end to get to the main train station to catch the overnight train, no different than a flight
Total nonsense. 10 - 15 minutes maximum. Even with kids.
For me, it takes about 2h to get to the airport, then I must be 2 hours before takeoff, so a ~2 hours flight to Berlin is actually 6 hours. And you need to add the time from Berlin Airport to Berlin, for example. Which makes the ~8 hours of day-train or 12 hours of night train (door to door) very competitive. The price is even competitive if you consider the one or two avoided hotel nights (usually the cheapest flights are very early in the morning -> need to book a hotel).
I've travelled European Sleeper from Berlin to Brussels. The carriage wasn't particularly fancy but it was surprisingly comfortable (I did wear a sleep mask and earplugs), especially considering I was in a 6-couchettes compartment. We could also convert them to seats during the day by folding the berths back into the wall. It was honestly quite practical.
Breakfast was included in the price.
To make a fair comparison with planes, it's better to take compare a couchette ticket to plane+hostel, and booking an entire compartment to plane+hotelroom.
What I loved about it was:
- it leaves at night so I had the entire day to myself
- I slept well thanks to earbuds, sleep mask, and the gentle movement of the train caressing me to sleep💆♂️
So I was fully rested and recharged upon arrival rather than tired and exhausted.
- it made financial sense as I couldn't get a cheap fare for my travel date and with luggage and transport it probably wouldn't have been any cheaper anyway.
- traveling on a sleeper train was on my bucket list
Night trains used to be too expensive compared to low cost fares + hostel, but European Sleeper is honestly a compelling choice, especially during high season.
I'll very likely pick them again. And if I'm with friends I might even book a compartment.
As for outlets: I personally used a Powerbank but my bunkmates had no issues with power.
As for WiFi: yeah there was no hotspot but during my awake time (I spent most time sleeping after all) I didn't have mobile data reception issues, and thanks to free roaming within the EU the lack of WiFi wasn't that big of a deal.
This might surprise many but in Belgium, trains on general don't have WiFi either. This is likely because the country is run by dinosaurs driving cars not unlike the Flintstones.
Still the oldest dinosaurs are the sleeper cars on that train. Those are still CIWL type P, build in 1955 out of stainless steel to literally last forever and they clearly do.
It should be mentioned that travel to the airport costs money, whether that be from drop off charges, parking or premiums for express trains. In reality low cost airline tickets cost closer to €100 than €50.
How does travelling to the airport costs more money than a train station? In Germany you can get to the airport by public transport.
In most German cities the airport is on the outer edge of the SBahn network, requiring you to buy a ticket that is way more expensive than just to get to the city center. In Munich for example it’s more than 10€ one way to the airport but if you are in the city already it will only cost you about 3,50€ to get to the central station.
@@klamentyne5991 As an example: where I live in the Netherlands, it would cost me 20-30 EUR one-way to travel to either Schiphol or Zaventem airport (which is where most nearby flights depart from). Travel to the nearest train station with international service, however, costs me less than 5 EUR, because those are far more densely available - after all, international trains have relatively many stops along the way, compared to an airplane.
@@crytocc €20 one way to the airport? Than you don;t live in the Randstad as these prices or not realistic. or you do not have a discount card for the railways which is strange because you are making a point on railways. I live in the Netherlands too and could walk to the station in 5 minutes, take the train for 30 minutes and pay less than €6 with 40% discount. Full pric would be less than €10.
@@Dan-eg8qf Not everybody lives in the Randstad, no.
In the Nordic sleeper trains sort of always existed and still do. That's because Norway, Sweden and Finland all are quite large and long countries. Stretching well from the North or Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean sea, if laid out over central Europe. However this is in a single country, so there's not any administrative issues as with cross border traffic.
One notable cross border night train is the Stockholm - Narvik sleeper train service. Tracks were laid in when Norway and Sweden was in a personal union, so it's the same standards regarding voltage, signaling system etc. Which is not the case with trains going to Denmark from Sweden, over the Öresund bridge.
Yes. Going by night train to Finnish Lapland for Hiking, one wakes up in Rovaniemi. Can start refreshed into the first vacation day.
