I can't thank ÖBB enough for introducing the "Nightjet" service! They have single-handedly revived the overnight train in central Europe, and created a lot of growing interest, so much so that other countries and operators also want to introduce new night trains (Switzerland's SBB included). I really want to travel through Europe with a train as my moving hotel...
Hey there, I was on that exact train and I am the guy who’s compartment you were in. I was delayed getting to the compartment as I had to stow my bike in the bike storage much further down the train. My bike is the blue one with the orange bag strapped to the back when you how the row of bikes later in the video. It was a great journey as your video demonstrates and a much better experience than flying. If people are travelling by bicycle on the sleeper service when booking you cannot reserve space for your bicycle online, it has to be done over the phone so people should be aware of that. Great video and thanks for the review of my compartment.
I agree - and such a quick change of heart as only a few years ago most operators apart from OBB were disposing of them. Few things beat travelling through the night on a sleeper!
Dieser Nightjet ist nur ein neues Modell! Seit Ewigkeiten fährt der Nightjet der ÖBB von Hamburg nach Zürich,Amsterdam,Wien,Venedig! Die DB wollte ja nur Güterzüge nachts durch die Lande fahren und so entstand im Gegensatz zum Nachtzug der DB Ende der 90er die Zusammenarbeit mit der ÖBB aus Österreich und ganz ehrlich, ich bin nicht gegen die Deutsche Bahn aber da ich immer im Abteil fahre kann ich mich an meine letzte Fahrt mit dem DB Nachtzug von Hamburg nach Wien erinnern und ich war froh das wir heil wieder ankamen! So ein Schrott Abteilwagon, da vielen die neben der Tür die Platten also die Wand während der Fahrt raus!😂! Dann kam der heute sogenannte Nightjet und man merkte schon am Personal wie nett due plötzlich waren und die Wagons waren sauber, es gibt einen Kiosk der auch Nachts von den Stewards/essen mal aufgemacht wo man einen Kaffee kriegt, es war einfach toll! Ich könnte hier stundenlang schreiben aber das würde keiner lesen wie mir das Team des Nightjet einmal geholfen hat als ich beklaut wurde! Es ist einfach wunderbar.......... LG André
Man, this video brought back memories from the 90s when flying was still expensive. Back then taking the night train was the cheapest option to travel long distance in Europe (besides taking your car or Camper) and was quite common. It's crazy that the coaches from that time are still being used because there is such a demand for night trains again. Will probably take this train some day in next couple of years, the Netherlands is a beautiful country.
I hadn't really thought about the increased popularity of night trains, but as it is mentioned now: it's become increasingly popular in Norway as well. The Oslo-Trondheim line always has booked-out night tickets. And both that and Oslo-Bergen has gotten new sleeping cars. In addition, Norway has now ordered new Long Distance trains which will be used on/replace every long distance line in the country - I think they are Swiss Stadler without locomotive (current ones are EL18 locomotive)
Yeah, they're called FlirtNEX, the NEX standing for Norwegian Express. They'll be equipped to handle both daytime and overnight trips, including sleeping compartments onboard at all times and what not. They will also be capable of running at 200km/h like the Flirt type 74 and 75 trains also built by Stadler, unlike the current locomotive hauled trains that max out at 160km/h.
Superb report, felt like I was on the train with you, the open window is a must for overnight trains, my wife hates air con so I’m used to getting my ears battered travelling at over 100 mph, looking forward to the next post already in my humble opinion you are by far the best rail travel “tuber”, only wish I could accompany you on one of your vlogs
I’m afraid the window hanging gives me a shiver down my spine. Too many have died from disobeying the warning not to lean out of the window in the UK at least. Opening the window an inch or two for ventilation is fine, but sorry, leaning out is best left to the past.
I rode this train on the opposite route (Zürich - Amsterdam) in March. Lovely trip, comfy bed, helpful crew and excellent breakfast. As a side note, when we arrived in Basel the German police paid us a visit - they quickly checked the compartments, some passports and left. If you want to take any NightJet service, please buy in advance.
Great video! From attendant perspective, the service compartment is also a major downside of the AB33. It's so cramped and the couch takes all the space. So you'd have to walk out of the compartment, lay the couch down, get on it and then close the door. Don't miss working on those lol. The service compartment of the UIC-X on the other hand are absolutely brilliant. It has so much space and is designed perfectly!
Great video as always! I took this very train with my wife in a sleeping compartment from Amsterdam and Zurich in May of this year. Overall is was an ok experience but unfortunately both toilets in our car were out of order so we had to all use the toilets in the couchette car, meaning long waits for some. Furthermore, they didn't have choices for breakfast, so everyone just got the same thing. The conductor was mad on our behalf, complaining about how our particular sleeping car was very bad. OBB needs to find a better way to have everything stocked and to fix problems in between services. If those things were taken care of it would have been a great experience.
