Maps without Portugal
Spain and Portugal: no thank you
It existed up until the pandemic, Trenhotel, I took it once. Fell asleep in the center of Madrid, woke up in downtown Lisbon. The trip had beautiful snowy landscapes lit by the full moon. It’s such a shame it’s gone.
And Ireland? Or is the map just having a very specific interpretation of “Europe”?
Are there night trains in Ireland?
a night bus use to be seasonal till few years ago XD
There are no trains in Ireland T_T
Even the fucking Bus Eireann wouldn’t go all the way to Donegal back in the naughts because fuck driving all the way up there, right? Capitalism at its finest.
I don’t know, but that’d be the point, right? If it framed Western Europe we’d know that those countries don’t have any, but cutting them off just makes it ambiguous.
I see it more like “Ireland doesn’t have night trains, so let’s focus the map on the part of Europe where they have most of them”
Edit: the interactive version can be found here: https://back-on-track.eu/night-train-map/
And I don’t read it that way. That’s why it’s ambiguous.
I am even more confused with that link, though, because they do seem to have listed lines in Spain flagged as “important seat-only connections”. So… connections to where? Why are they cut off? Do those extend into Portugal or terminate in Spain?
night trains are for long distances. Can’t really do that on an island. Night trains are basically just sleeper trains, but those connections need more than 3-4 hours of distance to make sense
… yes, I know what a night train is. Your point?
For the record, there are far longer routes in Ireland, Spain and Portugal and far shorter routes captured in the map (in distance, we could have a long talk about the pros and cons of promoting overnight train over high speed rail for the same trip).
They used to have the Pau Casals train BCN-ZRH but they deemed it non profitable or something :(
Tried to get a train to a festival in Portugal next year. Not a chance. 24H travel time, multiple layovers at remote stations… 200€ per person.
Flight, 90€, 3H… Sorry climate. ={
cries in american
There used to be one going directly from Northeastern France near Basel to South France Cerbere. It was the best one for going on vacation from Germany. They killed it because it wasnt profitable enough :/ Now you have to go through Paris which is a horrible stop to have to take.
You don’t absolutely have to any more. There’s a Strasbourg-Lyon TGV link. Less than 4 hours.
Thats only half the distance tho
Sure, but you avoid the Paris hassle. And get there quicker too, because it’s TGVs all the way.
Taking the TGV from Strasbourg to Montpellier still gets you a Lot of painful slow legs inbetween. And they aren’t very comfortable for long journeys.
Also the French Global Price system with Random timetables and mandatory Reservations Sucks badly
Unpopular opinion. Night trains are never going to make a dent in air travel.
I’ve traveled right across Europe by train a bunch of times, so I’ve taken a good few night trains. In Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, a couple in the Balkans, even the Dogu Express right across Turkey. I’ve also taken day trains everywhere, of course.
Every single experience on a night train was something of an ordeal. That’s because a night train is basically a hostel on wheels. Staying the night in a tiny cabin in extreme proximity to strangers, without privacy, without access to a decent bathroom, this is just never going to be competitive with a short flight, no matter how cheap it is. For students, young people and more adventurous types, sure, it’s a great idea.
The only genuine solution to the plane problem is high-speed rail that is fully competitive on price.
I’ve Had my own toilet and shower in the new Nightjet, and I’ve only Had another Person in my Cabin. And with the Mini Cabins in the new Nightjets it’s possible to have your own private space for cheap If you are travelling solo
Sure, if you luck out like you did and get a 2-person ensuite cabin to yourself (or if you pay top dollar for a private), then it’s equivalent to a hotel.
Otherwise, the equivalent is not a hotel but a hostel. And most adults with an income prefer not to stay in hostels. That’s all I was saying.
Somehow the night Train is still completely booked out every time I Take it, weeks in advance, despite “top Dollar” prices.
And Hotel rooms usually also don’t get cheaper If you travel alone and Not as a Couple
Somehow the night Train is still completely booked out every time I Take it, weeks in advance, despite “top Dollar” prices.
OK but this could be just a good match of supply and demand. To come to any conclusions we would need the total number of passengers compared to flight seats for that route. We both know that the latter vastly outnumbers the former.
And Hotel rooms usually also don’t get cheaper If you travel alone and Not as a Couple
Sure, and anyway a high price is surely fair given the presumed cost of transporting a hotel room 1000km or whatever. This is why, for me, there’s no winning: either it’s an unpleasant hostel-on-wheels, or it’s a pleasant but expensive rolling hotel room which makes no sense if you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint.
Wasn’t expecting that from Scotland to be honest.
I tried it once to get to London for a meeting. The best way I can describe it is this: if you manage to go to sleep, it’s great, otherwise it’s horrible.
Penzance to London is a similar experience, but with older trains.
sadly incorrect now that SJ dropped the night trains göteborg-umeå, despite significant protests
why does italy have 2 identical lines where one of them just skips taranto what did taranto do
That looks fine to me. I’m no civil engineer but the lines connect on both ends, so a person can hop off and go to taranto, or stay along the top coastline. I’d assume the lines were doubled because people used that line so often that it was better to just create a whole new one.
