I'm not sure how many people will be willing to pay first class prices to share a room with three other people. I think I'd probably take a day train instead and arrive in Lourdes in time for dinner.
SNCF let you pay a supplement to get an entire cabin to yourself or say you plus partner. This goes some way to addressing the sharing issue. But I agree, the market for these trains is pretty niche, the vast majority of people will just take TGV day trains.
Je vous rejoins sur un point : il faudrait remettre des distributeurs de snacks et de boissons chaudes. Il y en avait lors de la période Lunéa dans une voiture dédiée
@@enricomonti156 Touché! Thoreau originally posited the query. He saw means of transport speeding up around him in late-19th century USA, and wondered if we *really* gained anything by arriving at our destination that bit quicker. Just another take on the Louis Stevenson dictum that it’s ‘better to travel than to arrive’, really.
Good video, but i'm not impressed by this train. Reminds me of russian railways and that's something horrible sometimes. Did you ever ride russian "couchette"?
Looks exactly like the refurbished TrenItalia 2nd class couchettes that run between Milan and Sicily. A 6-person couchette is why people don’t take these trains and prefer to drive or fly. 2nd class should be for 4 and 1st class for two, with an en-suite bathroom. Meals aren’t necessary on a night train as it shouldn’t travel during the day, but… 1st class passengers should get free drinks and at least snacks at the departing lounge and coffee might be good on board.
Or a breakfast at the arrival station. SNCF used to provide this back in the early 2000s. Before that, in the 90s, there was night trains (hauled by the magnificent CC 6500s) with a full restaurant car in the middle…
Good point and for SNCF they should run a restaurant carriage with them then have that run like an Amtrak Restaurant carriage service hours on Sleeper trains.
Good report. I do think they have missed a trick with 'shared' couchettes (even in 1st) They should have looked at the CAF product used on the routes to Scotland from London or the AMTRAK products. However, with the lock-down, it will be interesting to see the loadings on these services. I would imagine the LOURDES service could be well patronised with pilgrim tours. Why no dinner or breakfast service - again a missed trick. However, at around £25 (is that one-way?) it is a very reasonable price
Having to share = deal breaker. No catering! What on earth were they thinking? What an out of date and unappealing way of travelling in the 21st century. Pile customers in like sardines and offer them nothing, apart from a bare bones experience. What a missed opportunity. I certainly will not be using such a badly thought through customer experience. It looks straight out of the 1960's.
Not sure how to feel about these! On one hand it's great to see SNCF/France take sleeper trains seriously again and very excited for the new rolling stock announced! On the other hand this refurbishment could be much better. ÖBB recently converted some old seated carriages into new sleeper coaches and they look amazing! Think SNCF has some learning to do from the Austrians but glad to see things are moving in the right direction!
I'm sorry but no, I will never take these trains. I just don't see the point and the cabins are not nice at all. 6 people?? Come on......"Rustic" would be my definition. Atl least now they look clean
Totally. I was watching the new Caledonian and Night Riviera sleeper trains yesterday; std First Class and Deluxe First Class options with single occupancy except std you have to share a corridor bathroom. I wont mention second class as this isnt why I would take a sleeper. Also these windows just look like std coaches. SNCF have a long way to go
Yeah, that's a big difference with ÖBB's nightjets. Fortunately, the Austrians are increasingly conquering the Western half of the continent, so you're having more and more lines operated with their great coaches.
As a retired railroad conductor I appreciate your coverage of the various rail systems in Europe and the USA. Tres bien, mon ami, Joyeux Noel, Thibault.
Merci pour cet intéressant reportage. Je pourrais avoir besoin de prendre des trains de nuit en France dans les mois et années qui viennent, si bien qu'un reportage comme celui-ci est utile pour savoir à quoi ressemble réellement le "produit". Quant à féliciter la SNCF... oui et non. Disons surtout qu'ils sautent... dans le train en marche des ÖBB car, en Europe occidentale, la locomotive des trains de nuit est autrichienne. Il y a encore 2 ans à peine, la SNCF disait à qui voulait l'entendre que les liaisons de nuit étaient abandonnées parce qu'elles n'intéressaient plus personne etc. Seule la vague d'enthousiasme provoquée par l'audace des ÖBB dans l'Ouest du continent a convaincu la SNCF de changer son fusil d'épaule. Que cet organisme étatique pachydermique vienne maintenant s'en vanter comme si c'était une initiative spontanée de sa part, c'est à peine hypocrite...
9 years ago Paris austerlitz station used to have Talgo Trenhotel Services to Spain Barcelona & Madrid using Gauge changers at Irun & Portbou. Oddly these SNCF Coaches used to go outside of France on International runs to West Germany & Austria usually combined with a West german Deutsche Bundesbahn coach & Austrian ÖBB
@@rdrogel Thanks for telling me about this and in the 1970s these French coaches are also used by the French military Paris Est Frankfurt Am Main Marburg Helmstedt where a Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR (French Republique Democratique Allemand) BR132 ( manufactured in Ukraine) 119 (Made in Romania) 118 is attached to the train to West Berlin Zoo Station from Helmstedt Marienborn Stations. Helmstedt to Saarbrücken DB BR110/103 where SNCF Dual Frequency BB20200 locomotive runs Saarbrücken Paris Est. Other version was Helmstedt to Metz DB BR181 then BB15000 Paris Est Metz Instead of BB20200 Saarbrücken Paris Est. Last version of this military train was BB20200 Paris Est Helmstedt If you actually look at the British Berlin Duty train there are comments in that video of US Servicemen taking About the French Corail train to West Berlin by riding it from Frankfurt am Main Hbf.
27:20: Rubber, lot's of new rubber that covers the plates and it's really tight. Usually new cars have this but due to a lot of time in use, winter-summer-winter-summer, the rubber becomes flaccid and there are gaps. So it's actually just new rubber and reconstruction as the corridors were designer initially (most have a rubber tongue on the sides of the metal plates that come on top of each other - these fall with time from friction fatigue)
I'm a contrarian: this looks to me like the classic/existing sleeper trains, after some very minor servicing. Disappointing to focus so much on SNCF speechifying, so little on cost/benefit (comparison w/ day trains, car/coach, airplane), basically nothing on the passenger experience throughout the night. :(
Mais la SNCF ne pourra pas plus longtemps faire l'économie de construire de nouvelles voitures, non seulement couchettes, mais encore des voitures-lits pour segmenter l'offre, des voitures-bar/restaurant comme au bon vieux temps et des voitures de jour aussi (compartiments et à couloir central) et pourquoi pas des régionales dans la foulée un peu comme les USI d'antan.
Great video Benjamin. I fully agree with you about having single compartments. I prefer not to share with anyone, plus I snore :) The travellers to Latour de Carol drew the short straw with unrefurbished rolling stock. Let's hope this changes soon. Oh yes! I much prefer your videos without Thibault's on-screen introductions and epilogue. They are not necessary. Your descriptive sub-titles are sufficient. Looking forward to your next video.
I agree (about the single compartment, not so much about the on-screen appearances)...and I realize I'm being tres Americain here but, I just cannot get my head around the idea of being in a compartment with someone else, forget that it might be as many as 5 others!
