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Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

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Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#71

Post by pmontra »

mns wrote: post #29
Roark66 wrote: post #5

Are these all proper sleeper trains? I took the one that goes from Gdańsk to Kołobrzeg in Poland many years ago (with a bunch of friends) going to a "copy party"(yes before the Internet we had parties for copying software in person, eventually they turned into demoscene events). We spent the entire night drinking beer and smoking weed, but this was in a normal 8 seat compartment. I don't remember if there were sleepe…

Not really. While it looks good on paper, booking some of these is quite a pain. I loved travelling by train as a kid, and would love to do it now, but when you compare the offers, it's quite bad. A flight is 1:15 between 2 places of interest for me. The train routes on this map exist (used it twice), but part of it is at night but only has normal compartments. Whole train journey is 15:34 (compared to 1:15 flight),…

High speed trains (300 km/h) can happen only between hubs because each added stop costs time and makes those train no high speed anymore. Plus congestion if every train could use the high speed tracks, unless we build four or more parallel tracks instead of the usual two.

I don't see much change from the current scheme of medium speed trains (150 km/h) connecting medium sized cities and high speed between major ones. And slow trains doing every single stop for small cities, if they even have a station.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#72

Post by kylecazar »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #70

As a young traveller I took a handful of night trains...one time a family member had shared a bottle of homemade grappa - I was super excited about this! We were on a night train sharing a sleeper with an Austrian single mom with a couple of tweens. I think we were headed to somewhere deep in the Italian boot and it was summer - so very hot, with eight people in the sleeper car. Somewhere in the middle of the night,…

Oh wow. Based solely on my own grappa experiences, that may have been for the best.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#74

Post by aziaziazi »

tmilard wrote: post #44

Wonderful global Map of all sleeping train ! My god, I Wish I had this map last summer when using my interrail pass. Why ? : - All sleeper trains are scattered with so many booking Apps or internet service. A real pain. Thanks for this wonderful MAP! Ps: If traveling in Europe, I recommend booking really in advance as most sleeping wagons are usually all booked 2 months before departure. ( In one trains only 2 cars a…

What line "booked 2 months before departure" did you encountered ? Just checked my routine line (Paris-Toulouse) and there's still seats and bed available for tommorrow night at a reasonable price.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#75

Post by Symbiote »

iShrimp wrote: post #46

Those sound good on paper but then reality hits you. Last summer we as a family decided to take a night train to reach our vacation destination. What should have been 6-7 hour car drive was ~12 hour train ride. Sleep was not great, getting to and out of train stations, herding two small kids etc so at the time we've reached our destination we were pretty tired. Much more tired if we just drove. The route back is wher…

Why didn't you drive?

With a full car, the environmental and certainly economic argument for the train is gone.

I have used about 5 night trains in recent years. I don't sleep very well, unlike my Russian colleague who grew up with this, but they have all been more or less on time.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#76

Post by synotna »

agapon wrote: post #73

No night trains to / from Baltics?

New/improved rail links are planned/in progress as part of TEN-T which will probably help

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/infrastructu... https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/infrastructu...

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#77

Post by thatfrenchguy »

mjhay wrote: post #68
iShrimp wrote: post #46

Those sound good on paper but then reality hits you. Last summer we as a family decided to take a night train to reach our vacation destination. What should have been 6-7 hour car drive was ~12 hour train ride. Sleep was not great, getting to and out of train stations, herding two small kids etc so at the time we've reached our destination we were pretty tired. Much more tired if we just drove. The route back is wher…

The TGV is excellent and cost-effective, IMO. Elsewhere trains are way too much trouble and expense, even as a solo traveler.

TGVs don't do night trains though. There's a few night trains in France, mostly Perpignan -> Toulouse -> Paris. They're mostly a nice for people who want to be at work in Paris early and don't want to take a plane, because the Bordeaux -> Toulouse LGV does not exists.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#78

Post by Symbiote »

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #26
sofixa wrote: post #2

Extremely cool and useful map! Night trains fill an important travel niche in terms of distance/comfort/time/eco-friendliness and can be super practical. Recently I took a night train for the first time since I was a teen instead of a 40 minute flight for the comfort levels and the emissions, and it was surprisingly comfortable. Not a perfect night's sleep (I'm a light sleeper), but perfectly enjoyable. PS: Sadly I d…

Ukrainian trains are still working fabulously, and are putting most of the rest of Europe to shame. They’re cheap, reliable, and comfortable. Even in a war. The only frustrating thing is they don’t seem to be doing first class cabins going across the border into Poland anymore (because of the war), and taking a first class cabin across Ukraine to Lviv and then another connection across the border is not particularly…

I think expecting first class rail travel during a major war is probably the most entitled attitude I've ever seen on HN.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#79

Post by twic »

woile wrote: post #49
iShrimp wrote: post #46

Those sound good on paper but then reality hits you. Last summer we as a family decided to take a night train to reach our vacation destination. What should have been 6-7 hour car drive was ~12 hour train ride. Sleep was not great, getting to and out of train stations, herding two small kids etc so at the time we've reached our destination we were pretty tired. Much more tired if we just drove. The route back is wher…

Maybe it's not convenient for a whole family but more for solo travelers. A car with one traveller is an absolute waste. And instead is more convenient to travel by train

I went from London to Barcelona and back by train. On the way down, a sleeper from Paris to somewhere like Perpignan, then a morning express from Perpignan to Barcelona, and on the way back, daytime TGV from Barcelona to Paris.

The return leg was far better.

Getting the sleeper train means hanging around in some dingy third-rate terminal waiting for it to leave. I didn't really sleep on the train, because even though they run it slowly, it's still pretty loud and bumpy. I shared a cabin with a well-behaved friend, so i wasn't even mixed in with strangers. Changing trains in rush hour was not fun. In the end, it took me long enough to recover in Barcelona that i could have stayed over in Paris, got a TGV that morning and not been far behind.

Whereas the TGV back was a TGV. Comfortable, nice scenery to look at, decent bar for a train.

If you sleep more heavily than i do, or if there is some real value in being at your destination earlier in the day, a sleeper might be a good choice. But in the age of high-speed rail, i don't think it makes much sense.

Re: Night Train Map with all regularly served night train destinations in Europe

#80

Post by twic »

flal_ wrote: post #54
Freak_NL wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One cause is that France is rather obstinate when it comes to sleeper trains passing through, but not stopping in, France. A direct line from the Netherlands and Belgium to Spain (e.g., Barcelona) would be viable and possible on standard gauge, but it wouldn't make sense to stop in Paris at 2:00 in the night or so. SNCF and the relevant French agencies insist on trains serving France as well. Maybe some company will…

You van already do Bruxelles to Perpignan with a direct ( french ) TGV train, in 6/7 hours. If you want to go to Spain I believe bruxelles Barcelona via Paris is also quite practical. Everything is much pricier than plane and no night train though

I've done Paris to Barcelona on a sleeper to Perpignan and an express from there. I think for people who like sleeper trains, a through service would be far more convenient, even if it stopped in Perpignan early in the morning.

I suspect there is not a lot of track capacity across the Pyrenees, though, which would mean the sleeper train would have to get in before the morning expresses start.

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