Night Trains Renaissance

Night trains have undergone an amazing transition from a sidelined mode of travel, phased out by many national railway companies, to sought after transportation right within the zeitgeist of sustainability and downshifting.

This renaissance started a few years ago and in central Europe it is closely related to nightjet, a brand of sleeper trains formed by Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB), the Austrian national railway, in 2016 by merging their own sleeper train network with former Deutsche Bahn City-Night-Line routes.

From the start these sleeper trains enjoyed an excellent reputation for comfort and safety as well as their typically Austrian focus on service and hospitality. However my hometown of Leipzig is not connected to the nightjet network, which is still centered on Austria, the western part of Germany and the Benelux countries.

Also, I avoided night trains as I could never quite buy into the whole “sleep while you travel, arrive refreshed and ready at your destination” thing. Reality was more often than not a deserted station in the wee small hours with no coffee, no place to leave your luggage a hotel check-in time of 3 pm, for example on my Euro Night trip to Firenze in 2016.

A chance to change my mind came when I returned from a ferry cruise between Eeemshaven and Kristiansand and was headed to my family’s place in Bavaria, so I could finally use a nightjet, the NJ 421 in this case, from Amsterdam Centraal to Augsburg.

Tickets

I booked my ticket four months out on ÖBB’s website which is easy to navigate both in German and English. The fare for a single occupancy sleeping compartment was 212.00 €. Pretty steep given that this was a trip in late October, when travel is slow. For comparison, a flight from Amsterdam to Munich would have been around 180 € (including one checked bag) while day tickets for the same journey where about 38 €.

Trip Report (October 2022)

My journey started on a humble platform of Amsterdam’s Central Station (there is no lounge access included) where the NJ 421 arrived as an impressive 10-car train pulled by a Dutch ELOC 193 engine.

Attendants at each sleeper car were quick to check tickets and directed their passengers to the right compartments. When I reached my accommodation for the next 11 hours I was pleasantly surprised to find it clean and cozy.

The blue upholstery gave away that this was a former Deutsche Bahn comfort line car based on the WLABmz model which used to be the standard sleeping car in Germany in the early 2000s. ÖBB took over 42 of those cars in 2016.

They accommodate 12 compartments which host up to three passengers, two of them with an ensuite bathroom, as well as toilets and shower compartments. They are fully air-conditioned and certified for speeds of up to 200 KP/H.

In 2023 ÖBB has announced the roll-out of a completely new generation of sleeper and couchette cars as well as seated cars with pullmann seas built by Siemens Mobility. These next-generation nightjets will also feature individual sleeping capsules, known as “mini cabins” as a new class of accommodation between the couchette and sleeper standards. The trains will premiere on the Hamburg–Vienna and Hamburg–Innsbruck relations on Dec 10^th, 2023.

Seats in my compartment where still in the daytime position and extremely comfortable. I really enjoyed setting up my stuff for the night in this small but well-designed cabin.

The sleeping car attendant came around with an overnight amenity kit, well stocked with a water bottle, slippers, a good quality washcloth and a small soap bar, ear plugs, a sleeping mask and a pen. The latter would have been nicer with some nightjet branding on it. He also offered me a free mini bottle of sparkling wine and some crackers to go with it.

The wine was from the lower shelf, and warm, and the snack a mysterious vegan nibble of roasted soybeans and pumpkin seed.

Breakfast was free and I was invited to choose from a continental breakfast menu. Six items such as coffee/tea, rolls, butter, jam, cheese, ham or muesli were included.

There also was a comprehensive dinner menu with drinks snacks and a few hot options. I was tempted given that this was an Austrian train and I they usually get those things right. The prizes were moderate, but I still had plenty of travel snacks from Albert Heijn, my go-to provider of travel provisions in The Netherlands – so I resisted.

After leaving Amsterdam at 19:00 the train stopped in Utrecht and Aarnhem before crossing the border into Germany. The lower Rhine area is a fairly monotonous stretch and thus a good point to close the blinds and catch some sleep. I fell asleep before the stop in Dusseldorf (21:44) and woke up after we had left Nuremberg around 05:00. An amazing seven hours of solid sleep thanks to the comfortable air suspension bogies.

Breakfast was served at 06:00 and nice enough with freshly baked rolls and some really nice jam.

The NJ 421 pulled into Augsburg central with one of those 40-minute delays we have grown accustomed to in Germany.

All Things Considered

The nightjet was hands down the best night train experience I ever had, and I would choose it again any time. Unfortunately, word has gotten out and ÖBB’s night trains are often full, even if you check months in advance.