THINK Agatha Christie and the Orient Express. Or James Bond returning from Russia with love (and Tatiana Romanova). Or perhaps Tony Curtis in drag, wooing an unsuspecting Marilyn Monroe. Sleeper trains occupy a romantic corner of travellers’ souls.
But we are not quite fond enough of them, it seems, actually to ride them. This week, the Paris-to-Berlin sleeper pulled into an early morning Hauptbahnhof station for the last time. Competition from low-cost airlines has put paid to the service which has run, in varying guises, since before the second world war. Flying between continental Europe’s two major capitals, travellers have noticed, is usually cheaper than the €140 ($175) or so that the train charges; it is also always quicker than the 13 hours it takes. The result was annual losses of €20m on the route says Deutsche Bahn
If the overnight sleeper in Europe for journeys in the range of 500 miles is "going-going", how could there ever expect to be consideration of reviving North American services such as Boston-Washington or Toronto-Montreal?
Some of the reader comments are quite mature and respectful.
Finally, the pictured sleeper is a BREL Mark IIIa which could only be considered as an ill-timed railway equipment order:
There are so many journeys I will never get to make. For me, the destination is rarely any higher in priority than then the trip itself. (The lack of urgency I possess has indeed troubled certain superiors.) Urban destinations themselves are becoming quite generic now as well.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Thirteen hours for 500 miles? That seems slow. $175 seems quite cheap as well. I had the impression that gas in Europe was quite expensive, which would make the price proportionally even cheaper.
Posted by MargaretSPfan (Member # 3632) on :
dns8560 -- I completely agree with you about the journey being as important is the destination. I, too, greatly detest the cookie-cutter sameness that has afflicted our world in recent decades.
And -- what's the all-fired rush? What's the point of going on vacation if you cannot slow down and enjoy yourself?
I know all about the economic issues, but, still -- if people can afford vacations, they ought to be able to afford to take the train.
How sad sleepers are going away in Europe.....
Posted by daniel3197 (Member # 27) on :
Jeeze What better and HUMAN things could we do with our time and travels. We all need (DESERVE) to see and learn about our beautiful world and it's history and cultures. This is done best by classic rail travel (edit).
---- Daniel
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Likely some here have heard of the TRAINS jinx, such as how during October 1967, comes an article extolling the Kansas City Southern for their statement "We have no intention of dropping our passenger service", and in my case, the day that TRAINS arrived, I pick up the Wall Street Journal (I was serving in Vietnam at that time) and there is an article saying KCS was going to do just that.
The linked Daily Mail article should be an "unjinx" of the earlier Economist material.