European Sleeper Berlin, Germany - Amsterdam, Rotterdam The Netherlands - Antwerp, Brussels, Belgium

[@doc7austin]

haha; thank you for mentioning me in your narration

[@NerdX151]

14:06 That is because there actually used to be a wall there. These couchettes were originally built for the Touropa charter trains back in the 1960's. Those big compartments were designed so that they could either be converted into familly-rooms or 3-beth sleeper cabins, depending on the demand.

[@erik_griswold]

Always love your take on these services!!

[@Rondjeom]

Leuke video, ik was afgelopen vrijdag met European Sleeper mee geweest van Brussel naar Amsterdam. In Brussel was er extreem veel pers daar.

[@Trainviking]

Ik denk dat het in Brussel nog veel drunker was inderdaad.

[@Drago1995]

i almost came across you guys in Brussel-Zuid, i would have come and say hello maybe next time xP

[@PlaneandTrainWindowSeat]

Great and very informative review 👍

[@erik_griswold]

Lichtenburg was the station used to start/stop the international night trains before the Lehrter Bahnhof was upgraded to be the current Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

[@drdewott9154]

It does look like a good service that could be viable. One thing I would personally hope to see would be an off shoot of the Brussels-Prague train going to Copenhagen. It would of course likely require that there are trains in both directions and that they meet at a station like Hannover around the same time, but it could help lighten the load by providing more destinations for less manpower and infrastructure allocated, similarly to Nightjet. Copenhagen used to have regular night train service until CityNightLine cut their service in 2014 which went to Amsterdam, Prague. Basel, and Munich. So far the only viable night train we have serving the city is the Berlin Night Express by Snälltåget introduced in 2021. SJ's Euronight train passes through as well but does so in the middle of the night at around 2-4am, plus others have had experiences with them not even stopping despite the timetable saying so. There was supposed to be a publically subsidised Malmö/Copenhagen-Brussels night train which was tendered alongside the Stockholm-Hamburg train but it received no bids due to the german railway regulations stiffling the economic viability for bidders. SJ bid on the Hamburg train as they felt they could bear the cost of running such a short distance in Germany. However theyve since then extended the train to Berlin on their own accord so I think the Malmö Brussels train tender should be revived ngl, since it seems like less of an issue now.

[@erik_griswold]

The plug in the sleeper is for your electric shaver!

[@Trainviking]

Haha yes, something you won't need now a days anymore (environment wise, a battery powered shaver is actually not really good, so why modern shavers pretty much all have batteries, I don't know to be honest).

[@alexmcwhirter6611]

Thanks for an enjoyable KZbin. Apparently there are only two sleeper cars in the fleet. Another KZbin by Doc7austin of a later journey Berlin-Brussels showed the train's configuration reduced from 11 to 7 cars ... with only one sleeper car. Little wonder that the sleeper accommodation is fully booked for weeks/months ahead !

[@Trainviking]

The sleeper car is really fully booked ahead, months ahead. The price difference with the couchette is very low (too low). They should make the sleeper car pricier and the couchette lower, I guess this way people who want to spend money, do it anyway and people who wouldn't spend the money otherwise will spend it now.

[@alexmcwhirter6611]

@@Trainviking It's "fully booked" because E Sleeper has only *two* of these 1950s sleeper carriages. One carriage is kept as a spare in normal times only *one* sleeeper carriage is deployed per train. Crazy situation but as you know there is a desperate shortage of quality night train rolling stock and it is OEBB which monopolises the night train business.

[@Trainviking]

@Alex McWhirter I know they have some spare carriages because they want to guarantee that people get what they booked. For the sleeper carriages they should maybe put them both in service and leave 2 compartments empty, just in case. It's a fact that nigjtjet trains have a general shortage, and the Nightjet is still expanding the network faster than new rolling stock is coming in. So a lot of passengers on nightjet trains don't get what they ordered, European Sleeper is making sure they don't do the same as nightjet.

[@lucaskielman4647]

The sleeping cars were built in 1955 in Italy, the seating cars and couchettes are 'younger'.

[@Trainviking]

Hahahaha I don't know the exact age, I've heard the seating cars date back from 2006. However I think they look way too old for 2006 seating cars, no power plugs, etc.

[@stanislavzabara5733]

Good job! And the train is great as well, I just love sleeper trains!!! Those are widely spread in my lovely Ukraine.

[@aselwyn1]

excited to use this connection some day. they defiantly need to get some more sleeping cars even if they are that old. what train is that in the background at 5:44?

[@Trainviking]

They do need more sleeping cars indeed, I guess they are working hard in it. The train in the background is a old east German long distance train. Don't known the details to be honest.

[@spacecadet1461]

Couchette and Seating carriage look very similiar to the older Nightjet trains...

[@Trainviking]

Absolutely.

[@wesleyvaganee2417]

Duurzaam is het zeker en vast,maar vind de prijs voor 2 volwassen en 2 kids toch nog net iets teveel.Zeker omdat het toch met verouderde treinstellen is,wat ik zeker niet erg vind.Concept is de max,alleen mag de prijs iets minder vind ik persoonlijk.

[@Trainviking]

Deze nachttrein is niet goedkoop, daar kan ik niet omheen. Echter is het reizen en slapen tebelijk, je spaart ook een hotel uit, hier moet ook rekening mee worden gehouden.

[@hj8272]

Is it possible to have a goat in that train? She loves me so much...

[@liamtahaney713]

"new" train hmmm

[@Trainviking]

Haha new connection.

[@bernardbouzon5499]

NS owned these sleeping cars

[@Trainviking]

Really? I didn't know that. For what routes?