The Unlikely Revival of the Sleeper Train
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Sleeper trains are having a renaissance moment in Europe and the US but for different reasons. In Europe, they’re greener, comfier, and cheaper than ever. In the US, they’re a fresh alternative to flying and driving. But after decades of being the least popular way to travel long distances, can the eco-friendly sleeper train rise up and be what it was before interstate highways and network airlines took over? In this video, Noelle Medina analyzes our country's train routes, talks with a transportation expert to understand why American sleeper trains don't operate as well as Europe's, and travels 16 hours overnight on an Amtrak train from LA to Albuquerque to experience one of the only 14 long-distance overnight routes in the U.S.
Sources:
- (CC-BY-NC) Juri Maier / Back-on-Track.eu: www.back-on-tr...
- Forbes
- Amtrak
- Getty
- Smithsonian Magazine
-Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
- John A. Swider Timetable Collection
- National Geographic
- The Pullman Co. via University of Chicago
- NPR
- European Commission
- ÖBB Nightjet
- euronews.com
- Trainline via The Associated Press
- Google Flights
- Esri
- HERE
- Garmin
- USGS
- EPA
- Seminole Gulf Railway
- Dreamstar Lines
- SFGate
- Midnight Trains via Travel + Leisure
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Great video. But I have to make one correction: the nightjets were born way before the EU "green deal" was established. The Austrian railways saw it as a business opportunity. And surprisingly - they were right (you have to book many weeks in advance to get a bed for most routes as they're booked out fast)
And even with its bad reviews and drawbacks it's still a massive hit. The same could be true here if it was priced right... I noticed Amtrak coach was $140 vs her $700 bedroom... On Nightjet I believe you can book a capsule for like 70 Euro with enough advanced warning...
Took Amtrak night train between Portland and Oakland. Since we booked seats, the price was pretty competitive compared to a plane plus a night at the hotel. And we had a okay night of sleep!
In Canada passenger rail service gets cut and cut again every so many years that on all overnight routes frequency has become so spotty that as an alternative it doesn’t enter most people’s minds. Ridership drops greater than the drop in frequency as a result, thus justifying to whatever government of the day axing a particular service utterly.
A few decades ago if a snowstorm canceled flights between Halifax and Montreal, 840 miles, you could catch one of the two daily overnight trains then running, as it would more readily have sprung to mind; Not with the twice or thrice weekly single train option today.
The Toronto Vancouver service you cited takes a dozen or more hours than in 1955. That service now sells itself as a luxury land cruise more than overnight A to B transportation . One way by sleeper now costs thousands, like that of a Queen Mary II crossing of the Atlantic. In 1986, especially when discounts were frequently marketed , it cost a few hundred, so there’s more than inflation at play there. The young guy travelling west by train to find work in Alberta isn’t in the picture.
Honestly, the video is really great, and goes in depth explaining stuff. However, just a note to editing team 6:34 the timing seems something off to me. You cannot reach Munich from Paris in 8 mins, and then take more than 10 hours to go from one station in Vienna to another.
It is
19:12 Paris EST
05:43 München Ost
06:16 Rosenheim
07:26 Salzburg
08:46 Linz
09:36 St-Pölten
10:05 Wien Meidling
10:13 Wien Hbf
@@Zurich_for_Beginners Exactly! That seems like the correct timing. Thanks for update
What also killed the night trains in is the high-speed trains.
A typical night train rout was ZurichParis 22:00 departure in
Zurich 06:00 arrived in Paris. During the I was 6 hours.
Now 18:34 departure in Zurich 22:42 arrival in Paris.
On problem with American railways is that a night train
Los Angeles to San Francisco even is a thing.
That is 400 mi (600 km) trip. This should be 2 hour train trip.
The problem with sleeper trains is called "population density". In Europe in a 100-mile trip you cross through many cities with millions of people (and potential passangers, who travel for shorter legs). In the US travelers almost always have to pay end to end, as there is nothing in between.
In other words, to get the same result (going from where I am to where I want), passangers have to pay many times the amount in terms of money and time.
There are many places where density is big enough in the US as well. e.g. Washington-Boston.
@@houghi3826 You are right. And in that "corridor" is where Acela is, benefiting from the "European" advantages I mentioned.
But I don't think a sleeper train is useful there.