Thibault, what a perfect timing. We cycle 🚴♀️ from Arnhem to Zurich this holiday and booked a sleeper compartment 🚂for the way home to Amsterdam. A great preview I should say. And thank you for showing the bike space. And keep the goed work! Someone has got to do it😁👍🚴♀️🚂🇪🇺🇳🇱
Was on one of these cars between Bregenz and Vienna back in 2008! Decent and comfy. Booking a solo berth was much much easier back then when fewer people used night trains. Pretty sure I booked either the same day, or the day before for the journey! Changed days!
Yeah. Perhaps for the better since the Night trains now arent at the verge of extinction but yeah, they probably need more departures on some routes to satisfy demand.
Very nice, but they should really provide single/double cabins and a restaurant. I'm the first to stop flying, but they have to provide a decent service. The new ÖBB-Night-Trains are amazing.
Nice, like to see you doing sleeper train reviews again! The carriage reminds me of the old TEN (Trans Euro Night/Trans Euro Nuit) sleepers, but refurbished. Used to take the Metz-Nice ones back in the day, later they stopped in Luxembourg which made our lives easier- One of the best journeys was Metz-Luxembourg, departing from Metz, you could load your car on it AND get a free carwash voucher for when you arrived! Good times, alas over... Not impressed with the sponsor bit, but I understand that you have to "gagner ta croûte", so carry on!👍😄
For some reason, night trains to and from Amsterdam to Switzerland since CityNightLine (CNL) have always relied on T2S rather than on the latest available sleepers. The CNL Doubledeck coaches were not used on the Zurich-Amsterdam route and OBB had no available coaches so SBB leased a pair of WLAB33 from BTEX. The coaches originally were operated by OBB in their Night Trains pre-Nightjet. It is interesting to note that SBB had it's own T2S but sold those to OBB. They have been brought back to Switzerland, this time for use as sleepers on the RAlpin ROLA service. SBB also had to lease couchette coaches for the Amsterdam train as it's most recent couchettes (Bcm1980) are also in service with RAlpin.
Another great video. I did this exact journey in late July 1985! I was in a 1st class 4 berth couchette. It was the first leg of a four week tour by rail around Europe finishing up in Paris. I stayed in a small hotel in Basel right opposite the entrance to the station. I had a great time. Looking forward to your next video.
Very cool. Took this train last year from Utrecht to Basel, my first night train. Basel is beautiful! This year I will take it again, to Zürich, to hike in the Swiss mountains. Tip: since you arrive very early at Basel, ask if the attendant can give you your breakfast to go. You can have breakfast with a rising sun at the Rhine!
Thank you. Wonderful details about the engines and cars. My son and I did this exact trip in early August 2023. My experience was pleasant and similar to this video with one major exception. The toilets on our sleeper car and the car next to it were out of order. We had to use toilets on the third sleeper car. We made the most of it, but it was inconvenient and the facilities were in poor condition from so many people sharing them. Yet it was a good adventure overall. Hopefully Nightjet will continue the sleeper service and upgrade the cars in time. Booking a sleeper compartment for 1, 2 or 3 occupants is possible, if you dont wish to share with strangers. I am told that tickets for single sleeper berths are available in compartments for women only for ladies travelling solo. The major train stations have luggage storage rooms if you are planning to explore locations between your overnight rail stops. We spent a day exploring Basel on foot. It was delightful.
Arrrrghhh, I wanted to try these sleepers so badly last year. Got it booked (the other way round) and...got a crusty couchette replacement instead! Just a little remark (again, I know...): the seating cars are sold as IC train without mandatory reservations and so they can be used as a evening/morning connection too. For example: they serve as a last evening connection from Netherlands to Germany. or can be used as for night hop from Düsseldorf to Koblenz/Mainz.
Thank you for your videos, I greatly enjoy them. We are traveling on the Nightjet in September from Vienna to Hamburg. I booked as soon as it was available! I have not been on an overnight train in Europe for over 40 years, so I am greatly looking forward to this.
My best friend was a sleeping car attendant in his working days and he took me to a lot of destinations, me wearing a second working suit of his, pretending I was a new co-worker to be. Thus I saw Milano, Chur, Klagenfurt, Wien. Didn't have to pay a dime for journey nor the bed. I was a poor student then. In a few months I'll be traveling to Bologna in Italy. Day trains in Germany are a pain in the arse (too late, missed connections and reservations), so I'm very happy to go by Nightjet from Amsterdam to Innsbruck, have extended breakfast or coffee there and go on with a Eurocity train to Bologna. What a nice solution!! And of course now I pay....
When I was last in a sleeping-car - exactly a month ago - it was Hamburg-Stockholm, and arrived in Stockholm 6 1/2 hours late. Not entirely the train's fault - there was a "one under" at Neumunster, which delayed us by a couple of hours (I don't know exactly how long - I was asleep!), and then, of course, the train had lost its path and had to go as and when it could. But such a waste of a day!
I just wish nightjet would make it easier to book connecting trains on either end of the journey on the same ticket (or extend their routes ending in Hamburg up to Copenhagen).
