FYI - several European sleepers being axed

zagmund

I'm not sure if there's a better forum to post in, but since it involves travel I thought I would post up here.

One of my bucket list items involves taking the sleeper from Paris (or Amsterdam) to Berlin. There's a number of mostly sentimenatl reasons behind it, but none strong enough to get me to actually book the trip & take the time out. Until now perhaps . . .

It looks like the Paris-Berlin sleeper is being axed in December (at the timetable changeover weekend most likely), and the Amsterdam-Berlin one won't be starting in Amsterdam any more. So, not really an Amsterdam sleeper as such. I can't remember where it's supposed to be starting from, but it's inside Germany. Also, sleepers from Germany to Copenhagen are being axed.

Here's a link to information on the Paris-Berlin one.

z

AlanS181824

I read this as tourists getting murdered with an axe! :pac:

munchkin_utd

the new timetable is being introduced on the 14th of Dec and will be online in a week, the 14th of oct.

Its not actually 100% clear what is being cancelled though.
Every night train from Germany to Copenhagen and Paris seems to be getting the chop.
Amsterdam to Berlin, and onward to Warsaw is also being cut (and Amsterdam-Copenhagen which is part of that configuration)
On the positive, there'll be night trains inside germany still running, Amsterdam - Munich will still exist and Munich to Rome/Milan/Venice/Zagreb/Budapest routes havent been mentioned as suffering a cut, so seem to be safe for now.

The changes are a result of falling passenger numbers and the need to invest in new trains, and both coming at the same time means a choice of gambling millions of euro of investment on a service that seems to becoming less and less viable. So it seems the connections are gone for good.

On the positive theres fast direct day trains between germany and Paris/Copenhagen and on the Berlin-Amsterdam route theres even a direct train every 2 hours.

ardmacha

I blame Michael O'Leary.

munchkin_utd

ardmacha wrote: »

I blame Michael O'Leary.

to be honest faster trains are arguably a bigger factor.

For example, until the LGV Est (strasbourg-Paris) high speed line opened, the Munich-Paris trip took 10hours so a night train was the only comfortable option and consequently there was only 1 or 2 day trains, all in the morning and wasting your day.
Seriously, the last connection from Paris to Munich used to be 10 in the morning!

Now theres a double decker TGV leaving Munich daily at 6am getting in at midday which is a great job altogether. You spend the morning in the train and arrive in time to checkin to your hotel (which you cant do any earlier anyhow) and get a fair bit of sightseeing done in the afternoon and evening.
Theres a connection then every 2 hours till the late afternoon, and coming back is the same with an evening direct train.

For Munich to Paris I'd never consider a night train now that theres such decent day connections, and flying isnt much quicker especially when it can take an age to even get a poxy ticket for the RER from charles de gaulles.

edit: heres a guardian article on the matter which mentions the Amsterdam-(Berlin)-Warsaw/Prague night train will now go from Cologne.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/europe-night-trains-sleeper-service

Sheldons Brain

A whole generation will emerge who cannot fold up a couchette.

zagmund

Or who never slept in a luggage rack as the 7th person in a 6 person compartment. Scary, isn't it? But they may have read a blog by some old bloke (like me) telling them what it was like, back in the day when Interrailing was actually cheaper than buying tickets for each leg individually.

z

keithclancy

The sleeper service has not been viable for a long time, with Transavia and other low cost Airlines running flights from Schiphol and Eindhoven for some time its usually cheaper to fly.

If there's 4 people its usually cheaper to drive and Berlin can be done in 6 hours, when you factor in door to door with time at the airport, time getting out of the airport and door to door driving is around the same.

Shame though, I think I may take it at some point before it finishes just to have experienced it

Was also contemplating doing the Autozug from Dusseldorf to Tyrol this Winter

https://www.dbautozug.de/autozug-en/destinations/austria/tyrol.html

Tabnabs

Norway still has four sleeper services running in case you really want to experience this.

https://www.nsb.no/en/on-board/nsb-sove

fricatus

The sleepers are alive and well in Poland and Ukraine.

I did Kraków-Lviv in 2009. Quite an experience! Lovely cities too.

munchkin_utd

the new Bahn timetables are now up for 2014/2015

Paris-Berlin is do-able by catching the Zurich-Berlin nightrain at Mannheim, with an hours change but still before midnight so not terrible.
Amsterdam-Berlin is doable by catching the nightrain to Prague at Oberhausen, which is where it starts from so the hour transfer time can be spent in the cabin.

But theres still lots of night trains with proper sleeper carraiges still running including:
Munich- Berlin, as is Zurich/Munich-Amsterdam, Munich-Hamburg, Munich-(Vienna-)Budapest, Munich-Zagreb, Munich-Venice, Munich-(Florence)-Rome, Munich-Milan

I also see that Vienna-Berlin/ Warsaw and Vienna-Bucharest, Vienna-Rome, Vienna-Hamburg, Vienna-Zurich, Vienna-Düsseldorf, Vienna-Venice and Vienna-Bregenz are still being ran.