Introduction
Night trains have undergone an amazing renaissance, which was driven mainly by Nightjet, a brand of sleeper trains established by Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB), the Austrian national railway, in 2016 by merging their own sleeper train network with former Deutsche Bahn routes.
From the start Nightjet 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 had not been part of the Nightjet network until the end of 2023, when night trains from Berlin (NJ 408 operated by Swiss SBB and ÖBB) and Prague (EN 458 operated by ČD from the Czech Republic) merged there and convenient connections to Basel and Zurich in Switzerland became available.
I was keen on checking out this route and so I decided to treat myself with this trip for my birthday. Obviously I had to make sure I got tickets for the right date, which meant booking right after the timetable change for central Europe in mid-October. That was a bit of a challenge because I was booking from Japan. When I checked in, Deutsche Bahn and Austria’s ÖBB weren’t showing availabilities yet, so I had to book via Swiss SBB, which meant paying in Swiss Francs and sucking up the currency conversion loss.
Tickets
The booking process on the SBB website is pretty straightforward, as long as you don’t select the SwissPass option, which didn’t work with my German address. Better use the option to book as a guest.
After a bit of back and forth, I got a reservation for a 2nd class, single-occupancy sleeping compartment from Leipzig Hauptbahnhof to Zurich Hauptbahnhof for 229 EUR (including a small discount for my BC 25 Deutsche Bahn discount card).
At this point, I only received a confirmation email instructing me to download the formal ticket later as a PDF from ÖBB. Make sure you do this as close to your travel date as possible, because once the PDF is issued it can’t be changed or cancelled.
Trip Report
Departure from Leipzig
Night trains routes in Europe are quite short and usually start late at night or end very early in the morning – or both. NightJet 408 is a night owl with a late departure from Leipzig at 23:46 and a 09:05 arrival in Zurich. The train arrives at 22:29 from Berlin and is coupled together with EN 458 Canopus from Prague which arrives at 22:18.
I got to the magnificent Leipzig Hauptbahnhof at around 10 pm as I wanted to settle into my compartment as early as possible.
Leipzig’s main station is also home to a huge mall, but the shops close at 10 pm and the terminal quickly empties after that. There are no bars or restaurants to pass the time and no late-night places to pick up sundries for your trip. In fact, the whole place felt a bit shady and deserted after hours, so I’d recommend not arriving there too early. If you need to pick up drinks and snacks for your trip, Emil’s Späti (late-night shop) on Brühl 61 is open until 1 am and there are lots of cafes and bars in the lively Barfußgässchen area, which is a 10-minute walk from the station.
The train part from Berlin was already waiting on the platform, so I boarded my sleeper car right away and was met by an attendant who checked me in.
There was some confusion as he couldn’t find my reservation and my compartment was possibly reserved for someone else from Frankfurt. It took him quite a while to sort that out, which was a little annoying, but in the end, he told me that I could have the compartment to my own and that he would accommodate the other passenger elsewhere. I just hope that he found them a comfortable bed too.
NightJet 2nd class Sleeper Compartment
I found myself in familiar surroundings, as I had travelled on a similar one before from Amsterdam to Augsburg. The blue upholstery gave away that this was a former Deutsche Bahn comfortline car based on the WLABmz model which was the standard German sleeping car model in the early 2000s. ÖBB took over 42 of those cars in 2016.
These cars have 12 compartments which can accommodate up to three passengers. Two 1st class sleeper compartments have an ensuite bathroom, the other compartments have a small washstand.
All the cars have air-con and are certified for speeds of up to 200 km/h.
My bed was already made up and looked comfortable with ÖBB’s trademark checkered pillow covers. The pillows are pretty soft and so I had to nick from the spare ones to rest my head appropriately.
There was a tiny water bottle, but otherwise the courtesy of ÖBB’s halls seem to have lessened off late, as there were no towels and no amenity kit. However, I noticed in the morning that most fellow passengers walked around in ÖBB slippers, so I guess mine just had been forgotten.
You also get a warm miniature bottle of cheap sparkling wine from a brand that is so old school that I guess ÖBB night trains probably are the only place left where this bubbly is consumed. Other drinks, snacks and light meals can be purchased.