I took the sleeper from Vienna to Bucharest and back in the span of the last three weeks. While frustratingly slow at times (especially border control) and riddled with random stops in rural areas for unclear reasons, it was certainly an adventure and a way to have experiences that a 2-hour flight simply doesn't get you! I hope the European network gets significant expansions and upgrades, because it's genuinely a great way to travel.
im suprised id ever say this but ÖBB makes me actually proud of my country
Well you should be proud of your country and ÖBB more frequently, they do a lot of things right
same
As someone who has started to use ÖBB more often, I'm pretty happy with them. Yesterday they used older type waggons because the normal ones were being serviced and to make up for it they went through the train and gave us all free bottled water and little chocolates (from Zotter, no less!).
I take sleeper trains in Ukraine all of the time. It’s less than $20 for most overnight journeys.
Yo it's the legend JohnnyFD! Hello JohnnyFD 🙋🏻♂🙋🏻♂
Sleeper trains are still a part of life in Norway at routes like from Oslo to Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim, but international night trains like to Copenhagen and Hamburg have been closed but there are plans to reconnect to the European railway network,
Sleeper trains are our first choice throughout Europe and "The man in seat 61" is first to ask for us if questions come up. Advise and informations provided on his RUclips channel and homepage are priceless!
To us sleeping in a cozy double cabin on a sleepingcar while heading to our destination is the perfect start off into a relaxing vacation.
Parts of Europe you have sleeper trains that are high speed up to 125 mph 200 km per hour Electric locomotive hauled. Environmentally friendly than an aeroplane
Of course almost all those trains use electric locomotives? Only passenger traffic on small rural lines use Diesel, typcially. And Railways in the south-east of Europe where the state of Railways is partly really bad.
@arnoldhau1 thank you for telling me about some cases they have to run sleeper trains through the diesel territory. The one that I have watched where this happens is HZ Croatian Railways SZ Slovenian Railways ÖBB Wien Hbf to Split in the Adriatic Sea.
Learn from Ukraine. There you can travel between any major city (500km or so) in just one night. In the evening you take a train, you can sleep your 8 hours in a bed and you arrive when you wake up next morning, no time lost whatsoever. The price is ridiculous, like 10 euro.
Sadly night sleeper trains became extinct in Western Europe despite extensive railway infrastructure still in place.
I believe the French are proposing a law to stop short haul flights in France if there is a high speed train to the same destination. Not sleeper trains but it’s a start.
For high speed train rides under 2 hours, the flight really doesnt make much sense
@@ZRHTrainspotter It’s more to do with reducing the carbon foot print I believe. Aircraft produce higher CO2 levels than trains. BTW I’m a fan of train travel, especially in Europe.
@@VLC8792 yea but an airplane using sustainable aviation fuel also wont produce CO2. And im also a fan of train travel, as long as the journey isnt longer than 5 hours 👍
I’ll bet that would not happen.
@@lexus3983 if you mean stopping short haul flights over trains then you clearly don’t know the French.
Must be a super short flight if the total time was only 90 minutes as it is recommended to show up at the airport at least 1 hour before departure.
Live in belgium, visited Vienna. Private room for two of us round trip were 450 euros. Compared to flighting would be about 300 if we went brussels to vienna. Hotels in vienna on either end would be quite expensive, at least 100 a night. So no brainer to maximize time in destination, and if i wouldn't have taken a private room it would have been more financially interesting.
Excellently edited. The reported propping up the laptop in public places , while on purpose , got me the chills. The experience of traveling by train for those who can afford to ignore time spent in transit , priceless.
This is common in India to travel in sleeper trains.
There is no 90 min flight, dont be ridicoulous. Going to the airport, waiting, entrance with ticket scan, walking walking walking waiting wating wating securty walking walking walking waiting forever at the gate... There is no flight with less than 3.5 to 4 hours, ecxept you are rich and go in general aviation.
90 mn flights ? Lol... You are forgetting: the hour to get to an airport that is at best on the outskirts of the city. Two hours go to thru registering & security. Then another hour to go to your destination once you are there..... That's actually 5h, where the vast majority of your time has to be spent awake. In contrasts sleeper trains take you from/to the very center of cities and don't have registration or security....
You also need time to get from your destination to the train station - depending on where you live can be up to 2 hours or more depending on how many buses trains trams you have to take
@@frankfurtrob866it's usually much quicker to go to the main train station than to the airport if you live in the city. Train stations are typically in the middle of cities, airports typically are way outside.