The lack of decent rolling stock to Latour de Carol (French Pyrenees) is shameful: destinations that are underserved to begin with, where there's a time-benefit to night trains vs. car or coach (plane to Toulouse or Barcelona leaves you 3+hrs from destination). Is the SNCF indifferent or immobile or (who knows?) milking a cash cow? Meanwhile Perpignan has a TGV station and now freight night trains: great, but what about Latour de Carol ? An operator committed to night trains would invest accordingly.
I'm slightly horrified that I rode those coaches when they were new! The one thing that they missed in the refurbishment was to provide bunk curtains to give you some privacy and reduce noise and light spill. PS. Still have the SNCF branded sheet sleeping bag they gave out. Amazingly, it's survived very well. Another thing surprises me. There still seems to be only one toilet per coach! What's the point in just a washroom when you have a whole coachload of people desperate to return the hire of last night's beer!
A very poor service compared with nightjet from ÖBB. Both companies are state- owned, so the french may learn something from the austrians. Last time with the kipferl, (a.k.a. croissant), it went really well
Another great report from our favorite train expert. Unbelievable how quiet it is inside the train. SNCF has made great progress. Hopefully when COVID finally subsides, they will re-introduce food on these night trains.
My only issue with the SNCF sleeper trains is that they feel like a low-cost product. The lack of sleeping cars and better onboard service is something that will scare potential customers away. Even with the new couchettes, SNCF has a long way to go.
@@simonholley4110 Back in the day, this cheap ‘n’ cheerful product flew. Sharing couchettes; tolerating strangers’ smells and snoring etc. There will still be people that use these trains, but we have bred a slightly more pampered generation of under-25s throughout the ‘rich’ western-world, and I’m not so sure they’ll turn that much of a profit. Always be Interrailers, though. Hopefully. Ain’t like it used to be, though.
I agree there should be private compartments available, maybe in twin beds with solo occupancy available. The 4-berth couchettes are really a train equivalent of “premium economy”, not first class - more space but you’re still next to strangers.
They are only strangers if you don’t make the effort; otherwise, they are very amiable travelling companions, and perhaps, a little more if you play your cards right.😍
Paris - Lourdes is a pilgrimage route, not a luxury travel market. Pilgrims will be looking for simplicity and a secure, low cost way to get there. This is a perfect fit. The Orient Express is a different market. :)
@@lours6993 I was just pointing out something that points up how primitive we are as a species. You are not obliged to agree with me. Lourdes, as it stands, is a tawdry, money-grubbing abomination, feeding on the vain hopes of desperate human beings. As I said, you don’t have to agree. The town itself, taken objectively, is quite unremarkable. The best recommendation I have for those not of a religious bent?: Lourdes is nicely nestled in the Pyrenean foothills. The town itself? Dodge.
Now as an American, my only rail experiences have been with Amtrak. They’ve all been long distance rides staying multiple nights in a roomette. When I see these “berths” that sleep up to 6 people, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around sleeping in such close quarters with folks I don’t know. I like being able to shut my bedroom door and lock it at night. Not saying those berths aren’t a good idea, it’s just an idea that is foreign to me.
German guy here and I absolutely get that! It's actually the one thing I'd really dislike about sleeper trains. However in europe the span of possible accomodation options is HUGE. On the lower end you'll find berths like these, but there are also sleeper trains with either private compartments or the possibility to book single occupancy. The high end is probably the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Scotland. Also keep in mind european trains are usually somewhat smaller. With the bigger loading gauge west of Chicago there's just much more you can do to make a train comfy for sleeping.
As a French person, I wouldn't go inside these train. Don't want to share my room with strangers sorry. And I don't know any people who would... You'd better take the TGV for Paris to Bayonne and then go to Lourdes during the day. It's faster anyway
@@paseospormadrid1751Literally every sleeper train I’ve seen/been on has had couchettes (From France to Slovakia to Romania) it’s inherently a European thing
Wouah alors déjà j’adore les trains mais là c'est incroyable le lit est super confortable encore il y a des choses incroyable dans le train et + le wifi magnifique le train de nuit validé à 100% c'est juste incroyable 10/10
It would be so cool if this train crossed the border to Spain through Canfranc, but since the tunnel has been closed for many years it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon
Yeah sorry to confirm this, but the train line is not going to happen anytime soon. I live in the "Région" (smaller version and less free than an American state if that makes sense) where the train to Canfranc should begin and nobody ask about it. The politicians are more interested in the TGV anyway. Well they better clean the existing lines first because this is a mess...
@@julosx Well it just need to be cleaned, maybe change the tracks... I don't know, but the path that the train used to take is still clearly visible from the road. That's infuriating to see that it's abandoned
Excellente nouvelle le retour des trains de nuit. Je serai cependant toujours nostalgique de l’époque des véritables couvertures en laine marron siglées SNCF. Elles grattaient beaucoup, mais elles tenaient chaud et le lit était vraiment plus confortable qu’avec ces tous léger sac de couchage… il y avait également des coussins plus épais ! C’était dans les années 90, quand je me rendais avec mes parents sur Perpignan pour les fêtes de fin d’année : toujours en train couchette avec l’arrivée sur Perpignan que le levé du jour sur les étangs de Leucate annonçait avec une poésie sans égale. Édit : après une brève recherche Google, les couettes n’étaient pas marron mais rouge/noir-vert.
Ce qui est pénible, c’est le fait que cela concerne surtout Paris. J’attends avec impatience un « Nice-Brest », un « Nice-Lourdes » ou un « Nice-Strasbourg »…
One can rightfully rejoice that some long-established patterns of the past are being "rediscovered", while wishing that a similar revival would one day occur in Canada where the rail passenger service has been decimated in the last 40 years. This includes the once-popular overnight train between Toronto and Montreal (500 km distance). France shows us what it is to have a "National Vision". 2021/12/30. Ontario, Canada.
Bien déçue de constater que la SNCF n’a pas pensé à ses clients une fois encore, pas de douche! Pas de cabine individuelle et pas de restauration. Pas même un distributeur de boissons! Y a t’il un service marketing dans cette entreprise? Ou alors là SNCF ne croit toujours pas aux trains de nuit, préfère nous vendre ses trains 3ème classe Ouigo.
Another excellent review, thanks. The item holder around the feet seems to be a possible cause of pain when turning and hitting in the middle of sleep. It’s a great idea instead of a net but would love to have have it higher. I also agree more privacy cabins as well as a dinning or even just a cafe car makes it more desirable to enjoy the night train.
Ils disent avoir besoin de 300 voitures nouvelles pour ces services de nuit. Et pour les financer, ils vont les louer... Mais pourtant, des Corail, il y en a plein qui doivent être disponible, avec tous ces TER qui remplacent le matériel Corail par des automotrices. Plutôt que de les radier, faudrait les remettre à neuf.