There is a cabinet with a washstand with a 230V power outlet located irritatingly close to a faucet that, contrary to the sticker, only dispensed cold water. There is another standard 230V power outlet located under the seat next to the aisle – pretty hard to find.
The power seemed a little weak and managed to load only some 20% into my smart phone’s battery during the night.
The general state of my apartment was reasonably clean, but it was showing wear and tear everywhere. The mattress really grossed me out, yet that this something you should probably never look at in hotels, ferries, and sleeping trains.
Shared washrooms with showers are located at both ends of the car and were on a generally good state.
Trip to Zurich
Midnight came and went while the train just set on its’ track in Leipzig. There were no announcements about the delay on board, which makes sense given the late hour, but I received regular updates via email from ÖBB.
I dozed off a bit and around 2 am noticed that the train was finally moving. At 5:20 am I woke up briefly but otherwise had a pretty good sleep. The modern boogies and air suspension make for a smooth and also very quiet ride – my decibel-app showed about 56 to 60 dB, which is pretty low.
Around 7:20 am I woke up because the train had stopped. Looking out of the window, I was shocked that we were in Frankfurt, having only covered 300 kilometres in seven hours. By that time ÖBB probably got too embarrassed and didn’t send out any more updates. I found out on zugfinder.net that we were competing for ‘delay of the day’, running a whopping 3 1/2 hours late.
As I couldn’t go back to sleep, I went through my morning motions instead. Thereafter, I spent my time worrying about my connection in Zürich and waiting for breakfast. The letter arrived at 8:45 am, but only after I politely asked for it.
The continental breakfast on the Nightjet is really nice. You order it in the evening from a menu with loads of options.
We finally made it into Zurich HB (main station) three minutes after my train to Milano had left, but a kind SBB agent in the travel centre quickly sorted out a new ticket for me. After I returned, ÖBB was also quick to refund 50% of my ticked after I returned.
I went for bread, rolls, jam, muesli, and a coffee. This came nicely presented on fine bone china with metal cutlery. The food was really high-quality, including lovely cherry jam and a great bircher muesli. I especially liked the cool coffee cups, which are made by Kahla, one of my favourite china manufacturers.
As the morning drew on, it dawned on me that my connecting train to Milano would probably gone by the time we got to Zurich.
It was a bright winter morning, and my train leisurely made its way down the Upper Rhine valley, so I enjoyed watching out of the window and exploring the train, which was pretty impressive with 1st and 2nd class seating cars, couchettes and sleepers by no less than three train companies.
The sleeping car attendants handed out another round of water bottles and then took off. Since they work for Newrest, a service and catering company, they aren’t involved in train operations and can’t help out in case of delays. This probably would’ve been the conductors’ job, but they didn’t make any announcements either.
We finally hit the Swiss border in Basel by 11 am. This city has an interesting constellation of train stations as it has an extraterritorial German station (Basel Bad) and a Swiss station (Basel SBB). The Nightjet stops at both, changing its DB 101 series engine to be replaced normally by a SBB 460 but on this trip two old 420 models.
A team of Swiss police officers came on board but there were no formal border checks as Switzerland is part of the Schengen area.
Make sure to deactivate roaming on your phone though. Switzerland is not part of the EU “roam like at home”-system, and it can be quite costly, if your phone logs on to a Swiss signal.
After Basel the tracks follow the banks of the High Rhine for a while and then turn south towards Zurich. Without a major delay this is where you would normally wake up on this trip and I imagine it to be quite nice to enjoy breakfast approaching the alps.
All Things Considered
After my pleasant experience on a trip from Amsterdam to Augsburg, I was excited to travel on a Nightjet train again. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was disappointed, but my excitement was subdued a bit by the not 100% clean compartment and the massive delay which was also not handled very well. As this was part of a longer journey, that explored the possibilities of ground-based travel from Germany to North Africa, it was still pleasant and enjoyable, however, if I had an important meeting or a tight connection on Zurich, I would probably have been stressed out. Also, there are comfortable one-stop connections during the day, which take about 7 ½ hours and cost about 76 EUR, which may just be a better option between Leipzig and Zurich.
Travelled in January 2025
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