Sure, if you happen to live in the village next to the airport it might be different for you, but that's not true for the majority of the people. Most people live in cities now. And in Europe, if your city has a metro, your main train station will definitely be connected to the metro network. Your airport? Mostly not, with a few exceptions (eg. Barcelona, or Lisbon). Mostly you'll have to go by taxi or by overpriced express airport train. If you're lucky, there's a cheap S-Bahn going all the way to the airport, but those typically only run once per hour or so.
When vacation starts already on the journey
The big question for UK based travellers is of course; when are sleeper services making use of the Channel Tunnel going to become a reality?
New trains were beginning to be constructed in the 1990s for this service, that combined the narrow width needed for across UK travel and safety standards necessary for the channel tunnel. The project was halted long before finished, and the cars eventually sold very cheap for service in eastern Canada.
@@haweater1555 Yes, I remember that debacle, if memory serves correctly, the rolling stock in question was ordered as a counter response to the massive wave of public outrage that erupted circa the HS1 construction period (so you can tell how long ago it was).
The concept espoused by ministers of the day was; "look how the UK Govt. has responded to public criticism of HS1 - the new rail infrastructure construction is not simply about serving London and the South East - these new sleeper carriages will enable the rest of the UK to participate in the High Speed Rail revolution". During that period the UK appeared to be rapidly falling behind the rest of Europe as new "High Speed Rail" services expanded just across the other side of La Manche - think TGV mania at the time?
Of course the UK Govt's initiative was nothing but a sham (the UK remains the most overtly centralised Nation State across the entire Western Liberal Democratic firmament, bar none!) as the final fate of said new rolling stock demonstrated!
Love the idea of more trains…..wish there were more where I live (US)
When my family realized that we couldn't get a flight from Florence to Vienna at a decent time, we booked ourselves on the Nightjet from Venice to Vienna. It was lovely, and resulted in us getting a day in Venice out of the trip. We left Venice, had our compartments, and were able to sleep. We got breakfast in the morning, and arrived in Vienna with plenty of time to explore, and were already in the center instead of the airport. It saved us a night of spending money on a hotel. My one complaint is that if you have a bigger suitcase, there is nowhere to put it, but hopefully ÖBB has a solution for that in their new rolling stock.
My dream is that if we can build a proper passenger rail network in the US, a Nightjet-style train could run routes like Chicago to DC, or DC to Boston, or New Orleans to Atlanta.
I took the overnight Capitol Limited train from Washington DC to Chicago late last year, and while I had an affordable, very comfortable coach seat with lots of leg room, on which I still got a decent amount of sleep, the train also has private rooms that convert from seating to sleeping berths for the night leg!
Politics has made a mess of trying to build a "proper passenger network in the U.S." Efforts to create rail routes where they make the most sense, such as on the East Coast, run afoul of politicians who want the lines to also run through their district, so lightly populated that rail makes no sense.
It's nice if the tickets are affordable
Even Dr. King be like: wow, I didn't dream that big haha...
A lot of the advantages were addressed, yes. But in terms of travel times it’s not “13 hours by train vs 90 minutes by plane” because this ignores the fact that trains take you centre to centre and don’t require you to be there any sooner than 10 minutes prior to departure. The plane, on the other hand, requires you be there up to two hours early, plus travel time to/from the airport, plus time to collect your baggage. If you were using a low-cost airline, that could mean an hour or two extra at each end depending your location (keeping in mind your location likely *is* your starting point by train. That 90 minute flight could easily have a total point-to-point time of 6 hours…the train won’t take any additional time at all. And then consider that at the end of your plane journey you’ll likely want/need somewhere to rest and refresh…but with the train, “rested and refreshed” is how you arrive.
I am a regular sleeper user and happy about the expansion of the services…
The problem in the UK is everything is so London centric. To take either sleeper I have to travel 2hrs to London (at extortionate prices on an unreliable network). By the time I've done that I might as well just fly from both time and money perspective.
If only our short sighted govt would consider regional cities - especially Birmingham and Manchester which these sleeper trains can actually route past and could even pick up new passengers en route!
Also don't understand why we aren't looking at new Eurostar style routes from Birmingham and Manchester to connect into Europe in reasonable times and much lower carbon. There's also potential there in building new infrastructure which can accommodate all the stupid post-Brexit bureaucracy which St Pancras just cannot handle.
