Second big train thread in two days:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19548272
Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
101–110 of 274 posts
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#102My girlfriend and I travelled through Europe last summer and I was hoping to take overnight trains as much as possible, unfortunately the train strike in France killed a lot of that plan. Still, we were able to take two overnight sleepers. Rome to Turin and Budapest to Prague.
Rome to Turin would have been fine, except the air conditioning barely worked, which would have also been okay except (unlike 20 years ago) the window only opened about an inch. We had been backpacking all day in the hot sun. If you have trouble sleeping when it's hot, and you're traveling during the summer, this is something to consider. It made the night pretty miserable. I can't imagine how bad this would have been in a 4 or 6 person couchette. The Italian train was about $200USD total for both of us.
For Budapest to Prague we were able to book one of the three deluxe sleepers with a private toilet and shower. The trains were both newer, cheaper ($150USD total for both of us), and the AC worked better. Whether the deluxe is worth it is a toss up. You'll get bounced around a lot in the shower (part of the charm?) and having the private toilet, while convenient, gives the whole room a vaguely gross smell similar to sitting near a restroom on a plane.
- Sleepers will not save you money vs a cheap hotel + day train (although the 4 or 6 person couchette might save a bit), and the trains shake and vibrate a lot.
- Booking tickets is a pain until you get used to it (for each new country). The "English" version of whatever train site is often about 60% English at best (cough, ItaliaRail...). The Hungarian website (MÁV-Start) is a UX disaster. But you can often book on the destination country site, as well as the departure country. Luckily, we were able to book on the Czech site (CD) instead.
- You will sometimes need a printed ticket that can be physically stamped for part of the journey. Check in advance.
- Sleepers on popular routes book up quickly. They often either get very expensive or sell out completely at peak times.
- seat61.com is an absolute lifesaver.
Still, with all of the "challenges" there are tons of little charming elements about overnight trains: differences in the layout of the spaces, the adorable/offensive gendered gift boxes (I got a razor and my girlfriend got a pink sewing kit), disposable paper slippers that I ended using for 2 months...
Anyway, happy to answer any questions from my limited (but enthusiastic) experience.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#103Excited about this idea. I wanted to do an overnight train in a Europe trip I did last year, but the timing and quality never quite worked out. A lot of the time, trains between cities in western Europe are annoyingly long for a day trip, but slightly _too short_ for overnight trips - almost like an NYC->London red-eye, where you arrive just after you fall asleep. The couple of overnight trains I saw that seemed like…
It takes too long to get out of Sweden by sleeper train. High speed trains from major cities, as well as Oslo, and good regional routing that gets you to Copenhagen in ~3 hours would be a much better bet. Unfortunately that isn't happening anytime soon.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#104Yes please. I traveled this way a lot as a child, and have recently done so for recreation.
But when you factor in all the hassles of air travel, the opportunity to arrive well rested, possibly with some work done, the city center to city center scenario is superior to air (because though travel time itself is shorter, there's all the security hassles, getting to the airport, checking into a hotel for a brief nap, etc).
Note: I can sleep through stops, equipment changes etc. I don't know if that is common or not.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#105As good as this sounds in concept, price wins at the end of the day, and while I lived in Europe RyanAir, SAS & Norwegian were a similar price to trains, but faster. The exception is when you travel to smaller regions with no major airport.
For the same price I actually prefer night train to airlines, by far.
Sure, airlines are faster, but the time to go in and out of the airport, security checks, boarding, etc... Your one hour flight easily translates into 3-4 uncomfortable hours.
With the train, it is usually downtown to downtown, just hop into the train and you are done. The journey may last 10 hours, but it is relaxing. Trains are much more comfortable than planes and sleeping is less of a problem, even with a standard seat.
With sleeping cars, you have what is essentially a moving hotel room, making your travel time effectively zero.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#106I used overnight trains many times in my life. They are great, but if the revival is to succeed, we need better solutions for security. Theft was always a problem in sleeper trains. There needs to be a way to lock yourself in and have an alarm sound whenever someone opens the door with an override.
The European night trains I've been in all have physical locks that are only openable from the inside. Things could be stolen by other people in your compartment, but that's a lot less likely. I also have a preference for the upper bunks/beds, because you can stow your luggage in a nook above the wagon's side corridor, and thieves will have to actually get past you to get at your stuff (except for maybe the person on the bunk opposite you if you're in a couchette compartment). Seating compartments are to be avoided; I can't sleep in them anyway.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#107This is a very good idea if it works reliably. However, from my experiences with sleeper trains in Sweden (via SJ), it's quite inconsistent.
Just the other month, I took a sleeper from Stockholm to Kiruna and it was delayed by 9+ hours! Good thing this was an unplanned vacation so I had time. The customer service was excellent though, they were attentive and reimbursed me for the train tickets, hotels, food and car rental.
I can't imagine myself using the sleeper trains for any business purposes though as I've had many delays with them.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#108I used overnight trains many times in my life. They are great, but if the revival is to succeed, we need better solutions for security. Theft was always a problem in sleeper trains. There needs to be a way to lock yourself in and have an alarm sound whenever someone opens the door with an override.
On DB's CityNightLine, you could lock the door. Of course, the five other people in the room could steal from you. I always just put my backpack against the wall. Would be impressive to have one of your five roommates open your backpack in darkness while reaching over you...
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Paris-Warsaw (and then to Moscow) exists, and runs once a week. There's no official (government/public run) website, so Seat 61 is probably the best resource. https://www.seat61.com/paris-moscow-express.htm
The Warsaw to Paris trip on this train takes almost 21 hours... It's just a regular train, not particularly high-speed. There are a faster options available (down to 16 hours), but they require multiple layovers so I wouldn't say they're viable in practice. Overall, Europe is mostly dominated by cheap airlines, esp. in the Eastern part.
Actually, the Eastern part still has several useful and quite cheap night trains. In the west, lots are being cancelled because the train companies would rather have us take high speed trains.
Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains
#110I used overnight trains many times in my life. They are great, but if the revival is to succeed, we need better solutions for security. Theft was always a problem in sleeper trains. There needs to be a way to lock yourself in and have an alarm sound whenever someone opens the door with an override.
The European night trains I've been in all have physical locks that are only openable from the inside. Things could be stolen by other people in your compartment, but that's a lot less likely. I also have a preference for the upper bunks/beds, because you can stow your luggage in a nook above the wagon's side corridor, and thieves will have to actually get past you to get at your stuff (except for maybe the person on…
> all have physical locks that are only openable from the inside
Really? I thought all these locks can be opened from the outside by railway personnel using a "special key", which of course means that the thieves have access to that "special key" as well.