That's good to know there are windows you can open on the sleeping cars. Seeing your videos on the Nightjet service and overnight trains in general in Europe has made me want to use them the next time I'm visiting. Do you know of any plans to make more rolling stock so there will be state of the art sleepers instead of just refurbished ones from the 70's?
ÖBB is definitely currently adding new train sets that are very modern, they intend to build out their network even more in the comming years. They have kind of taken over the whole night train business in the centre of Europe.
Zürich-Amsterdam was originally a route of the German CityNightLine service until it was shut down in 2016. After that only regular "night trains" were supplied by DB until Nightjet jumped in. That's why this Nightjet has so many seat carts, because the night train that now runs the line is comprised of both the Intercity "night train" by DB and SBB and the nightjet compartments by ÖBB
A great video! That Vectron locomotive looks awesome!! I still think some arrangement for dining should be available for a journey this long. Thanks Thibault. for an excellent review. 💚👌
I know that it's common practice in many countries, including UK but I find the idea of sharing a sleeping compartment with a stranger a bit disconcerting. I _was_ going to get the sleeper from Budapest to Bucharest back in 2018 but that thought along with the price being within £10 of the flight, I flew instead.
I've took this train with a friend last may, but it wasn't the best night train expirece. (And I have done multiple nighttrains.) We took a private cabine in one of the sleeping cars to Zürich. The toilets in the carrige weren't working, so we had to go to the neighboring seating cars to go to the toilet. We didn't get a key for the cabine, so we had to take turns when one of us had to go to the toilet. Otherwise, we were locked out of our cabin. The carrige was very noisy, especially as we had to sleep with the window open for ventilation. We couldn't get hot drinks for breakfast. For the return journey, we had the Nightjet from München where these things were much better.
Les fenêtres ouvrables resteront toujours mon premier critère pour juger un matériel roulant. C'est vraiment ce qui fait la différence entre le bon ferroviaire à l'ancienne et le matériel ennuyeux moderne
I’ve travelled in coach on the Nightjet from Zurich to Hamburg quite a few times as it’s usually pretty cheap (the lowest I’ve seen was around 30€) and the sleeping cars are always fully booked. On the Nightjet services from Zurich to Hamburg, Amsterdam and Berlin the coach class is quite popular with Interrail travelers aswell as commuters taking the train in the early morning. If the train isn’t full already it will get pretty busy after Frankfurt. But if you’re traveling on the sleeping cars you probably won’t notice this as those coaches are locked during the night and you can’t board them at most stops along the route.
true...its a "run for tickets" if you wanna travel in juli,the latest time to order the tickets are february-march...the rest of the time is a "good-luck roulette"...gretings from germany
This service is new and uses old coaches - hey, that doesn't matter, as long as the service is good. I'd take a nighttrain in coaches of the 1970s as long as the service is given anyways. And the train arrived it's destination without issues so - old cars/coaches aren't that bad - sure there's no good A/C like in the new ones, but you have a window you can keep open...
I went on this exact route beginning May (23) except we boarded in Utrecht. The trip to Basel was not good but back ... excellent. But their pillows are horrible. Seemed like just the pillow case with nothing in it .. I think one should bring their own pillow (buy a cheap one at Hema or wherever) before you leave. Next time I'm in Holland I may just use Nightjet again. Oh yes because the service was so bad on our way to Basel I was reimbursed for half of my trip. Decent for sure. Like I said the way back was fabulous.
Thanks Thibault! I and my family are thinking of flying from USA in late spring 2024 to Berlin and stay a couple of days and then take the night train to Stockholm where we will stay longer before flying back to USA.
You are very lucky that this was one of the modernised T2's. The "classic" version has more compartments squeezed in, and you almost have a wall directly in your face when sitting up due to how limited the space is. It's the least sold of the old TEN sleepers, and I totally understand why. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to design a sleeping car like that...
Indian living in NL. I can attest that majority of Indian still prefer the sleeper train even though flight are getting more popular. Travel by them is soooo relaxing. You watch the world passing by, it's kind of a mini vacation. There is continuous flow of people selling food. As kids we use to run up and down the train with our siblings. With some pocket change we would also get some snacks. You are never bored. Just simpler and wonderful times. Glad to see sleeper train are back in Europe. My next city trip i will try to use the sleeper train exclusively.
From my experience. this train had more seat cars, because a lot of travelers would leave the train or hop an, at underway stations like Frankfurt or Cologne. I did travel with this train around easter with friends for our trip to Amsterdam and back. We switched trains in Frankfurt Main Station. But I had to say, the voyage was less pleasant, than I expected. The swiss first class coach was less comfortable for a little nap than the first class in an ICE 4. And so we got on both directions less sleep than expected.
I took this exact journey with my sister last year, except in reverse (Zurich -> Amsterdam). I was surprised by a few things: - Lack of AC, so we had to keep the window open overnight. Not a big deal. - The toilet in our sleeper was not functioning, so we had to walk back to the swiss coach to find a working one. - I also had the issue where I didn't really fit in the top bunk. I should have asked my sister to travel in it since she's shorter than me. I think she would have been OK. It was close for me. - We had no idea those German train cars would be hooked into our train at Basel. We arrived in Amsterdam and the train was twice as long as it had been before. - We weren't really fans of the breakfast. It wasn't all that good. - We didn't realize there were no showers. Would have been nice to know.