The problem is that Eurostar trains run on a different signalling system, the UK has AWS, but HS1 is ran on the TVM system, so you would be looking at having to build new rolling stock.
You could perhaps though look at buying some of Eurostar's older rolling stock (which some are actually in storage btw), which does have the ability to work on the normal British mainline routes.
I’m about to use European Sleeper for a camping trip, and I can bring multitools, mallets, sharp tent pegs, fuel and all the things banned in aircraft with no issues. And an entire-ass folding bike.
interesting video that was well-made with interesting interviews! I just wanted to point out a small mistake in the subtitles at 8:54; it's "fares" not "fairs".
90 minutes flight is really
30 min trip to airport
+2 hours to go through security and wait for boarding
+ 90 min of actual flight
+ another 30 min to to to center.
= 4.5 hours total.
Plus if it is night and you are sleeping, those hours just disappear.
It's like magic, you go on a train, you fall asleep, and you wake up in another city :)
What if im one of those ppl who cant sleep outside of a room.
That and diner cars. Airplane food is horrible. And you are packed like sardines in a tin can while flying.
I like this video noticed the train is an pleasant experience, while flying is usually not. But I would also add that flying often requires you to pay extra to get in and out of airports, to wake up early for cheap morning flights, and potentially to pay for a hotel if your departure isn’t your home town. Sleeper train offers a lot of advantages.
Last year during my trip to Europe I took a EuroNight train between Krakow🇵🇱 and Graz🇦🇹. I departed Poland in the evening on a Polish (PKP) sleeper car which was part of the trainset consisting of Czech, Hungarian & other Polish carriages pulled by a Polish locomotive. Overnight the railroads had done some shuffling of railcars along the way and I woke up in Austria the next day with the trainset consisting of PKP & ÖBB Nightjet coaches (probably coming from Berlin) pulled by an Austrian locomotive. The only staff that stayed onboard the entire journey was the Polish porter and a farewell announcement came on the PA speaker from the ÖBB staff.
Sleeping trains are quite common in former Soviet Republics.
And that is exactly what the wef and the deep state want to turn the world into
Unless those former soviet republics willingly destroyed their railroad services (see Moldova, Romania and the baltic "states")
@@one_step_sideways they didn't destroy anything. Because of a sudden rise in wealth per capita in these countries, everyone's option is for a personal car for now and another 10-15 years from now. The same exact thing that happened in the US after the war. Railroads were down, personal cars were a boom
@@one_step_sidewaysyou mean Baltic countries? And why would they not destroy obsote horrible tech that is useless since the countries are small? Russian trains is what you use if you want to feel the worst existence on this planet, the poor Russian.
@@CalinFR Not an excuse for those countries which discovered cars yet were foolish enough not to improve anything else (i.e. discover the likes of the Shinkansen). Their trains are destroyed.
Cost will ALWAYS be the number one factor for consumers no matter which way you put it. I guess one way these sleeper train can advertise is that they are saving you a night at the hotel? But the timing really has to line up for that to make sense.
Night train, one way, London to Edinburgh, is £400.00 ($500.00). Flights are less than £100 and take an hour or so. There is no comparison whatsoever. The main problem, of course, is that the UK privatised their railways.
The flight might take an hour, but what is the total travel time? Getting to the airport, having to be there X hours before the flight to check in and stressing at security, then sitting around bored. Then waiting for your luggage and getting to the actual city at your destination.
Train stations are usually right in the middle of the city, connected to the metro network, much easier to reach than any airport. A 1hr flight is at least 4hrs of travel time unless you just happen to live in the one village next to the airport and stay in an airport hotel at the other end.
the Scottish sleeper is owned and run by the Scottish Government now, but I cannot see the prices coming down any time soon.
@@adlam97531 Being privatized in 1997, Scotrail was renationalized only a year ago. Hopefully the price will come down once they get everything sorted.
As usual the American POV in Europe is restricted to england, which is the worst example to talk about night trains in the old continent. Only 3 seconds spent mentionning NightJet... No wonder why the US doensn't know what an actual passenger train means
Maybe they're afraid of people who don't speak English?
Didn't expect an interview with Mark Smith.
I was shocked too. I only ever heard of seat61 until I decided to do a bit of solo travelling in Europe last month. His website helped me with everything and I will continue to use it in the future. How does he make money??
