The return of the sleeper train in Europe

[HH_Sailor 3,668]

17 hours ago, slammer said:

My favorite however was the car train from either Munich or Basel to Hamburg. I would ride to the station and be there around six-ish ready for loading anytime between eight and ten. At eleven with a load of other bikers and more than a few beers under our belts the train would set off. Next morning in Hamburg we would go to our machines and ride off the train along the platform and out of the main concourse into Hamburg.

 

Well, this got stopped some time ago.

However, those satire people from NDR (xtra drei) have put an explanation film together.

(sorry, only German - anb in detail Berlin to Munich.)

But the HAM - MUC is the same

 

 

[slammer 889]

15 minutes ago, HH_Sailor said:

 

Well, this got stopped some time ago.

However, those satire people from NDR (xtra drei) have put an explanation film together.

(sorry, only German - anb in detail Berlin to Munich.)

But the HAM - MUC is the same

 

 

They are still running, only not under the Deutsche Bahn umbrella.

https://www.autoreisezug-planer.de/

I am thinking of going to Norway with the bike in April and want to use that to get to HH.

[murphaph 9,854]

19 hours ago, Fietsrad said:

 

It would be nice to see the Berlin Autozug terminal in Wannsee reactivated someday. A real shame it ceased.

[Janx Spirit 11,383]

When and if this comes, it sounds rather cool:

 

"Midnight Trains is a French start-up railroad company. The company aims to return sleeper trains to Europe."

 

Quote

Midnight Trains is a French start-up railroad company. The company aims to return sleeper trains to Europe.

 

The first route is expected to open in 2024, with a fully operational network by 2030. Routes are planned from Paris to Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Denmark and Scotland.

 

It was founded by Adrien Aumont and Romain Payet, the founders French crowdfunding website KissKissBankBank.[4] Yorgo Tloupas, associate artistic director, and Hervé Marro, director of communication and institutional relations, have also joined the company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Trains

 

Pics and info https://www.midnight-trains.com/en/home

[murphaph 9,854]

European Sleeper is a little further along (at least according to their own website!):

https://www.europeansleeper.eu/en

 

They want to launch this summer with the Brussels-Berlin route.

[sluzup 271]

On 10/01/2023, 21:26:51, LukeSkywalker said:

Italian beer? Are you serious? I could join you in Munich and bring a case of Augustiner or Tegernsee Helles on board 👻. You don‘t have that in the North. In Bavaria we keep the best stuff ourselves :)

Some of it slips out.  Tegernsee Hell is one of my husband's favourite beers and we can get it up here in Niedersachsen.

[Aussiedog 269]

On 10/01/2023, 9:26:51, LukeSkywalker said:

Italian beer? Are you serious? I could join you in Munich and bring a case of Augustiner or Tegernsee Helles on board 👻. You don‘t have that in the North. In Bavaria we keep the best stuff ourselves :)

 

Mate, you need to get out more. Most German beer is downright boring. An American fella in our area realised this pretty quickly and started his own craft micro- brewery. Hallelujah, sister...brother.

As far as your slight on Italian beer goes, well, like I say, you need to get out more. I was in Sicily not long ago and drank beer from local craft brewery that almost made me weep with joy.  Here's a pic.

Molto, molto Buona! From Donnadicoppie - at least you've inspired me to seek them out!

 

And perfect for sipping before nodding off on the night train to...

 

[keith2011 2,702]

2 hours ago, Aussiedog said:

Mate, you need to get out more. Most German beer is downright boring. An American fella in our area realised this pretty quickly and started his own craft micro- brewery. Hallelujah, sister...brother.

 

I live right by a micro brewery here in Munich and they brew some very good beers, I particularly like their IPA real tasty, but if you are a lager drinker then Munich Augustiner  is imo about the best  and for bitter drinkers a draft IPA from Wetherspoon's in the UK at GBP 1,49 a (20 floz) pint is simply unbeatable!