Expecting passengers to share a sleeping compartment with strangers given what might occur is simply ludicrous . Especially given the price compared with airlines. Certainly would never contemplate. 👍🏻🏴🇫🇷
A friend of mine was on this train, I thought I recognized you filming when we went to the station but I wasn't sure. And sure enough, I'm pretty sure I'm in some of the footage you made of Amsterdam Centraal. It's a small world sometimes
@11:54 , the place where i come from, Veenendaal - de Klomp. Nice to see in your video. Greetings from a Dutch traindriver at NS. Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Did you know you can get a massive discount up to 75% by traveling to the German station in Basel, BBf? Only 2km from SBB, worth the earlier unboarding...
6:32 Wait until you see the new next-gen nightjet, where they gave the control cars (yes they have those now, CityNightLine's joke became reality) a Vectron-face. Same as the new railjet.
9:26 is there no A/C????? From an American perspective, I love the fact that you get a window you can open and look out from, shame that we will never get anything like that due to safety reasons. But sharing a sleeping space with a complete stranger is completely wild and I would’ve never thought I’d share with a random person in a sleeping compartment. I wouldn’t mind sharing, I would never expect to share, but I could live with it, but I know plenty of people who would never want to share lol
It would be a really nice option to have - would make sleepers in the US a lot cheaper, but I have a feeling people would flip their shit just if the option even existed :/
so the nightjet cars are connected to regular EC/IC car fro the SBB? I was wondering that before preordering a ticket, where there was both at the same exact time, and i wasn't sure if that was an error or not
I have a very specific question: What is the colour of the outside of the gangway doors of the sleeping-car that you slept in? The inside can be seen, it is light grey. The outside was red in the previous livery, is it now still red or blue or grey?
people like to pretend Amtrak's problems are unique to it and that Europe is a utopia of literally perfect trains. no, many of Amtrak's challenges are shared by the rest of the world.
The SBB coach cars are way worse than the DB ones on this Nightjet as you always have someone sitting in front of you. You will have a lot of problems to sleep in those cars, even in first class. One of the biggest problems of this Nightjet are the missing reservation signs, so it might happen that you are woken up in the middle of the night as your seat is reserved. Another thing I found funny was that the staff is not able to do announcements. As we had a big delay because of persons on the track a DB staff member came around every car and told us what was happening. A really weird train to be honest
Belgium, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France r some om favourite nations though i luv Europe onthe whole, even though hv not travelled abroad . I think the European continent fascinates me.
Great video! Give me a train journey and I'm a happy man. Give me an overnight train journey and I'm very excited, and give me a train journey with a sleeper and I'm so excited I can't sleep.
I can't thank ÖBB enough for introducing the "Nightjet" service! They have single-handedly revived the overnight train in central Europe, and created a lot of growing interest, so much so that other countries and operators also want to introduce new night trains (Switzerland's SBB included). I really want to travel through Europe with a train as my moving hotel...
Hey there, I was on that exact train and I am the guy who’s compartment you were in. I was delayed getting to the compartment as I had to stow my bike in the bike storage much further down the train. My bike is the blue one with the orange bag strapped to the back when you how the row of bikes later in the video. It was a great journey as your video demonstrates and a much better experience than flying. If people are travelling by bicycle on the sleeper service when booking you cannot reserve space for your bicycle online, it has to be done over the phone so people should be aware of that. Great video and thanks for the review of my compartment.
The return of sleeper trains to Europe is so wonderful. 🥹
I agree - and such a quick change of heart as only a few years ago most operators apart from OBB were disposing of them. Few things beat travelling through the night on a sleeper!
I wasn't aware they went away.
Dieser Nightjet ist nur ein neues Modell! Seit Ewigkeiten fährt der Nightjet der ÖBB von Hamburg nach Zürich,Amsterdam,Wien,Venedig! Die DB wollte ja nur Güterzüge nachts durch die Lande fahren und so entstand im Gegensatz zum Nachtzug der DB Ende der 90er die Zusammenarbeit mit der ÖBB aus Österreich und ganz ehrlich, ich bin nicht gegen die Deutsche Bahn aber da ich immer im Abteil fahre kann ich mich an meine letzte Fahrt mit dem DB Nachtzug von Hamburg nach Wien erinnern und ich war froh das wir heil wieder ankamen! So ein Schrott Abteilwagon, da vielen die neben der Tür die Platten also die Wand während der Fahrt raus!😂! Dann kam der heute sogenannte Nightjet und man merkte schon am Personal wie nett due plötzlich waren und die Wagons waren sauber, es gibt einen Kiosk der auch Nachts von den Stewards/essen mal aufgemacht wo man einen Kaffee kriegt, es war einfach toll! Ich könnte hier stundenlang schreiben aber das würde keiner lesen wie mir das Team des Nightjet einmal geholfen hat als ich beklaut wurde! Es ist einfach wunderbar.......... LG André
Man, this video brought back memories from the 90s when flying was still expensive. Back then taking the night train was the cheapest option to travel long distance in Europe (besides taking your car or Camper) and was quite common. It's crazy that the coaches from that time are still being used because there is such a demand for night trains again. Will probably take this train some day in next couple of years, the Netherlands is a beautiful country.