Just a detail - Ceske Drahy never stopped running their sleeper cars to Zurich, Budapest, Warsaw or (mainly) to Slovakia.
There is also a Czech private operator RegioJet, who started providing their own night trains to Slovakia, Croatia and recently also from Prague to Polish Przemysl on the Ukrainian border.
Well no, the regiojet's train to Przemysl isnt a night train
@@dragoner3211 today at 22:00 from Prague, arriving to Przemysl at 8:17 tomorrow, 9 sleeper cars and 2 coach class...
Another problem is that a lot of countries switched to electric multiple unit trains instead of loco hauled, so you can’t just attach sleeper cars on a part of the journey to a morning train, they have to run separately which also costs
Running EMUs seems to be much cheaper than DMUs, especially since the events of last year.
@@ianhomerpura8937 I didn’t say anything about diesel, just multiple unit vs loco hauled. Obviously, electric is cheaper and better, diesel is completely out of question especially when most of the routes are electrified.
China have EMU HST in sleeping configuration.
Idk what you’re talking about. EMU’s can fit sleeping configurations and apart from the UK and the Netherlands loco-hauled trains are still prevalent in Europe and in a lot of other countries
I don't think that's necessarily true - I believe that most of the EMUs in the Netherlands could tow additional cars if needed.
Sleepers are just the best way to travel. I did a trip from Sydney to Melbourne on the XPT and it was amazing 😊.
Living near a major airport, it's much easier & cheaper for me to fly than take (many) trains for my journey.
What is further sad here is that the journalist is so uniformed that she does not talk about ÖBB's NightJet which is the fastest growing sleeping train company in Europe.
it was clearly noticed.
There's a whole section of the video on NightJet!
Very poor journalism - "Europe's sleeper train network is expanding..." Then goes exclusively on board domestic trains in the UK where they are not expanding or being reinstated. Go to Vienna, the new hub of the international European sleeper train network and interview OBB and look at their new rolling stock.
Done many sleeper train journeys. Always great fun.
It is absolutely incomprehensible to me why I pay less for flying 1000km and using absurd amounts of untaxed fuel than riding a train for 1000km. Does being fast justify the enormous contribution to climate change and the artificially kept very cheap fuel?
Exactly. Air fuel has no taxes.
I love the idea. If I can afford it, it seems like an efficient use of time, and a more pleasant too. I could wake up at my destination refreshed and ready to go and would avoid the entire airport shenanigans.
The Finnish offerings are excellent. They've got trains running through the entire country at what I find to be reasonable cost and great comfort. (Though I only used one of those)
RUclipsrs glamorizing them also is a factor
I regularly travel between Vienna and Amsterdam and decide whether to fly or take the Nightjet based on how important it is for me to be on time on that particular date. Flights still take less time, even if you factor in the time it takes to get to and from the airport, and they are more reliable, as the majority of the train journey leads through Germany. There are so many delays and problems when going through Germany, and it is frustrating to sit inside a train which is already 2 hours behind schedule just sitting or going at walking speed in some random German field... Still, the Nightjet is an amazing experience and I have met so many interesting people! It definitely is a romantic way to travel, as long as you don't have important and anxiety-inducing appointments the next day.
Yesterday all Nightjets from Rome and Germany to Vienna were 2-3 hours late. And that’s after 8h journey and double the price of a plane ticket. No, thanks.
I lately had a 12-hour night train trip in Sweden. I super enjoyed it.
6:22 Keynote, important point but would love to get back on train
I like sleepers, though at 1.90m (6'2") I don't fit comfortably. I have used them in UK, France and Italy and found an early arrival, city centre, well rested, very useful and efficient.
Sleeper Train tickets should be half the price of an airline ticket.
In India it is 1/3rd
In high-wage countries it's hard for rail to compete with air. Flying only requires infrastructure at the start and end of the flight. For rail, a 500-mile trip requires maintenance on 500 miles of rail. Also rail scales poorly. Dozens of planes can be flying from NYC to DC at the same time. You can't do that as easily with trains, particularly when freight and rail must mix on the same tracks.