U gonna be famous. Video quality is top notch. I’m binge watching you ! Like and subscribed !
I love sleeper trains. Have taken sleepers from Dnipro to Kyiv, Mogilev to Kyiv, and recently Prague to Przemysl, I believe, on the Polish/Ukraine border. I sleep great on sleepers
"...appears to be catching on in the US, too." "95 hours Vancouver to Toronto!" Um, neither of those are in the US and the track between them isnt either.
Pretty neat video, but really, a lot of the growth on the European side these days is actually on the budget travel sector. Not just for night trains. For high speed trains and conventional lower speed trains you now see low cost services popping up left right and centre, whether it be state run like Ouigo in France, or private like Westbahn in Austria, Flixtrain in Germany, Italo in Italy, RegioJet in Czechia, or Snälltåget in Sweden & Denmark. Snälltåget themselves also operate budget friendly night trains both within Sweden and between Sweden, Denmark, and Germany connecting cities like Stockholm, Malmö, Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Berlin.
Also Midnight trains just announced that they're seizing the project due to not being able to aqquire trains. Thats another huge thing in Europe. Most of these newer startups don't have the money to buy brand new trains, and the existing supply of night train equipment is relatively sparse. So both private and state owned companies are basically fighting over scraps, with some using coaches dating way back to the 1940's and 1950's. The state owned companies like the Austrian ÖBB's Nightjet has the funds to buy new trains, and Trenitalia, Italy's state railway is following suit, so that opens up the possibility of perhaps buying their older equipment unless the state railways instead keep using them to open even more routes.
Hi! I love sleeper trains; even uncomfortable ones. Yes, airplanes are more efficient and maybe trains need to be electric but they excel in letting you view the scenery even if you are just learning that the scenery is dull. You didn't say how you found the views. Once you got to New Mexico, what happened? Also, did you study journalism?
Amtrak is given priority over freight trains, the problem is there isn’t a steep penalty levied against the railroads for making the trains late. This was established in the Amtrak Act. It set out a deal to the railroads, they were relieved of their responsibility to provide passenger service if they joined Amtrak. Joining Amtrak meant Amtrak trains would get priority over freight trains or else they’d get fined and Amtrak only had to pay the cost inflicted on the rails to access the track. So the $140 million in track access fees is the cost Amtrak puts on the railroads to run trains plus some small on time performance bonuses. It’s not that bad of a deal. One of the main issues that Amtrak faces is lack of capacity which drives up prices. If you only run 1 train per day in each direction over most routes, you need to make all the money you can on 1 trip and set the prices to moderate demand. Prior to Amtrak, most routes had anywhere from 2-7 trains per direction daily. They covered different market segments from first class trains (like the ones that still run) 1-2 secondary trains that were cheaper, and some number of all stop coach only mail trains.
Price ? Price ? Price? A market based on a fallacy is a bubble at best.
At 0:38, you should've said North Americas and not USA. Toronto to Vancouver is in Canada.
A lot of sleeper trains in Eastern Europe
Brightline
Cool
Deutsche Bahn is an effing mess. Believe it or not, Swiss Railways have stopped running DB services over their rails because their trains are always late.
No bathroom, no Stuart!
Put more money into new rail tracks just for passenger cars
Bingo! Cargo rail operators are doing well on their own without much help. It's passenger service in North America that's been neglected since the Nixon years...
Or alternatively, nationalise the infrastructure across the country. Thats what is done in Europe and more akin to how the Highway system is managed. That way Amtrak won't have to pay those high fees. Other potential startups with passenger rail service can start more easily, and even for freight traffic it means that multiple companies can run on the same corridor, creating competition instead of the current system where a large freight railroad often has a monopoly for a city or several states.
There is only 400 ppm CO2 in earth’s atmosphere. This is close to the minimum for plant life on this carbon based planet. Office environments routinely exceed 1,000 ppm and submarines are allowed 5,000.
HEY, HERE'S AN IDEA. Billionaires can help instead of imploding on the ocean floor or a solo trip to space just for bragging rights.
It’s their money. They can use how they wish.
More importantly, bragging rights, “I did it first/best/most often,” has driven human development. Wouldn’t surprise me how many times someone said, “My fire bigger, hotter than your fire.”
Long-haul trains are a joke - planes are cheaper, faster and more reliable !
These seem nice until you see Asian & European trains 😢