I really enjoy your explanation of the power units and all the cars (types) in each train consist. Keep up the awesome videos and work!
I hadn't really thought about the increased popularity of night trains, but as it is mentioned now: it's become increasingly popular in Norway as well. The Oslo-Trondheim line always has booked-out night tickets. And both that and Oslo-Bergen has gotten new sleeping cars. In addition, Norway has now ordered new Long Distance trains which will be used on/replace every long distance line in the country - I think they are Swiss Stadler without locomotive (current ones are EL18 locomotive)
Yeah, they're called FlirtNEX, the NEX standing for Norwegian Express. They'll be equipped to handle both daytime and overnight trips, including sleeping compartments onboard at all times and what not. They will also be capable of running at 200km/h like the Flirt type 74 and 75 trains also built by Stadler, unlike the current locomotive hauled trains that max out at 160km/h.
Superb report, felt like I was on the train with you, the open window is a must for overnight trains, my wife hates air con so I’m used to getting my ears battered travelling at over 100 mph, looking forward to the next post already in my humble opinion you are by far the best rail travel “tuber”, only wish I could accompany you on one of your vlogs
I’m afraid the window hanging gives me a shiver down my spine.
Too many have died from disobeying the warning not to lean out of the window in the UK at least.
Opening the window an inch or two for ventilation is fine, but sorry, leaning out is best left to the past.
I rode this train on the opposite route (Zürich - Amsterdam) in March. Lovely trip, comfy bed, helpful crew and excellent breakfast. As a side note, when we arrived in Basel the German police paid us a visit - they quickly checked the compartments, some passports and left. If you want to take any NightJet service, please buy in advance.
Great video! From attendant perspective, the service compartment is also a major downside of the AB33. It's so cramped and the couch takes all the space. So you'd have to walk out of the compartment, lay the couch down, get on it and then close the door. Don't miss working on those lol. The service compartment of the UIC-X on the other hand are absolutely brilliant. It has so much space and is designed perfectly!
Great video as always! I took this very train with my wife in a sleeping compartment from Amsterdam and Zurich in May of this year. Overall is was an ok experience but unfortunately both toilets in our car were out of order so we had to all use the toilets in the couchette car, meaning long waits for some. Furthermore, they didn't have choices for breakfast, so everyone just got the same thing. The conductor was mad on our behalf, complaining about how our particular sleeping car was very bad. OBB needs to find a better way to have everything stocked and to fix problems in between services. If those things were taken care of it would have been a great experience.
That moment of pure elegance at 17:31! 🤣
Thibault, what a perfect timing. We cycle 🚴♀️ from Arnhem to Zurich this holiday and booked a sleeper compartment 🚂for the way home to Amsterdam. A great preview I should say. And thank you for showing the bike space. And keep the goed work! Someone has got to do it😁👍🚴♀️🚂🇪🇺🇳🇱
Was on one of these cars between Bregenz and Vienna back in 2008!
Decent and comfy.
Booking a solo berth was much much easier back then when fewer people used night trains. Pretty sure I booked either the same day, or the day before for the journey!
Changed days!
Yeah. Perhaps for the better since the Night trains now arent at the verge of extinction but yeah, they probably need more departures on some routes to satisfy demand.
Very nice, but they should really provide single/double cabins and a restaurant. I'm the first to stop flying, but they have to provide a decent service. The new ÖBB-Night-Trains are amazing.
Why stop flying?
Nice, like to see you doing sleeper train reviews again! The carriage reminds me of the old TEN (Trans Euro Night/Trans Euro Nuit) sleepers, but refurbished. Used to take the Metz-Nice ones back in the day, later they stopped in Luxembourg which made our lives easier- One of the best journeys was Metz-Luxembourg, departing from Metz, you could load your car on it AND get a free carwash voucher for when you arrived! Good times, alas over... Not impressed with the sponsor bit, but I understand that you have to "gagner ta croûte", so carry on!👍😄
Great trip, and yes another Nightjet route. What a beautiful afternoon in Netherlands with gorgeous sunset.
For some reason, night trains to and from Amsterdam to Switzerland since CityNightLine (CNL) have always relied on T2S rather than on the latest available sleepers. The CNL Doubledeck coaches were not used on the Zurich-Amsterdam route and OBB had no available coaches so SBB leased a pair of WLAB33 from BTEX. The coaches originally were operated by OBB in their Night Trains pre-Nightjet.