@@Inkling777 there should be no big competition. If trains would receive the same political support as airports and airlines got in the last 30 years, they could be affordable
@@Inkling777 In many cases, the railway lines already exist and money is being spent on their maintenance anyways. Scaling is not so difficult either, you can have trains running every ~7 minutes in one direction on a conventional double-track railway. Can be even every 3 minutes or so, with dedicated equipment. Every train can carry hundreds or even thousands of passengers, even in a couchette configuration. Adding carriages is easy. Especially with American loading gauge and length/weights limits.
Wishful thinking. Just because you want it it does not make so. Get in the line to be packed on Economy Class and stop whining.
As always according to American media Europe ends at the border of Western Europe. Central Europe has had extensive sleeper train network since forever and a ton of people use it.
Sleeper trains are superb if you have the time to use them. You can choose to get a night sleep before arriving at your destination the next morning. If time is important though, nothing beats the airplane.
First time I’ve ever heard someone call a power socket “power point.”
If I have the time, I will always choose the train (not here in the US, our trains are terrible). It is so much more relaxing than flying.
Sleeper trains are awesome. I took some in China. I go to sleep and im almost at my destination in the morning. Its like a moving hostel. I'd take the train over a plane any day.
Sleeper train can be a really only possible solution for people after spine surgery who can walk and stay but can not sit a long time.
Those prices are bonkers tho
"Can it go the distance?". That really depends on how far it is expanded.
The flight isn't 90mins, got to be at airport about 3 hours before your flight, so add the travel from where you are to the airport often out of the city centre. You have the security to deal with, baggage limitations!
Looks very nice. I would have considered using the service from Cornwall to London if family cabins were available
I'm a regular user of the Night Riviera service from London to Truro when I have to be down there for work.
It's actually much more affordable than train + hotel as the sleeping berth is only £80 extra; no hotel in Truro can be found for under £120 and that's for the grotty ones.
It's also far more convenient than flying. Up to an hour travelling to a London Airport, 1-2 hours wasted in the airport, then the 1 hour flight, then the 1-2 hours travelling from the airport to your final destination in Cornwall by bus or taxi; that all adds up to 4-6 hours of 'waking' hours wasted. On the sleeper, I lose 2 hours max of 'waking' time travelling to and from the station and boarding the train/settling in for the night. The rest of the time is 'sleep' time that I wouldn't be doing anything with anyway.
I'd happily travel by sleeper train all over Europe for both business and leisure to avoid the increasingly unpleasant, unreliable, and now expensive experience of flying. Please do give us more options to!
It is still too expensive for long journeys and there are too many transits.States should redirect their financial support of planes towards trains.
But for shorter, non-stop ones it is viable already:
I am going from a larger Danish city to Berlin.
Plane: 2 1/2 hours by train to the airport, 2-3 hours spent in the airport, 1 hour of flight, 1-2 hours getting my stuff, getting out of the airport and into the city.
Price on a Friday afternoon a few weeks from now: App. 150 €
Train: 8 hours from my home city (train station 5 km from my home to Berlin city.
Price: 140 €
Sleeper trains are comfortable even for longer distances. Airline is terrible.
This Video is an opportunity to me to review some points about Mass Transit in Railway Transportation! I learned that Public Transportation such as night trains could be a form of reducing air emissions, fuel usage, and the carbon footprint carbon throughout the European Continent.
I am kind of optimistic that the Financial Support will be given by European Union to the 10 Pilot Rail Services will increase the amount of people traveling around Europe. If Rail is to expand and grow, it must continue to attract passengers and freight customers looking to reduce their own carbon footprint.
Numerous Sustainability initiatives have proliferated throughout public transportation. New Systems have the best chance to incorporate sustainable initiatives right from the beginning of project to maximize efficiency.
Question: What kind of technology is used to control the train systems? Waiting for the next Video!
I didn't know that something thats so common in India is such a big deal in Europe!
Most sleeper trains were canceled the past 10-20 years.
But now they are coming back again. That's the point
Although London to Plymouth, Corneall takes only 3 hrs, so you really wouldn' need a sleeper for that journey !
We are heading to seating only fast trains. Sleeper, although affordable, aren't suited for regular people to travel anymore, it's being packed to brim and passengers are subjected to inhumane conditions.
@@bhatkrishnakishor You basicly turned everything around. Sleepers are usually not very affordable and we are actually heading towards more sleeper trains. It us true that the current trains are outdated, but new trains are being ordered and soon, a new fleet of night trains enters the European Rail network. These trains are very humane and comfortable.