[murphaph 9,854]

The man in seat 61 reports that the new SJ (Swedish state railways) sleeper service from Stockholm to Hamburg will likely be extended to Berlin from this summer. This would mean a year round connection between the 2 capitals. The Snälltaget one is seasonal. The SJ one offers deluxe sleeping compartments also.

 

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/hamburg-to-stockholm-by-sleeper-train.htm

[optimista 5,934]

Afligem goes down well.

[murphaph 9,854]

Finland ordering brand new sleepers with car carrying capabilities. They look sweet in the artist's impressions:

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/01/finlands-vr-orders-sleepers-and-car-carriers-from-skoda-transtech.html

[tor 17,525]

Leningrad to Moscow... a few years ago...  

 

 

 

 

[murphaph 9,854]

Great pic. I wonder which one was KGB?!

[almafreya 60]

13 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Great pic. I wonder which one was KGB?!

The one taking the photographs

[john g. 37,776]

1 hour ago, tor said:

Leningrad to Moscow... a few years ago...  

 

 

 

 

Is that you second from the right, Tor! Or even on the right?😎

[tor 17,525]

I am in the back center.

 

The next morning, this hungover lot disembarks at O dark thirty. I realize my passport is still on the train. I  jump back on and frantically look for my cabin.  I finally find my cabin and the passport as the train begins moving ... back to Leningrad I thought. I see one of the train people signaling to someone on the tracks through an open door. I frantically beg him to stop the train...do something...he babbles and does not seem to care that I am a prisoner on the Gulag express, which is picking up speed...

 

Me, being the spry college senior, decides to take matters into my own hands. You guessed it. I pushed passed him and did a Butch Cassidy off the train. He was screaming and laughing at the same time. 

 

That story was still told by our choir director many years after. 

[tor 17,525]

@murphaph

 

Let's plan a trip ,

 

 

 

 

[dstanners 1,562]

Annoyingly, it's not as easy to book tickets as I'd hoped. I'm off to Austria next week and Czech a few weeks later. Bahn.de shows that there is a night train going via Cologne (Deutz specifically), but you I couldn't get the ticket from Bahn.de (nor DB international) and Nightjet's own website doesn't offer Cologne Deutz as a stop at all, nor can I buy tickets from Bonn. Perhaps they all sell out months in advance? No idea.

Fortunately the daytime trains are pretty inexpensive, and I guess the extra night in a hotel will be more restful, but it seemed like a fun thing to try out again after a 25-30 year break.

 

[snowingagain 5,464]

1 hour ago, dstanners said:

but you I couldn't get the ticket from Bahn.de (nor DB international) and Nightjet's own website doesn't offer Cologne Deutz as a stop at all, nor can I buy tickets from Bonn.

I just tried.   With DB website. I went as far as payment confirmation, from Deutz to Wien, next week.  107 Euro with a berth in a 4 bed.   Could not book from  (Or did you get this far, and payment failed?)  Edit:  I did similar with DB website, Heidelberg - Wien, so a mix of DB and OBB.  No problems.

 

 

[LeonG 14,855]

1 hour ago, dstanners said:

Annoyingly, it's not as easy to book tickets as I'd hoped. I'm off to Austria next week and Czech a few weeks later. Bahn.de shows that there is a night train going via Cologne (Deutz specifically), but you I couldn't get the ticket from Bahn.de (nor DB international) and Nightjet's own website doesn't offer Cologne Deutz as a stop at all, nor can I buy tickets from Bonn. Perhaps they all sell out months in advance? No idea.

 

Going on the nightjet website and selecting destinations, if you select Vienna as your destination, you will find a train that starts in Amsterdam.  You have some tickets available next week for that.  However, this train is supposed to stop in Köln Hbf and Bonn Hbf but if you change the starting station from Amsterdam to Bonn Hbf, you get no tickets available until end of March  and if you change it to Köln Hbf, you get no tickets until May.  However, if you select Bonn Beuel, you get tickets available next week so I am guessing that right now it's stopping in Bonn Beuel and at some later time it may change it's stop to Bonn Hbf or Köln Hbf.