Désolé mais ca fait pas rêver. Certes c est plus propre et un peu modernisé. Mais la promiscuité dans les wagons (6 personnes en 2nd et 4 en 1er) avec les inconvénients inhérents à ce genre de situation, plus le manque de douche (comment arriver frais à un rendez vous dans ces conditions) et aucun service de restauration ou de bar (pas de café ou de thé pour se réveiller) sont pour moi des marqueurs d'un service low cost (les tarifs le sont ils low cost? si oui ca pourrait intéresser des jeunes voyageurs). Rien n 'est dit dans la vidéo sur les mesures prises en terme de sécurité dont le défaut a fait souvent beaucoup de tord aux trains de nuit. Bref malgré les belles paroles du ministre, je doute de la pérennité de cette affaire, train pas assez attractif pour être rentable, et si pas rentable... on connait la suite. Nous verrons bien. Merci dans tous les cas pour ce reportage instructif.
Espérons que ces trains auront des fenêtres ouvrantes sur l'extérieur , il n'y a rien de plus agréable que de respirer de l'air frais pendant ces longs voyages. Tous les trains d'aujourd'hui n'ont de plus en plus aucune fenêtre ouvrante c'est à en devenir claustrophobe. Avec les odeurs et la clim de merde.
nice sleeper but i agree as a solo traveller i want a bit of privacy maybe a 1st class with just 2 bunks - and not even a cup of coffee in the morning. night attract the harden train traveller but the leisure market wants more. how hard would it be at the split stop to have a baker deliver fresh croissants to the train and the attendant to make a bag with juice, croissant and instant coffee.
I have been a current user of La Palombe Blue since its beginning in the second part of the seventies. Three years ago, I wrote to our deputy (Macronist) why there where no more night train. That donkey (deputy of the Hautes Pyrénées, where are located Tarbes and Lourdes) replied that night train were old fashioned, with no passengers, and the airlines costed the same price…Last Monday, this guy was very proud of the new night train, due to this brillant government… My company started because a could have my premises in the Pyrenees in my customers in Paris. Without the night train, it should have been impossible…
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The paint job looks up to-date, modern and really nice, but the French are very accommodating to agree to sleep with 5 strangers. As for 1st class and 4 sharing a cabin. Brits would never do that. It's like going back to boarding school.
Thanks for a great video. I am soooo glad SNCF have finally reverted back to a grown up corporate livery, instead of the garish Lunea style livery that the couchette stock carried for years. It just looks so much smarter now. I live in hope that they relivery the remaining seating stock in the same way for the day trains on the network. Unlikely though if they are getting phased out.
I really enjoyed this video and I love night trains !!! Your comments about the food and private rooms are right on !!! I not sure if you have travelled on Canadian trains "Via" but roomettes would be perfect for this type of sleeper service now if we could only get a second bunk in there :):):) Thanks for sharing this video with us...:):):)
Ça serait chouette que la SNCB aussi relance quelques trains de Nuit, comme le Schaerbeek Nice, le Bruxelles Milan ou le Bruxelles Zagreb(oui il a existe !)
It’s good to use and refurbish existing coaches, it saves energy and materials not having to scrap and build new. The nez cassé locomotives are wonderful and handsome beasts.
My French regrettably isn't great, however at the end of the speeches I heard England and Germany mentioned, is this hinting at looking at having sleeper services to and from those countries?
The American public would not be enticed to leave air travel to be on a train calling first class accommodation for four persons in a cabin. Accommodation for two persons I can see for a traveling couple. Agree that no food service on a long trip also not encouraging.
I would like more single cuccettes for privacy and food coach the 4 /6 cabins is for family or friends to travel together but a single passenger wants its privacy of course there will be a person who doesn't mind travelling with strangers
Are people in France all under 6 feet tall? No one I know could use this set up. I'm not sharing one toilet with that many people either, too many experiences with wet feet...gross.
Very interesting makeover. I really like that it is focused just on the parts that actually benefit the costumer. The manual swinging doors for example may be viewed as quite dated, however they are perfectly fine for a night train and it would hence be pointlessly invested money to change them for new ones. Also great that they've kept the windows which can be opened, what could be better than smelling the fresh air of a completely different country or region after you've been travelling in your sleep.
You have brought back great memories from my time living in France. I remember taking the night train to Carcassonne on a field trip with the American School of Paris in the 1979... the cars must have been brand new!! I still have the model train of these units in green and the steadfast BB7306!!
If one's expectations are low, then SNCF's business model has met that expectation. I see a failed cheap attempt to make 20th century cabins relevant in the 21st century.
Nice video and I agree to your conclusions at the end. Privacy and catering are important these days and SNCF is missing that. With 6 strangers in a amall compartment is out of time I think. SNCF must know the big succes of OBB-nightjet trains, In my opinion this first step is good but needs more inprovement. Besides that I am very anxious what the french initiative 'Midnight Trains' will effect to the French nighttrains. Their ambitsious plans for very high qualitiy nighttrains might be very compatitive!!!!
Brings back memories... That said it was at a time where public service meant something. That refurbishment looks 50 years old and services from the SNCF today are shitty at best - when they aren't on strike - that is why I'm very glad competition is coming. Ready to pay double as long as it isn't SNCF trains. I was talking with a ticket controller the other day (in a train that was 2h30 late): trains used to go to the repair shop each month for checkups, now it is every 6 months or more..... That's one point among many others leading to a shit service and it will probably end up causing deaths.
A lot of people who comment don't understand what these trains are and who uses them. Almost all travelers use these trains to get to their families and then back to work in the Paris region, so the sleeping cars would be way too expensive and would be empty. Rich people don't take these trains. Sleeping cars will only be on international destinations or for the Nice-Paris line.
Such a great video. It brought back many memories dating back 20 years when I used the 6 prison couchettes from a very run down Austerlitz to Bourg St Maurice in winter for snowboarding. I started off preferring the top bunks as it was easier to sit upright and change. The downside was having to drop down during the night to go for a pee! Not helped by all the skis and luggage piled up against the fixed ladders! I then preferred the bottom bunks where i could also store my gear under the bunk and was it was darker and I was less disturbed by those who kept their lights on. You are spot on with the issue of only 4 and 6 person rooms. I wish there were at least some 2 or 3 person ones. Do you know if the overnight train to Bourg St Maurice is likely to be reinstated. It was a great loss when it stopped as it allowed me 2 extra full days on the slopes 🏂
I'm confused, are you french or not because at first I was thinking you were not but your french accent is just perfect so... Anyway thanks for the video, I have to take one of these in one month and I'm feeling very anxious about it, and I think it helped a bit
Et comme d'habitude très bonne vidéo. J'ai juste une petite question. Savez-vous si ils ont retiré l'amiante des voitures corail avec la rénovation? PD: très beaux les nouveaux fauteuils de première classe!
It’s a shame they don’t have private rooms (I guess you could buy 6 or 4 tickets 😂), a dining car, and station lounges like the Caledonian sleeper train in the UK for example. Although that train is fair noisier than this. I do like that you can open the windows on these carriages. Not sure how the women traveling alone option works on this, but it’s nice that they have that option for safety. The price is good though for the distance. I was thinking about the Intercities de nuit from Austerlitz to Nice. I may take the plane 😅 Great review though! Thank you.