@@Marchanthof my comment was in response to the above comment, which is regarding Indian Railways. It is in fact the sleeper trains that are the cheapest option in India 🙂
@@bhatkrishnakishor Yeah ok, I get what you mean then! Funny how here, the opposite is the case :p
Night trains are great, saves having to book hotels
If only we had night high speed trains. Hamburg - Rome/Madrid, London/Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam - Warsaw or even further. Awesome!!
Oh please, 90 minute flights don't exist. Why not count the time spent at the airport ? Because last I checked, you can't exactly get to the airport a minute before your plane takes off.
Train is great. And it usually lands you in the middle of a city, not all the way out into the suburbs.
I recently booked a two bed sleeper with my friend from Budapest to Prague. 75 euro/80 dollars for the trip and can arrive early, fresh, showered and with free breakfast and no need to book a hotel that night in Budapest. To bring my baggage on the flight alone would have cost 40 euro.
Mark Smith is amazing.
I think it is a very suitable option for many passengers. But given the fact the Europe is advanced group of countries with wealthy people residing in it, they should make EMU/Train set type of system and improve speed.
Train does not have to be necessarily slow if it has to be sleeper.
China already operates 250 kmph bullet sleeper trains.
So key thing would be replacing locomotive hauled trains with EMU or distributed traction system. So that speed and NVH levels can be improved and a better experience can be given to passenger.
Flying has become so miserable that people would rather take a sleeper train to avoid the misery of TSA and long lines
TSA ?
@@benjaminkrala3047security
Schengen can’t relate 😂
@@lexus3983 flights within the EU still have security checks
@@CreatorPolar Have you been to the USA? I bet not?
The problem with a lot of transport these days is the onboard comfort is comparable to Ryanair and Easyjet, and you're only paying extra to fly with bigger carriers for little things like an included suitcase, sitting down at the departure gate or whatever differences come with a flight being a scheduled one. The same goes with trains. I'm sure in their heyday, they might have been very comfortable, but these days you'd pay more than the cost of a flight to "sleep" on a cheap 5 inch deep mattress in a claustrophobic room and your breakfast isn't even included. They need to start putting their product before their profit margins, that's the best way to grow a market. Nobody does train travel like Japan.
ÖBB can run those trains because they don't terminate them in Wien, butnin Bratislava, where they can be serviced much more cheaply.
There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but you won't see Bruxelles- Madrid any time soon.
My biggest struggle with the sleeper trains I take is that the journey is too short to justify buying a bed. It just makes more sense for me to sleep a few hours when I get there instead, either the prices of beds needs to go way down or the routes need to be adjusted
If the journey is too short why not take a high-speed train instead?
@@joseguerreiro5943 because we don't have those here either
Why waste time at the destination sleeping? When I go somewhere, I want to maximize my experience there, not waste it tired or asleep. If it takes 8hrs or more to go there, why not sleep during this useless travel time and arrive fresh in the morning to make the most of your time at the destination? You have to compare the price with arriving a day early. Where you'd normally sleep off the fatigue of a flight and having had to travel to the airport and stress with security and then sit there bored waiting for hours, then flying, then waiting for your luggage, then having to travel into the city center. Even a short 90min flight typically is 5hrs of travel time and exhausting, by the time you get to your hotel, the first day is done for.
Far too expensive for a rolling hostel. Why don’t they just install businesses class style lay flat seats rather than these dorm style cabins? Who wants to sleep in a cramped “couchette” with total strangers? Would probably cost less to build and offer similar passenger density, especially if they can do double decker carriages.
What's with the extreme upright seats - hardly conducive for sleep!
0:07 Love to ride in train but fares are expensive
PLEASE TRAINS MAKE A COME BACK.
a 90 minutes flight is never a 90 minutes flight. You should count for transfers, checkin, delays, etc... I choose trains everytime
those 4 inline seats 2+2 on the low cost fare need to be replaced by bigger more comfortable to allow one to sleep on it . maybe a 1+1 in line seat arrangement
Are the midnight trains going anywhere?
Well, I am using sleeper trains for my monthly trips to Warsaw from Budapest. Plane ticket costs 200 EUR or even more. A reservation in a sleeper car: 65 EUR. The train drops me off right next to the hotel I am supposed to stay in. Problem?