It is interesting to note that SBB had it's own T2S but sold those to OBB. They have been brought back to Switzerland, this time for use as sleepers on the RAlpin ROLA service. SBB also had to lease couchette coaches for the Amsterdam train as it's most recent couchettes (Bcm1980) are also in service with RAlpin.
Another great video. I did this exact journey in late July 1985! I was in a 1st class 4 berth couchette. It was the first leg of a four week tour by rail around Europe finishing up in Paris. I stayed in a small hotel in Basel right opposite the entrance to the station. I had a great time. Looking forward to your next video.
Trains connecting Europe is amazing. It brings nostalgia and is practical.
Every time you upload a new video, I have to add another journey to my bucket list!
Very cool. Took this train last year from Utrecht to Basel, my first night train. Basel is beautiful! This year I will take it again, to Zürich, to hike in the Swiss mountains.
Tip: since you arrive very early at Basel, ask if the attendant can give you your breakfast to go. You can have breakfast with a rising sun at the Rhine!
Thank you. Wonderful details about the engines and cars. My son and I did this exact trip in early August 2023. My experience was pleasant and similar to this video with one major exception. The toilets on our sleeper car and the car next to it were out of order. We had to use toilets on the third sleeper car. We made the most of it, but it was inconvenient and the facilities were in poor condition from so many people sharing them.
Yet it was a good adventure overall. Hopefully Nightjet will continue the sleeper service and upgrade the cars in time.
Booking a sleeper compartment for 1, 2 or 3 occupants is possible, if you dont wish to share with strangers. I am told that tickets for single sleeper berths are available in compartments for women only for ladies travelling solo. The major train stations have luggage storage rooms if you are planning to explore locations between your overnight rail stops. We spent a day exploring Basel on foot. It was delightful.
Arrrrghhh, I wanted to try these sleepers so badly last year. Got it booked (the other way round) and...got a crusty couchette replacement instead!
Just a little remark (again, I know...): the seating cars are sold as IC train without mandatory reservations and so they can be used as a evening/morning connection too. For example: they serve as a last evening connection from Netherlands to Germany. or can be used as for night hop from Düsseldorf to Koblenz/Mainz.
Thank you for your videos, I greatly enjoy them. We are traveling on the Nightjet in September from Vienna to Hamburg. I booked as soon as it was available! I have not been on an overnight train in Europe for over 40 years, so I am greatly looking forward to this.
My best friend was a sleeping car attendant in his working days and he took me to a lot of destinations, me wearing a second working suit of his, pretending I was a new co-worker to be. Thus I saw Milano, Chur, Klagenfurt, Wien. Didn't have to pay a dime for journey nor the bed. I was a poor student then.
In a few months I'll be traveling to Bologna in Italy. Day trains in Germany are a pain in the arse (too late, missed connections and reservations), so I'm very happy to go by Nightjet from Amsterdam to Innsbruck, have extended breakfast or coffee there and go on with a Eurocity train to Bologna. What a nice solution!! And of course now I pay....
Aaaaaawesome video, so glad you shared this experience with us and that you had an “openable” window compartment 😍😍😍😍
When I was last in a sleeping-car - exactly a month ago - it was Hamburg-Stockholm, and arrived in Stockholm 6 1/2 hours late. Not entirely the train's fault - there was a "one under" at Neumunster, which delayed us by a couple of hours (I don't know exactly how long - I was asleep!), and then, of course, the train had lost its path and had to go as and when it could. But such a waste of a day!
I just wish nightjet would make it easier to book connecting trains on either end of the journey on the same ticket (or extend their routes ending in Hamburg up to Copenhagen).
That's good to know there are windows you can open on the sleeping cars. Seeing your videos on the Nightjet service and overnight trains in general in Europe has made me want to use them the next time I'm visiting. Do you know of any plans to make more rolling stock so there will be state of the art sleepers instead of just refurbished ones from the 70's?
ÖBB is definitely currently adding new train sets that are very modern, they intend to build out their network even more in the comming years. They have kind of taken over the whole night train business in the centre of Europe.
Zürich-Amsterdam was originally a route of the German CityNightLine service until it was shut down in 2016. After that only regular "night trains" were supplied by DB until Nightjet jumped in. That's why this Nightjet has so many seat carts, because the night train that now runs the line is comprised of both the Intercity "night train" by DB and SBB and the nightjet compartments by ÖBB
I love all of your videos but your night train adventures are my favorites. Safe travels!
Same for me! :-)
A great video! That Vectron locomotive looks awesome!! I still think some arrangement for dining should be available for a journey this long. Thanks Thibault. for an excellent review. 💚👌
i love this Nightjet.
Between Amsterdam and Frankfurt it has a NS Vectron. OBB NJ wagons SBB EC Wagons and DB IC wagons in it's consist XD
I know that it's common practice in many countries, including UK but I find the idea of sharing a sleeping compartment with a stranger a bit disconcerting.
I _was_ going to get the sleeper from Budapest to Bucharest back in 2018 but that thought along with the price being within £10 of the flight, I flew instead.
