We might, might, be able to explain this
Europe was promised a new golden age of the night train. Why are we still waiting?
Jon Worth
Romance, excitement and sustainability – continent-crossing sleeper trains should be a hit. It’s time for the EU to catch on
Worth’s blog is, for some dim and distant reason, in my reader. So, I gain access to years and years of mithering over why the 6.01 am to Mainz is late. That’s the general level of content.
‘E just loves ‘is continent spanning trains.
As Europeans woke up to the joy of travel post-lockdown, it looked as though we were in store for a resurgence of continent-crossing night trains. Sleeper train fans hailed a “night train renaissance” and a “rail revolution”, combining some of the nostalgia for an old way of travelling with modern climate and sustainable transport concerns.
The long-distance European train journey might be slower than a short-haul flight, but it is surely better in terms of the environment and the traveller experience. For those on a budget, the prospect of saving on a night in a hotel appeals too.
But as anyone who has tried to plan a holiday train trip for this summer is likely to have found, night trains are still few and far between, especially in western Europe. And if there is a night train at all on a route, it will often be booked up months in advance. That’s not all: reliability and onboard service are often not up to scratch, with carriages on many routes pushing 50 years old.
There’s a surely in there which means no.
Why this insistence on slow, dirty, smelly, late and expensive? My assumption is that he got laid on a night train once as a teenager. As it’s not happening much since then and therefore the romance etc.
Now, as it happens, I once got laid on a night train. Very enjoyable it was too – as was the 5 month affair that followed. But the experience left me with a hankering for bouncy American redheads not the InterCity 125 from Inverness.
Takes all sorts I suppose.