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Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

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Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#21

Post by sandman1906 »

sschueller wrote: post #14

Don't take the ÖBB night-train from Zürich HB to Amsterdam and back. They sell you the premium package online with fancy pictures of their new trains but the train that shows up is an old 1970 rail car with both toilets locked (broken for weeks I found out), broken doors, broken heater, missing ladders, broken window blinds etc. At this time if they can't even clean the toilets then it is not worth the steep price. H…

I've taken that route in a couchette car twice. I haven't had any issues and didn't find the quality of the service to be any different than other NightJets. I mean, it's not exactly luxury travel (in a couchette car), but I have nothing to complain about.

I'm not a fan of the fact that ÖBB couchette compartments don't have locks on their doors. But the sleeper cabins do. Were the people who were robbed in a sleeper?

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#22

Post by omnibrain »

andix wrote: post #17

The ÖBB night trains can be awesome, but the quality doesn't seem to be consistent enough yet. There were reports of over 10% of all night trains getting cancelled this summer and replaced with regular trains (with seats, no beds). Some statistics (German, use translate in browser): https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000182197/sitzen-statt-...

The trouble lies in the old rolling stock. They bought all that from Deutsche Bahn who suddenly stopped all sleeper train services a few years ago. Deutsche Bahn had neglected that segment for years and did not invest into more than the bare maintenance to keep the stock rolling.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#23

Post by askew »

bjackman wrote: post #2

I've been taking the ÖBB night trains (Nightjet) a lot the last couple of years. It's a fantastic way to travel, I really hope the network will expand. My only recommendation is not to take one if you absolutely must arrive at the stated time in the morning. They are commonly delayed by multiple hours. So far this has not been a problem for me because the stated arrival times are really early morning. But worth being…

Recently took the Nightjet from Stuttgart to Bled (Slovenia). The outbound service must have been reconfigured as we had booked a private berth, but were assigned a couchette with a stranger supposedly joining my partner and I at Munich. Kinda made it difficult to get to sleep, but this person never materialised. The attendant was very friendly and helpful. They did mention to keep the doors locked overnight.

During the return journey we got our private berth, but had a rather lengthy delay at Salzburg waiting for several other services (from Venice etc) to join ours, then had to stop again just over the border for the Polizei to inspect our passports at 5AM – started to get a little anxious that we were going to miss our connection and the whole house of cards was going to come down.

Similar to others, I was woken at Salzburg by shouts of people on the platform. I heard whistles as I presume the authorities dealt with folks boarding on the train who weren't supposed to…

That said, overall a good experience, and would happily use the service again.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#24

Post by tpm »

telesilla wrote: post #5

I'm following this awesome new train company, sleepers from east to west Europe. Haven't tried it yet but a trip is in the planning stages. It's been years since I took a sleeper. They also support Interail, which many of us probably enjoyed in our youth. https://www.europeansleeper.eu There is also a startup in the works: https://www.midnight-trains.com

It's quite sad the most east they will go is Prague and even that only in 2024. But it's a good picture of the not very good state of railways in central Europe. At least Czechia is starting to invest in higher speeds, but it will take years to take effect.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#25

Post by KennyBlanken »

sschueller wrote: post #14

Don't take the ÖBB night-train from Zürich HB to Amsterdam and back. They sell you the premium package online with fancy pictures of their new trains but the train that shows up is an old 1970 rail car with both toilets locked (broken for weeks I found out), broken doors, broken heater, missing ladders, broken window blinds etc. At this time if they can't even clean the toilets then it is not worth the steep price. H…

One-off anecdotes are not evidence of systemic problems. What evidence do you have that any of what you described is common?

Multiple commenters describe taking the OBB night train and speak highly of it.

Edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37810476

Apparently it's location specific.

> However, the different forms of downgrades and downgrades affect the destinations differently. Most of the downgrades from sleeping to couchette carriages were available to La Spezia. Double downgrades – i.e. from sleeping to seat carts – are hard to find in the data. Downgrades or night-chair downgrades or night-chair hooks meet the Zurich destination. A downgrade from compartment cars to large-capacity cars was again almost standard in the last two months at the Bregenz destination

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#26

Post by proto_lambda »

sandman1906 wrote: post #21
sschueller wrote: post #14

Don't take the ÖBB night-train from Zürich HB to Amsterdam and back. They sell you the premium package online with fancy pictures of their new trains but the train that shows up is an old 1970 rail car with both toilets locked (broken for weeks I found out), broken doors, broken heater, missing ladders, broken window blinds etc. At this time if they can't even clean the toilets then it is not worth the steep price. H…

I've taken that route in a couchette car twice. I haven't had any issues and didn't find the quality of the service to be any different than other NightJets. I mean, it's not exactly luxury travel (in a couchette car), but I have nothing to complain about. I'm not a fan of the fact that ÖBB couchette compartments don't have locks on their doors. But the sleeper cabins do. Were the people who were robbed in a sleeper?

> I'm not a fan of the fact that ÖBB couchette compartments don't have locks on their doors

The ones I know have both a turning lock that can be opened from the outside by the conductor or anyone else with a wrench (so more of a protection against someone mistakenly stumbling into your compartment in the middle of the night), as well as a deadbolt that can't be opened from the outside without ripping it apart.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#27

Post by KennyBlanken »

juujian wrote: post #19
sschueller wrote: post #14

Don't take the ÖBB night-train from Zürich HB to Amsterdam and back. They sell you the premium package online with fancy pictures of their new trains but the train that shows up is an old 1970 rail car with both toilets locked (broken for weeks I found out), broken doors, broken heater, missing ladders, broken window blinds etc. At this time if they can't even clean the toilets then it is not worth the steep price. H…

I cannot believe that I had a better experience taking the Amtrak in the US than you had with ÖBB :D

Anecdotes - either yours or theirs - are not evidence of overall problems or quality.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#29

Post by katbyte »

xcdzvyn wrote: post #12
phh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I just wish they were more financially competitive. I'm doing Paris Wien, and it was financially competitive to airplanes. 100€/person/way (ok cheapest seat rate, that's probably very uncomfortable... I'll see) I had 240€/person/2 way with airplanes. I just checked airplane prices again and that's still pretty much the same prices (a bit lower than train if you accept going to the FarAwayAirport, much higher if you…

Cattle class was decently comfortable on every train I was on, and combined with the far lower (almost pleasant) noise of trains vs. aircraft engines, it was a far nicer experience overall. Though supposedly theft is a greater issue on night trains than flights, so I was apprehensive to sleep..

Also no security and you. An arrive 5-10 before departure vs 1-4 hours depending on the airport and time (and just not dealing with security period)

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#30

Post by easyKL »

untitaker_ wrote: post #18
sschueller wrote: post #14

Don't take the ÖBB night-train from Zürich HB to Amsterdam and back. They sell you the premium package online with fancy pictures of their new trains but the train that shows up is an old 1970 rail car with both toilets locked (broken for weeks I found out), broken doors, broken heater, missing ladders, broken window blinds etc. At this time if they can't even clean the toilets then it is not worth the steep price. H…

> Additionally from Amsterdam to Zürich 3 people got robbed while still in the Netherlands. This train is reservation only, they could at least lock the doors or something to prevent criminals from boarding. compartments can be locked, locking up the entire train and having the entire boarding process be bottlenecked on ticket inspectors seems highly impractical

Having the ticket control at station building before accessing the platform (airport alike) can be very fast when efficiently done.
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