I've took this train with a friend last may, but it wasn't the best night train expirece. (And I have done multiple nighttrains.) We took a private cabine in one of the sleeping cars to Zürich. The toilets in the carrige weren't working, so we had to go to the neighboring seating cars to go to the toilet. We didn't get a key for the cabine, so we had to take turns when one of us had to go to the toilet. Otherwise, we were locked out of our cabin. The carrige was very noisy, especially as we had to sleep with the window open for ventilation. We couldn't get hot drinks for breakfast.
For the return journey, we had the Nightjet from München where these things were much better.
Les fenêtres ouvrables resteront toujours mon premier critère pour juger un matériel roulant. C'est vraiment ce qui fait la différence entre le bon ferroviaire à l'ancienne et le matériel ennuyeux moderne
I’ve travelled in coach on the Nightjet from Zurich to Hamburg quite a few times as it’s usually pretty cheap (the lowest I’ve seen was around 30€) and the sleeping cars are always fully booked.
On the Nightjet services from Zurich to Hamburg, Amsterdam and Berlin the coach class is quite popular with Interrail travelers aswell as commuters taking the train in the early morning. If the train isn’t full already it will get pretty busy after Frankfurt.
But if you’re traveling on the sleeping cars you probably won’t notice this as those coaches are locked during the night and you can’t board them at most stops along the route.
true...its a "run for tickets" if you wanna travel in juli,the latest time to order the tickets are february-march...the rest of the time is a "good-luck roulette"...gretings from germany
Wow those opening windows are awesome!
This service is new and uses old coaches - hey, that doesn't matter, as long as the service is good. I'd take a nighttrain in coaches of the 1970s as long as the service is given anyways. And the train arrived it's destination without issues so - old cars/coaches aren't that bad - sure there's no good A/C like in the new ones, but you have a window you can keep open...
I went on this exact route beginning May (23) except we boarded in Utrecht. The trip to Basel was not good but back ... excellent. But their pillows are horrible. Seemed like just the pillow case with nothing in it .. I think one should bring their own pillow (buy a cheap one at Hema or wherever) before you leave. Next time I'm in Holland I may just use Nightjet again. Oh yes because the service was so bad on our way to Basel I was reimbursed for half of my trip. Decent for sure. Like I said the way back was fabulous.
Thanks Thibault! I and my family are thinking of flying from USA in late spring 2024 to Berlin and stay a couple of days and then take the night train to Stockholm where we will stay longer before flying back to USA.
You are very lucky that this was one of the modernised T2's. The "classic" version has more compartments squeezed in, and you almost have a wall directly in your face when sitting up due to how limited the space is.
It's the least sold of the old TEN sleepers, and I totally understand why. I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to design a sleeping car like that...
Indian living in NL. I can attest that majority of Indian still prefer the sleeper train even though flight are getting more popular. Travel by them is soooo relaxing. You watch the world passing by, it's kind of a mini vacation. There is continuous flow of people selling food. As kids we use to run up and down the train with our siblings. With some pocket change we would also get some snacks. You are never bored. Just simpler and wonderful times.
Glad to see sleeper train are back in Europe. My next city trip i will try to use the sleeper train exclusively.
@Simply Railways
At 4:18 the Intercity to Almere Centrum and Thalys to Paris Gare du Nord departed
From my experience. this train had more seat cars, because a lot of travelers would leave the train or hop an, at underway stations like Frankfurt or Cologne. I did travel with this train around easter with friends for our trip to Amsterdam and back. We switched trains in Frankfurt Main Station. But I had to say, the voyage was less pleasant, than I expected. The swiss first class coach was less comfortable for a little nap than the first class in an ICE 4. And so we got on both directions less sleep than expected.
Very nice train. Incredible scenery as well. 🤩👍
I took this exact journey with my sister last year, except in reverse (Zurich -> Amsterdam). I was surprised by a few things:
- Lack of AC, so we had to keep the window open overnight. Not a big deal.
- The toilet in our sleeper was not functioning, so we had to walk back to the swiss coach to find a working one.
- I also had the issue where I didn't really fit in the top bunk. I should have asked my sister to travel in it since she's shorter than me. I think she would have been OK. It was close for me.
- We had no idea those German train cars would be hooked into our train at Basel. We arrived in Amsterdam and the train was twice as long as it had been before.
- We weren't really fans of the breakfast. It wasn't all that good.
- We didn't realize there were no showers. Would have been nice to know.
I wholeheartly disagree about the DB ICmod seat being worse than the SBB seat, but that's of course a side note.
Thanks for the great video! :)
Expecting passengers to share a sleeping compartment with strangers given what might occur is simply ludicrous . Especially given the price compared with airlines. Certainly would never contemplate. 👍🏻🏴🇫🇷
A friend of mine was on this train, I thought I recognized you filming when we went to the station but I wasn't sure. And sure enough, I'm pretty sure I'm in some of the footage you made of Amsterdam Centraal. It's a small world sometimes
Very nice. Is there any Amsterdam - Munich or Vienna direct train?