All of Europe’s a night-train/And all the men and women merely passengers/They have their Brexits and their Schengen Areas/And one man in his couchette smells many farts/His trips covering different gauges/At first the teenager/Hungover and puking into his best mate’s arms/And then the whining young man, with rucksack/And bleary morning face/And then the lover, riding off the rails/Into unknown tunnels/And then the husband/Sighing with sternness/And a where’s my passport?/Made to his wife’s eyeball/The next gauge slips into the sidings of serene retirement/And Interrailing at Senior-Person’s entitlement/The Spanish gauge shifts into green and considered Irun/The spectacle of those/With Euros well-saved/Last train of all/That bookends this changing, scentful mystery/Is second-class and near-Bolivian/Sans tea, sans pies, sans haste, sans air spring.
"New" ?? How is this new ? Same old Corail all over again. And ridiculous compared to Nightjets or even Amtrak. Seriously SNCF, stop focusing solely on TGVs !!
Love the sentiment, hate the execution. To launch a 21st century service using 1950s thinking seems unviable. Common berths with no room security stopped most of us travelling in european sleepers 30 years ago. Why repeat those mistakes? And no showers? Really? Gut the coaches and completely redesign the fitout to meet modern expectations and punters will flock back to rail services. But if we continue to provide post-war cattle class quality, punters will vote with their feet and continue to fly.
Great video! I was hoping to do the same thing this December, but the booking sites show the night train only from Paris to Auterive, and requiring you to connect to a bus to get to Lourdes. This despite the SNCF site advertising this as "Fall asleep in Paris and wake up in Lourdes". Is there something I'm missing? Clearly your train went all the way to Lourdes.
I think Americans would cope with just 2 people in a couchette - but NOT with a stranger. Funny how in parts of the world - you can get a couchette just for yourself. Or for an increased fare.
It’s a good review and glad to know SCNF is committed to more sleeper trains. That said, this is a NO from me. SCNF really didn’t think this through. No dining car. No private compartments. I’m not sure what the cache is for Lourdes other than pilgrimages for the ill in hopes of a miracle/cure. And those that are infirmed definitely aren’t climbing up to the top bed much less sharing a sleeping box with four or six other people … especially with Covid marching through Europe again. Those making a pilgrimage are mostly going to fly not take a 9.5 hour train. 🤨
The most handicapped of those doing the pilgrimage used to ride _ambulance cars_ that never had a chance to feature AC, despite the fact they were, technically, Corail cars.
Not my cup of tea having to sleep with people I don't know. Then, no club car for drinks and snacks (remember this was a 9 hour trip). No breakfast! I would not be taking this train at any time. Thumbs down for the train, but thumbs up for showing us what to expect.
Sleeping car renaissance in Europe really make me envious because nothing is happening in USA except serious reductions in service and workforce by anti-rail Amtrak Board of Misdirection. Old equipment on Amtrak trains is running way past expiration dates.
SNCF have missed out here. First Class should be just that - single en suite accommodation with a food service available. Sharing on this level is not acceptable. Nice to see the rarity of clean windows on a SNCF train - shame it was a night journey! Would this persuade me to use this service? Sadly no. There were some good points but far more missed opportunities.
Coaches that beautiful should not be pulled by a locomotive that ugly. Just sayin'. Your conclusions were spot on...privacy and dining need to be addressed or this experiment will fail.
It's a bit odd indeed these otherwise apparently excellently refurbished night trains without the option of more private accomodations. Sure it's a low cost product with a completely different price point than the couchettes that are often reviewed on this channel but a bit more differention e.g. by having coach class, bunk accomodations like the current 1st class ones, and then more private compartments would have introduced a bit more differentiation. Now it's almost like this train is purpose built for school classes taking a school trip with slightly more comfortable bunk accomodations for the teachers in 1st class... Otherwise, as always, thanks again for this trip report!
Providing food is just too costly. In order for SNCF to provide and keep overnight train services sustainably, service level has to be reasonable. Travelers are expected to have dinner before boarding and breakfast after disembarkment because the train departs late in the night and arrives early in the morning. That's just enough.
It does seem like SNCF missed the mark with first class. It's a shame because private cabins (with wc and showers) along with breakfast would entice business passengers to use this service instead of flying. Maybe in the future
Can't you just buy the other berths in a first class compartment and have a private compartment? Theoretically I could book my wife and myself in two berths and then book the other two berths for our kids and then just leave the kids behind?
I'm not sure how many people will be willing to pay first class prices to share a room with three other people. I think I'd probably take a day train instead and arrive in Lourdes in time for dinner.
SNCF let you pay a supplement to get an entire cabin to yourself or say you plus partner. This goes some way to addressing the sharing issue. But I agree, the market for these trains is pretty niche, the vast majority of people will just take TGV day trains.
I think it’s a great product for tourists as this way you don’t lose the day traveling and you can also save on hotel 😂
Agreed. A two bunk room as first class with simple breakfast served at seat + proper dining car would be nice.
Je vous rejoins sur un point : il faudrait remettre des distributeurs de snacks et de boissons chaudes. Il y en avait lors de la période Lunéa dans une voiture dédiée
Génial ! Quand j’ai entendue qu’ils relançaient les trains de nuit, j’ai direct pensé à toi pour me faire une idées sur t’es vidéos.
Ces voitures me rapellent les voitures Corail (confort rail) des annees '80 dans les portières se fermaient en claquant vigoreusement.
Ce sont des voitures corail version couchette😅
Out of curiosity were masks worn while sleeping?
I prefer to fly myself not sleeping with strangers plus easy access to food probably cheaper too.
Yeah, but as we all know by now, people who take unnecessary flights are unspeakably unthinking, environmentally-careless fiends.
I travelled on a night train between Bologna and Rome last week. It was pretty empty but yet we arrived 30 minutes earlier. Yet no WiFi was available
Yeah, but did you know what to do with yourself for that saved 30 minutes?
@@titteryenot4524 yes, some extra time for breakfast 🥐
@@enricomonti156 Touché! Thoreau originally posited the query. He saw means of transport speeding up around him in late-19th century USA, and wondered if we *really* gained anything by arriving at our destination that bit quicker. Just another take on the Louis Stevenson dictum that it’s ‘better to travel than to arrive’, really.
Awesome 👍👍👍 bro
Lindo trem 🚆 trem cama 🛌 simply gostei
Je me demande à quel point cela doit être confortable pour les gars, ma taille de 198 m a l'air chic
Good video, but i'm not impressed by this train. Reminds me of russian railways and that's something horrible sometimes. Did you ever ride russian "couchette"?
Looks exactly like the refurbished TrenItalia 2nd class couchettes that run between Milan and Sicily.
A 6-person couchette is why people don’t take these trains and prefer to drive or fly. 2nd class should be for 4 and 1st class for two, with an en-suite bathroom.
Meals aren’t necessary on a night train as it shouldn’t travel during the day, but… 1st class passengers should get free drinks and at least snacks at the departing lounge and coffee might be good on board.
Or a breakfast at the arrival station. SNCF used to provide this back in the early 2000s. Before that, in the 90s, there was night trains (hauled by the magnificent CC 6500s) with a full restaurant car in the middle…
Good point and for SNCF they should run a restaurant carriage with them then have that run like an Amtrak Restaurant carriage service hours on Sleeper trains.
