Leg four: the long journey home (part one)

It's a long way to London from Stockholm; 1,400 km as the crow flies, but almost 2,000 km via the most direct overland route. The route I chose was longer again. To do this journey by rail in one go is ambitious to say the least, but assuming you define "in one go" as not staying overnight anywhere en route, perfectly achievable. And that is exactly what I did.

But it is impossible to do in a single day. The solution was to travel while I slept, and use what is, depending on your news source, either a dying breed or something that is seeing a comeback in recent years; the night train.

Night trains have been on the decline for decades in western Europe. There's no single factor to blame for this decline, I think it's simply a combination of factors; low cost flights and high speed rail are the obvious developments that have become the main alternatives to night trains. The rise in low cost coach travel has also had an impact on the customer base of people traveling on a budget. The night train market has been squeezed on both sides.

But perhaps the least obvious, and most overlooked change is simply that customer expectation has changed, and the concept of sharing a small sleeping quarter with complete strangers has become more and more unappealing to the general public. I have to say that the night train operators have to a certain extent failed to move with the times in this regard, but there are some positive signs.

The Austrian operator, ÖBB has been at the forefront of a recent mini renaissance in night train operation, taking over many of the routes axed by Deutsche Bahn, and even establishing some new routes such as Brussels to Vienna (making London to Vienna an overnight option... yay!). They have also come up with some forward thinking concepts that are finally starting to address the privacy issue I mentioned, such as their latest concept for pod style capsules for the next generation of night trains:

https://www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and-rolling-stock/nightjet-plans-mini-capsules-for-private-travellers/55208.article

There is a larger debate that needs to happen around night trains, but I am definitely an advocate, and am happy to see that there has been something of a renaissance recently. It seems to prove their potential popularity and viability. However, I have reservations. The recent increase in the uptake of the existing night trains is most likely a combination of rail enthusiasts and people concerned over climate change, but to really be a success, they need to appeal to a broader spectrum of travelers, including business and leisure travelers. Increased privacy in the accommodation will help, but if there is a competitive day time option, i think this will always prevail.

Instead of competing with high speed rail, the night train needs to take advantage of it. Many of the routes currently available, including the two I took, can be taken during the day, and high speed rail routes have genuinely made many classic night train routes redundant. But the increasing high speed rail network should, in my opinion, open up new opportunity for high speed night trains - the distance that could be covered by a high speed train in 10-12 hours could easily compete with many longer routes that are still dominated by air travel. Indeed the whole 2,000km+ journey I made could be a contender for such a long distance night train (ignoring the current gap in infrastructure between Hamburg and Copenhagen).

But for a more serious example; imagine an overnight train from northern European destinations such as London, Paris or Amsterdam direct to Madrid, or the south of Spain. Or from the north of England, or Scotland to continental Europe; maybe, in this era of Environmental concerns and the climate crisis, it's time to re-visit the ill fated concept of the 'night-star';

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightstar_(train)

Only time will tell of course what the future holds for the night train, and while the nostalgic in me laments losing them, I also accept the fact that many of the classic night trains routes of western Europe are, realistically, a thing of the past. I'll never get to experience the excitement and hedonism of the nightly Paris to Amsterdam train for example. The optimist in me is excited for the future though. I think there is definitely a place for anew breed of night trains in Europe, it's just a matter of making them happen, and making them a success.

With all these thoughts on night trains, I was obviously quite excited to see what the Swedes and Austrians had to offer! So on that note... enough of my rambling! And on to part two. The actual journey itself.