Great video !!
I actually got a T2S on my shelf as a H0 model, but it must be a different version because it has a different window-pattern.
@11:54 , the place where i come from, Veenendaal - de Klomp. Nice to see in your video. Greetings from a Dutch traindriver at NS. Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Great trip report! Thanks for explaining the different types of cars...:):):)
They're the best way to do long distance trains
Finally the night trains.....😊
I took a photo of the lokomotive Br193 263 in Neu isenburg (19.04.2023) while it was transfert to Frankfurt for teaching of staff.
Wunderful engine
What a funny looking train with Nightjet, ÖBB and SBB coaches
I don't know how beautiful apply to this locomotive! Il y en a des mieux.
Did you know you can get a massive discount up to 75% by traveling to the German station in Basel, BBf? Only 2km from SBB, worth the earlier unboarding...
Thank you for the video. One question,will OBB use the same sleeping cars on this route in 2024? Or new ones??? 👍🚴♀️🚄🚂🇳🇱🇪🇺
taking this train to basel next week, but in couchette
Oh man oh man, i love them open window coaches🤩🤩Greetings from Satu Mare RO
At 8 min.10 it's Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" 💋
14:22 I certainly prefer the 2nd Class DB seats to the SBB's They are much more ergonomic. In 1st Class it would be the opposite.
6:32
Wait until you see the new next-gen nightjet, where they gave the control cars (yes they have those now, CityNightLine's joke became reality) a Vectron-face.
Same as the new railjet.
9:26 is there no A/C????? From an American perspective, I love the fact that you get a window you can open and look out from, shame that we will never get anything like that due to safety reasons. But sharing a sleeping space with a complete stranger is completely wild and I would’ve never thought I’d share with a random person in a sleeping compartment. I wouldn’t mind sharing, I would never expect to share, but I could live with it, but I know plenty of people who would never want to share lol
It would be a really nice option to have - would make sleepers in the US a lot cheaper, but I have a feeling people would flip their shit just if the option even existed :/
i just wanna ask something isnt that the breakfast for the couchette i think theres supposed to be a breakfast menu card which you can fill out?
so the nightjet cars are connected to regular EC/IC car fro the SBB? I was wondering that before preordering a ticket, where there was both at the same exact time, and i wasn't sure if that was an error or not
Rail Networks of foreign countries use vibrant colours n that adds to their appeal, n gives them added fillip.
Wow! What a market this train has!
Switzerland trains also called FFS. In English you best to look that one up ;)
How was the luggage storage for this train? Do they have a dedicated storage for large luggages?
I have a very specific question: What is the colour of the outside of the gangway doors of the sleeping-car that you slept in?
The inside can be seen, it is light grey. The outside was red in the previous livery, is it now still red or blue or grey?
Cheeky hen party at the start of the video.
Wait so Amtrak isnt the only one that has trouble finding good rolling sleeper stock?
people like to pretend Amtrak's problems are unique to it and that Europe is a utopia of literally perfect trains. no, many of Amtrak's challenges are shared by the rest of the world.
In fact, the issue is that Amtrak has A LOT of out of service rolling stock. Is not exactly the same situation.
Great video, as always! Thank you / merci.
The SBB coach cars are way worse than the DB ones on this Nightjet as you always have someone sitting in front of you. You will have a lot of problems to sleep in those cars, even in first class. One of the biggest problems of this Nightjet are the missing reservation signs, so it might happen that you are woken up in the middle of the night as your seat is reserved. Another thing I found funny was that the staff is not able to do announcements. As we had a big delay because of persons on the track a DB staff member came around every car and told us what was happening. A really weird train to be honest
Did you open the window to cool down?
In 2024, Will thuis be the same material? Or will it be the refurbished/New nightjet???
Thanks for sharing❤🚉💘🍵🍵💘👍✌
Belgium, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France r some om favourite nations though i luv Europe onthe whole, even though hv not travelled abroad . I think the European continent fascinates me.
Have you done a trip report on the ace commuter rr in NorCal?
Great trip report
My feet touching the ceiling would totally be a problem and I'm only 5'11 (182 cm). Big feet problems.
Dimly lit first class coach looks inviting.
Great video! Give me a train journey and I'm a happy man. Give me an overnight train journey and I'm very excited, and give me a train journey with a sleeper and I'm so excited I can't sleep.
Is it awkward filming when sharing a cabin?
Muito lindo trem boa viagem ai trem cama 3:41
Does this train use a DBAG BR 101 while in Germany?
Don't like the bright lights in the coaches?
HES SPONSORED 🎉🎉
Very good video, like.
hi my fav youtuber1!!!!!
Why did it look so dark in the first class carriage?
Literally got KLM (The Netherlands’ biggest airline) advertisement while watching this video
J'ai l'impression que vous aviez 60 000 abonnés il y a à peine six mois. (Je travaille mon français.) 😊
Nice ❤❤❤
when will the new Nightjet cars be in service?
12/2023