Good report. I do think they have missed a trick with 'shared' couchettes (even in 1st) They should have looked at the CAF product used on the routes to Scotland from London or the AMTRAK products. However, with the lock-down, it will be interesting to see the loadings on these services. I would imagine the LOURDES service could be well patronised with pilgrim tours. Why no dinner or breakfast service - again a missed trick. However, at around £25 (is that one-way?) it is a very reasonable price
I agree. I think that is why the price is low. I hope SNCF will renovate the old corail bar train cars to improve the catering services.
It's good to see SNCF focusing on their sleeper train services again :D
Having to share = deal breaker. No catering! What on earth were they thinking? What an out of date and unappealing way of travelling in the 21st century. Pile customers in like sardines and offer them nothing, apart from a bare bones experience. What a missed opportunity. I certainly will not be using such a badly thought through customer experience. It looks straight out of the 1960's.
They had restaurant cars in the 1960’s. Now they want you to WiFi your meal, apparently.
Not sure how to feel about these! On one hand it's great to see SNCF/France take sleeper trains seriously again and very excited for the new rolling stock announced!
On the other hand this refurbishment could be much better. ÖBB recently converted some old seated carriages into new sleeper coaches and they look amazing! Think SNCF has some learning to do from the Austrians but glad to see things are moving in the right direction!
SNCF doesn't have any money and the French Government isn't particularly keen on giving them any either.
I'm sorry but no, I will never take these trains. I just don't see the point and the cabins are not nice at all. 6 people?? Come on......"Rustic" would be my definition. Atl least now they look clean
I live in France , but won't be taking this train, I'm NOT sharing with 5 strangers , NO drinks or food on board and 1 toilet per carriage ?
Totally. I was watching the new Caledonian and Night Riviera sleeper trains yesterday; std First Class and Deluxe First Class options with single occupancy except std you have to share a corridor bathroom. I wont mention second class as this isnt why I would take a sleeper. Also these windows just look like std coaches. SNCF have a long way to go
Yep, no private compartments is a deal-breaker for me, especially when travelling with family.
Yeah, that's a big difference with ÖBB's nightjets. Fortunately, the Austrians are increasingly conquering the Western half of the continent, so you're having more and more lines operated with their great coaches.
Well you xan book a private compartment. Perhaps expensive if you are only one, but very doable if you are with more.
@@jessegusman2964 I think that option disappeared when SNCF changed to their latest website a couple of months ago.
As a retired railroad conductor I appreciate your coverage of the various rail systems in Europe and the USA. Tres bien, mon ami, Joyeux Noel, Thibault.
Merci pour cet intéressant reportage. Je pourrais avoir besoin de prendre des trains de nuit en France dans les mois et années qui viennent, si bien qu'un reportage comme celui-ci est utile pour savoir à quoi ressemble réellement le "produit". Quant à féliciter la SNCF... oui et non. Disons surtout qu'ils sautent... dans le train en marche des ÖBB car, en Europe occidentale, la locomotive des trains de nuit est autrichienne. Il y a encore 2 ans à peine, la SNCF disait à qui voulait l'entendre que les liaisons de nuit étaient abandonnées parce qu'elles n'intéressaient plus personne etc. Seule la vague d'enthousiasme provoquée par l'audace des ÖBB dans l'Ouest du continent a convaincu la SNCF de changer son fusil d'épaule. Que cet organisme étatique pachydermique vienne maintenant s'en vanter comme si c'était une initiative spontanée de sa part, c'est à peine hypocrite...
9 years ago Paris austerlitz station used to have Talgo Trenhotel Services to Spain Barcelona & Madrid using Gauge changers at Irun & Portbou. Oddly these SNCF Coaches used to go outside of France on International runs to West Germany & Austria usually combined with a West german Deutsche Bundesbahn coach & Austrian ÖBB
And also to Italy with FS Trenitalia
And later with DB Bahn
@@rdrogel Thanks for telling me about this and in the 1970s these French coaches are also used by the French military Paris Est Frankfurt Am Main Marburg Helmstedt where a Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR (French Republique Democratique Allemand) BR132 ( manufactured in Ukraine) 119 (Made in Romania) 118 is attached to the train to West Berlin Zoo Station from Helmstedt Marienborn Stations. Helmstedt to Saarbrücken DB BR110/103 where SNCF Dual Frequency BB20200 locomotive runs Saarbrücken Paris Est. Other version was Helmstedt to Metz DB BR181 then BB15000 Paris Est Metz Instead of BB20200 Saarbrücken Paris Est. Last version of this military train was BB20200 Paris Est Helmstedt If you actually look at the British Berlin Duty train there are comments in that video of US Servicemen taking About the French Corail train to West Berlin by riding it from Frankfurt am Main Hbf.
Deux pas en arrière, un pas en avant 🙃
0:16 "je te l'avais dit que c'était un escroc"
27:20: Rubber, lot's of new rubber that covers the plates and it's really tight. Usually new cars have this but due to a lot of time in use, winter-summer-winter-summer, the rubber becomes flaccid and there are gaps. So it's actually just new rubber and reconstruction as the corridors were designer initially (most have a rubber tongue on the sides of the metal plates that come on top of each other - these fall with time from friction fatigue)
I'm a contrarian: this looks to me like the classic/existing sleeper trains, after some very minor servicing. Disappointing to focus so much on SNCF speechifying, so little on cost/benefit (comparison w/ day trains, car/coach, airplane), basically nothing on the passenger experience throughout the night. :(
But you need much more than a RUclips video for that. An official report on the subject will be more useful to you.
Avec la rénovation des couchettes, il semble que Lourdes ait fait un nouveau miracle
Mais la SNCF ne pourra pas plus longtemps faire l'économie de construire de nouvelles voitures, non seulement couchettes, mais encore des voitures-lits pour segmenter l'offre, des voitures-bar/restaurant comme au bon vieux temps et des voitures de jour aussi (compartiments et à couloir central) et pourquoi pas des régionales dans la foulée un peu comme les USI d'antan.
There is a market of upper class passengers who ARE WILLING TO PAY first class... Why not a brand new Mistral comeback?
Great video Benjamin. I fully agree with you about having single compartments. I prefer not to share with anyone, plus I snore :) The travellers to Latour de Carol drew the short straw with unrefurbished rolling stock. Let's hope this changes soon. Oh yes! I much prefer your videos without Thibault's on-screen introductions and epilogue. They are not necessary. Your descriptive sub-titles are sufficient. Looking forward to your next video.
I agree (about the single compartment, not so much about the on-screen appearances)...and I realize I'm being tres Americain here but, I just cannot get my head around the idea of being in a compartment with someone else, forget that it might be as many as 5 others!
The lack of decent rolling stock to Latour de Carol (French Pyrenees) is shameful: destinations that are underserved to begin with, where there's a time-benefit to night trains vs. car or coach (plane to Toulouse or Barcelona leaves you 3+hrs from destination). Is the SNCF indifferent or immobile or (who knows?) milking a cash cow? Meanwhile Perpignan has a TGV station and now freight night trains: great, but what about Latour de Carol ? An operator committed to night trains would invest accordingly.
What does vestuous mean?
Six bunks like Chinese hard sleeper, but in closed compartments and more headroom for the top bunk. Good. Except that the beds are not made for you.
I'm slightly horrified that I rode those coaches when they were new! The one thing that they missed in the refurbishment was to provide bunk curtains to give you some privacy and reduce noise and light spill. PS. Still have the SNCF branded sheet sleeping bag they gave out. Amazingly, it's survived very well. Another thing surprises me. There still seems to be only one toilet per coach! What's the point in just a washroom when you have a whole coachload of people desperate to return the hire of last night's beer!
Isn't that what the window is for? :D
@@ignoblesurfer6281 Not with 5 other people watching!
A very poor service compared with nightjet from ÖBB. Both companies are state- owned, so the french may learn something from the austrians. Last time with the kipferl, (a.k.a. croissant), it went really well
Another great report from our favorite train expert. Unbelievable how quiet it is inside the train. SNCF has made great progress. Hopefully when COVID finally subsides, they will re-introduce food on these night trains.
My only issue with the SNCF sleeper trains is that they feel like a low-cost product. The lack of sleeping cars and better onboard service is something that will scare potential customers away. Even with the new couchettes, SNCF has a long way to go.
The goal is to make them a “low-cost products” , the opposite of TGV that go faster and cost more.
Yeah, NerdX. Leave them for dossers like me and Aurelien. You stick to your fancy-pants TGVs.
Because it is a low cost product lmao ...
They are a low cost product, sleeper services in the UK are much more expensive for a similar length of journey.
@@simonholley4110 Back in the day, this cheap ‘n’ cheerful product flew. Sharing couchettes; tolerating strangers’ smells and snoring etc. There will still be people that use these trains, but we have bred a slightly more pampered generation of under-25s throughout the ‘rich’ western-world, and I’m not so sure they’ll turn that much of a profit. Always be Interrailers, though. Hopefully. Ain’t like it used to be, though.
I agree there should be private compartments available, maybe in twin beds with solo occupancy available. The 4-berth couchettes are really a train equivalent of “premium economy”, not first class - more space but you’re still next to strangers.
They are only strangers if you don’t make the effort; otherwise, they are very amiable travelling companions, and perhaps, a little more if you play your cards right.😍
Paris - Lourdes is a pilgrimage route, not a luxury travel market. Pilgrims will be looking for simplicity and a secure, low cost way to get there. This is a perfect fit. The Orient Express is a different market. :)
@@lours6993 Lourdes: the most unremarkable town in all France but for one grand delusion.
@@titteryenot4524 No-one’s asking you to go as a pilgrim. :) Go somewhere that suits you.
@@lours6993 I was just pointing out something that points up how primitive we are as a species. You are not obliged to agree with me. Lourdes, as it stands, is a tawdry, money-grubbing abomination, feeding on the vain hopes of desperate human beings. As I said, you don’t have to agree. The town itself, taken objectively, is quite unremarkable. The best recommendation I have for those not of a religious bent?: Lourdes is nicely nestled in the Pyrenean foothills. The town itself? Dodge.
Will there be a video about nightjet Paris-Vienna?
Now as an American, my only rail experiences have been with Amtrak. They’ve all been long distance rides staying multiple nights in a roomette. When I see these “berths” that sleep up to 6 people, it is hard for me to wrap my mind around sleeping in such close quarters with folks I don’t know. I like being able to shut my bedroom door and lock it at night. Not saying those berths aren’t a good idea, it’s just an idea that is foreign to me.
German guy here and I absolutely get that! It's actually the one thing I'd really dislike about sleeper trains. However in europe the span of possible accomodation options is HUGE. On the lower end you'll find berths like these, but there are also sleeper trains with either private compartments or the possibility to book single occupancy. The high end is probably the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Scotland.
Also keep in mind european trains are usually somewhat smaller. With the bigger loading gauge west of Chicago there's just much more you can do to make a train comfy for sleeping.
@Paseos por Madrid I disagree the couchette is a European thing. For your information you can book a couchette with the OBB
@Paseos por Madrid Have you ever travelled in a T4 trenhotel compartment ?
As a French person, I wouldn't go inside these train. Don't want to share my room with strangers sorry. And I don't know any people who would... You'd better take the TGV for Paris to Bayonne and then go to Lourdes during the day. It's faster anyway
@@paseospormadrid1751Literally every sleeper train I’ve seen/been on has had couchettes (From France to Slovakia to Romania) it’s inherently a European thing
Wouah alors déjà j’adore les trains mais là c'est incroyable le lit est super confortable encore il y a des choses incroyable dans le train et + le wifi magnifique le train de nuit validé à 100% c'est juste incroyable 10/10
It would be so cool if this train crossed the border to Spain through Canfranc, but since the tunnel has been closed for many years it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon
Yeah sorry to confirm this, but the train line is not going to happen anytime soon. I live in the "Région" (smaller version and less free than an American state if that makes sense) where the train to Canfranc should begin and nobody ask about it. The politicians are more interested in the TGV anyway. Well they better clean the existing lines first because this is a mess...
The Bedous-Canfranc section of the line is still missing since '69...
@@julosx Well it just need to be cleaned, maybe change the tracks... I don't know, but the path that the train used to take is still clearly visible from the road. That's infuriating to see that it's abandoned
Bring them up to Scotland. I’d use it to get to Paris.
Excellente nouvelle le retour des trains de nuit.
Je serai cependant toujours nostalgique de l’époque des véritables couvertures en laine marron siglées SNCF. Elles grattaient beaucoup, mais elles tenaient chaud et le lit était vraiment plus confortable qu’avec ces tous léger sac de couchage… il y avait également des coussins plus épais !
C’était dans les années 90, quand je me rendais avec mes parents sur Perpignan pour les fêtes de fin d’année : toujours en train couchette avec l’arrivée sur Perpignan que le levé du jour sur les étangs de Leucate annonçait avec une poésie sans égale.
Édit : après une brève recherche Google, les couettes n’étaient pas marron mais rouge/noir-vert.
Nine hours in a compartment with four strangers and no food is not my idea of first class travel! France deserves better.
3 or 5, and was it completely full???
Its quite good for $32 trip for 9 hours
@@brianweber4154❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ce qui est pénible, c’est le fait que cela concerne surtout Paris. J’attends avec impatience un « Nice-Brest », un « Nice-Lourdes » ou un « Nice-Strasbourg »…
One can rightfully rejoice that some long-established patterns of the past are being "rediscovered", while wishing that a similar revival would one day occur in Canada where the rail passenger service has been decimated in the last 40 years. This includes the once-popular overnight train between Toronto and Montreal (500 km distance). France shows us what it is to have a "National Vision". 2021/12/30. Ontario, Canada.
Bien déçue de constater que la SNCF n’a pas pensé à ses clients une fois encore, pas de douche! Pas de cabine individuelle et pas de restauration. Pas même un distributeur de boissons! Y a t’il un service marketing dans cette entreprise? Ou alors là SNCF ne croit toujours pas aux trains de nuit, préfère nous vendre ses trains 3ème classe Ouigo.
Another excellent review, thanks. The item holder around the feet seems to be a possible cause of pain when turning and hitting in the middle of sleep. It’s a great idea instead of a net but would love to have have it higher. I also agree more privacy cabins as well as a dinning or even just a cafe car makes it more desirable to enjoy the night train.
Ils disent avoir besoin de 300 voitures nouvelles pour ces services de nuit. Et pour les financer, ils vont les louer... Mais pourtant, des Corail, il y en a plein qui doivent être disponible, avec tous ces TER qui remplacent le matériel Corail par des automotrices. Plutôt que de les radier, faudrait les remettre à neuf.
Désolé mais ca fait pas rêver. Certes c est plus propre et un peu modernisé. Mais la promiscuité dans les wagons (6 personnes en 2nd et 4 en 1er) avec les inconvénients inhérents à ce genre de situation, plus le manque de douche (comment arriver frais à un rendez vous dans ces conditions) et aucun service de restauration ou de bar (pas de café ou de thé pour se réveiller) sont pour moi des marqueurs d'un service low cost (les tarifs le sont ils low cost? si oui ca pourrait intéresser des jeunes voyageurs). Rien n 'est dit dans la vidéo sur les mesures prises en terme de sécurité dont le défaut a fait souvent beaucoup de tord aux trains de nuit. Bref malgré les belles paroles du ministre, je doute de la pérennité de cette affaire, train pas assez attractif pour être rentable, et si pas rentable... on connait la suite. Nous verrons bien. Merci dans tous les cas pour ce reportage instructif.
Espérons que ces trains auront des fenêtres ouvrantes sur l'extérieur , il n'y a rien de plus agréable que de respirer de l'air frais pendant ces longs voyages. Tous les trains d'aujourd'hui n'ont de plus en plus aucune fenêtre ouvrante c'est à en devenir claustrophobe. Avec les odeurs et la clim de merde.
nice sleeper but i agree as a solo traveller i want a bit of privacy maybe a 1st class with just 2 bunks - and not even a cup of coffee in the morning. night attract the harden train traveller but the leisure market wants more. how hard would it be at the split stop to have a baker deliver fresh croissants to the train and the attendant to make a bag with juice, croissant and instant coffee.
I have been a current user of La Palombe Blue since its beginning in the second part of the seventies. Three years ago, I wrote to our deputy (Macronist) why there where no more night train. That donkey (deputy of the Hautes Pyrénées, where are located Tarbes and Lourdes) replied that night train were old fashioned, with no passengers, and the airlines costed the same price…Last Monday, this guy was very proud of the new night train, due to this brillant government…
My company started because a could have my premises in the Pyrenees in my customers in Paris. Without the night train, it should have been impossible…
Hello Thibault i hope toi are Well, i just want To tell you that i would mike you To test trenitalia france paris lyon turin milan if possible. Paris lyon station in central milan.
Where are the SJ videos where you went to my hometown Östersund :) literally live like 5 minutes from the station
The paint job looks up to-date, modern and really nice, but the French are very accommodating to agree to sleep with 5 strangers. As for 1st class and 4 sharing a cabin. Brits would never do that. It's like going back to boarding school.
Actually no, most French don’t like it and most French don’t take these.
Perhaps but remember we made the Revolution, nous Monsieur 😋
@@bbiwyou You mean you copied the revolution from the United States…
Thanks for a great video. I am soooo glad SNCF have finally reverted back to a grown up corporate livery, instead of the garish Lunea style livery that the couchette stock carried for years. It just looks so much smarter now.
I live in hope that they relivery the remaining seating stock in the same way for the day trains on the network. Unlikely though if they are getting phased out.
I agree with you on the lack of private cabins... perhaps the full-on sleepers will be different?
I really enjoyed this video and I love night trains !!! Your comments about the food and private rooms are right on !!!
I not sure if you have travelled on Canadian trains "Via" but roomettes would be perfect for this type of sleeper service now if we could only get a second bunk in there :):):)
Thanks for sharing this video with us...:):):)
Ça serait chouette que la SNCB aussi relance quelques trains de Nuit, comme le Schaerbeek Nice, le Bruxelles Milan ou le Bruxelles Zagreb(oui il a existe !)
Would be great to see night trains from the Benelux to the French Riviera or Italy once again, especially if they were auto trains.
It’s good to use and refurbish existing coaches, it saves energy and materials not having to scrap and build new. The nez cassé locomotives are wonderful and handsome beasts.
Old metal and plastics get recycled, and modern ones are far more energy and space efficient. The new ones also attract more travelers..
507 miles for just 29euros? Wow.
Glad to see the night trains being brought back....
Le moment du toilette time 😀
Good service and a few private rooms would make this train far more attractive.
My French regrettably isn't great, however at the end of the speeches I heard England and Germany mentioned, is this hinting at looking at having sleeper services to and from those countries?
he says: because they (SNCF) will need a lot of cars/locomotives, they want to deal with rental companies, like they do in UK and Germany.
@@docteurgreene Merçi beaucoup!
The American public would not be enticed to leave air travel to be on a train calling first class accommodation for four persons in a cabin. Accommodation for two persons I can see for a traveling couple. Agree that no food service on a long trip also not encouraging.
Maybe a few compartments for "family accomodations", I think I'd rather ride coach...
Oh, and no food service/alcohol would be a dealbreaker for me!
Ugh. And I thought Amtrak sucked. Think I'll go back to watching Japanese railway travel.
😕
It’s a different culture over here, man. Swing with it.
No normal table in a cupe is very bad
I would like more single cuccettes for privacy and food coach the 4 /6 cabins is for family or friends to travel together but a single passenger wants its privacy of course there will be a person who doesn't mind travelling with strangers
Are people in France all under 6 feet tall? No one I know could use this set up. I'm not sharing one toilet with that many people either, too many experiences with wet feet...gross.
Yes French people are shorter than British people
So glad to hear overnight trains are back to France. Paris to Vienna by night train is my dream. Amtrak suck it
Very interesting makeover. I really like that it is focused just on the parts that actually benefit the costumer. The manual swinging doors for example may be viewed as quite dated, however they are perfectly fine for a night train and it would hence be pointlessly invested money to change them for new ones.
Also great that they've kept the windows which can be opened, what could be better than smelling the fresh air of a completely different country or region after you've been travelling in your sleep.
You have brought back great memories from my time living in France. I remember taking the night train to Carcassonne on a field trip with the American School of Paris in the 1979... the cars must have been brand new!! I still have the model train of these units in green and the steadfast BB7306!!
These Corail cars were delivered between 1978 and 1989, so you happened to know the very first ones (from the '75-'78 program of construction).
If one's expectations are low, then SNCF's business model has met that expectation. I see a failed cheap attempt to make 20th century cabins relevant in the 21st century.
Nice video and I agree to your conclusions at the end. Privacy and catering are important these days and SNCF is missing that. With 6 strangers in a amall compartment is out of time I think.
SNCF must know the big succes of OBB-nightjet trains, In my opinion this first step is good but needs more inprovement. Besides that I am very anxious what the french initiative 'Midnight Trains' will effect to the French nighttrains. Their ambitsious plans for very high qualitiy nighttrains might be very compatitive!!!!
Ces nouvelles voitures sont magnifiques !! Quel plaisir
Brings back memories... That said it was at a time where public service meant something. That refurbishment looks 50 years old and services from the SNCF today are shitty at best - when they aren't on strike - that is why I'm very glad competition is coming. Ready to pay double as long as it isn't SNCF trains. I was talking with a ticket controller the other day (in a train that was 2h30 late): trains used to go to the repair shop each month for checkups, now it is every 6 months or more..... That's one point among many others leading to a shit service and it will probably end up causing deaths.
A lot of people who comment don't understand what these trains are and who uses them. Almost all travelers use these trains to get to their families and then back to work in the Paris region, so the sleeping cars would be way too expensive and would be empty. Rich people don't take these trains. Sleeping cars will only be on international destinations or for the Nice-Paris line.
Such a great video. It brought back many memories dating back 20 years when I used the 6 prison couchettes from a very run down Austerlitz to Bourg St Maurice in winter for snowboarding. I started off preferring the top bunks as it was easier to sit upright and change. The downside was having to drop down during the night to go for a pee! Not helped by all the skis and luggage piled up against the fixed ladders! I then preferred the bottom bunks where i could also store my gear under the bunk and was it was darker and I was less disturbed by those who kept their lights on. You are spot on with the issue of only 4 and 6 person rooms. I wish there were at least some 2 or 3 person ones. Do you know if the overnight train to Bourg St Maurice is likely to be reinstated. It was a great loss when it stopped as it allowed me 2 extra full days on the slopes 🏂
Totally agree with you.... a proper sleeper option and some sort of food service are definitely needed ......
I'm confused, are you french or not because at first I was thinking you were not but your french accent is just perfect so...
Anyway thanks for the video, I have to take one of these in one month and I'm feeling very anxious about it, and I think it helped a bit
No private compartments .Not for me, that's not first class. No food either, poor.
Snob.
@@titteryenot4524 probably true but I think you will find many will share my view.
@@MichaelBeeny Fair point. This couchette stuff seems to be for the under-30s and the relatively impecunious, anyway. Save that night in a hotel.
Et comme d'habitude très bonne vidéo. J'ai juste une petite question. Savez-vous si ils ont retiré l'amiante des voitures corail avec la rénovation?
PD: très beaux les nouveaux fauteuils de première classe!
i speak french np lol, i wish for a direct line from France or Belgium to Portugal
It’s a shame they don’t have private rooms (I guess you could buy 6 or 4 tickets 😂), a dining car, and station lounges like the Caledonian sleeper train in the UK for example. Although that train is fair noisier than this. I do like that you can open the windows on these carriages. Not sure how the women traveling alone option works on this, but it’s nice that they have that option for safety. The price is good though for the distance. I was thinking about the Intercities de nuit from Austerlitz to Nice. I may take the plane 😅 Great review though! Thank you.
All of Europe’s a night-train/And all the men and women merely passengers/They have their Brexits and their Schengen Areas/And one man in his couchette smells many farts/His trips covering different gauges/At first the teenager/Hungover and puking into his best mate’s arms/And then the whining young man, with rucksack/And bleary morning face/And then the lover, riding off the rails/Into unknown tunnels/And then the husband/Sighing with sternness/And a where’s my passport?/Made to his wife’s eyeball/The next gauge slips into the sidings of serene retirement/And Interrailing at Senior-Person’s entitlement/The Spanish gauge shifts into green and considered Irun/The spectacle of those/With Euros well-saved/Last train of all/That bookends this changing, scentful mystery/Is second-class and near-Bolivian/Sans tea, sans pies, sans haste, sans air spring.
"New" ?? How is this new ? Same old Corail all over again. And ridiculous compared to Nightjets or even Amtrak. Seriously SNCF, stop focusing solely on TGVs !!
Love the sentiment, hate the execution. To launch a 21st century service using 1950s thinking seems unviable. Common berths with no room security stopped most of us travelling in european sleepers 30 years ago. Why repeat those mistakes? And no showers? Really?
Gut the coaches and completely redesign the fitout to meet modern expectations and punters will flock back to rail services. But if we continue to provide post-war cattle class quality, punters will vote with their feet and continue to fly.
Great video! I was hoping to do the same thing this December, but the booking sites show the night train only from Paris to Auterive, and requiring you to connect to a bus to get to Lourdes. This despite the SNCF site advertising this as "Fall asleep in Paris and wake up in Lourdes". Is there something I'm missing? Clearly your train went all the way to Lourdes.
I think Americans would cope with just 2 people in a couchette - but NOT with a stranger.
Funny how in parts of the world - you can get a couchette just for yourself. Or for an increased fare.
Only one washroom and one toilet, no shower!! French have a bad reputation for their hygiene ... now you know why! This train looks like youth hostel
It’s a good review and glad to know SCNF is committed to more sleeper trains. That said, this is a NO from me. SCNF really didn’t think this through. No dining car. No private compartments. I’m not sure what the cache is for Lourdes other than pilgrimages for the ill in hopes of a miracle/cure. And those that are infirmed definitely aren’t climbing up to the top bed much less sharing a sleeping box with four or six other people … especially with Covid marching through Europe again. Those making a pilgrimage are mostly going to fly not take a 9.5 hour train. 🤨
The most handicapped of those doing the pilgrimage used to ride _ambulance cars_ that never had a chance to feature AC, despite the fact they were, technically, Corail cars.
Not my cup of tea having to sleep with people I don't know. Then, no club car for drinks and snacks (remember this was a 9 hour trip). No breakfast! I would not be taking this train at any time. Thumbs down for the train, but thumbs up for showing us what to expect.
Anyone know if what cars on route Paris-Bayonne have been refurbished? (1. sleeper / 2. sleeper / seats)
Sleeping car renaissance in Europe really make me envious because nothing is happening in USA except serious reductions in service and workforce by anti-rail Amtrak Board of Misdirection. Old equipment on Amtrak trains is running way past expiration dates.
Cool Jazz Band...!! So... if you wanna go private, you have to buy the 4 berths, either 2nd or 1st class??! 😳
SNCF have missed out here. First Class should be just that - single en suite accommodation with a food service available. Sharing on this level is not acceptable. Nice to see the rarity of clean windows on a SNCF train - shame it was a night journey! Would this persuade me to use this service? Sadly no. There were some good points but far more missed opportunities.
Coaches that beautiful should not be pulled by a locomotive that ugly. Just sayin'. Your conclusions were spot on...privacy and dining need to be addressed or this experiment will fail.
It's a bit odd indeed these otherwise apparently excellently refurbished night trains without the option of more private accomodations. Sure it's a low cost product with a completely different price point than the couchettes that are often reviewed on this channel but a bit more differention e.g. by having coach class, bunk accomodations like the current 1st class ones, and then more private compartments would have introduced a bit more differentiation. Now it's almost like this train is purpose built for school classes taking a school trip with slightly more comfortable bunk accomodations for the teachers in 1st class... Otherwise, as always, thanks again for this trip report!
Providing food is just too costly. In order for SNCF to provide and keep overnight train services sustainably, service level has to be reasonable. Travelers are expected to have dinner before boarding and breakfast after disembarkment because the train departs late in the night and arrives early in the morning. That's just enough.
It does seem like SNCF missed the mark with first class. It's a shame because private cabins (with wc and showers) along with breakfast would entice business passengers to use this service instead of flying. Maybe in the future
Can't you just buy the other berths in a first class compartment and have a private compartment? Theoretically I could book my wife and myself in two berths and then book the other two berths for our kids and then just leave the kids behind?