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I heard the CEO of the Austrian nightjet? Interviewed on BBC radio 4 recently talking about this new service. He said the private sleeper compartments were usually booked up in advance by companies for their staff travelling on business. He also said the number one desire that passengers had was for privacy, hence this development based on the capsule hotel model. Thanks for this interesting and informative video.
I've rarely had a problem getting a sleeper compartment on a nightjet if I've booked 2 or so weeks in advance, except for summer holidays! But there's no doubt the Pods are a big step forward!
As an older but still fully fit traveller, these look ideal. I never liked shared couchettes with families or groups so these might get me back on overnight trains again!
This is hearwarming to see night trains making a comeback to the EU after a hiatus of a decade. Also products with the new feattures, such as pod travel. Either it is the lighting, or in real- the paintjob of the train is gorgeous 😍
these would be great for the superliner replacements (similar to airo too) but only if it retains it's sightseeing lounge. perhaps a dome car with sightseeing on the top and dining on the bottom? that would be awesome
Hey buddy, Amtrak's been getting new Superliners from CAF for quite a while, and _unlike_ OBB, DB, or any other European operator, *_they've been doing the sleeper car thing for quite a while_* .
@@NonstopEurotrip , the prices are going to be the same if and when you come back to the United States as they were the last time you came; the United States _is_ a big country, after all, and the distances are vast.
Very interesting concept, I hope this helps to make sleeper trains more affordable/attractive - would love to see this kind of thing between the UK and the continent someday.
If this does happen it could compete with flights into countries such as the Netherlands and Germany. Hopefully they do something like this, although I doubt they'll be cheap.
I took the Nightjet many times, and I never booked a couchette. The only budget option was the 6-reclining-seats compartments, and it was pretty comfortable too. Now the budget option is a standard seat in an open car. To the ones who can barely afford train travel, this is a step backwards.
@@NonstopEurotrip but for a family for example this was way cheaper, even when booking two additional empty seats; this new generation is more expensive than just using the ice service by db (which might be caused by öbb's strange price calculation: was planned 60€ one way, now the cheapest option in a few month is almost 190€, due to high demand)
The former orange coloured international carraiges that were used by OBB in the long distance overnight services and the long daytime expresses such as Oostende-Wien, Wien-Basel are the ones I believe you are talking about. They are officially known in Austria as Bmoz - Eurofima. Ahead of their time and so comfortable to travel in. Way better than the corresponding ones provided by mainly DB and SNCF for northern Europe and FS for southern Europe whose carraiges at that time were usually a harsh vinyl seat covering and whose compartments did not fold down completely to make a flat bed, which in Austria was deep and plush upholstered.
@@NonstopEurotrip Many times when I travelled on OBB in the 90s, Vienna to Venice for example, the train was pretty much empty and I had a whole compartment to myself. You slid the seats forward to meet in the middle and the backs flattened down to create a massive king size bed. If you had a sleeping bag you were sorted.
Great movie! I do think that OBB should let pod-travelers know that there are two extra luggage storage options available, besides the lockers: * There’s a large extra storage space ‘hidden’ underneath the mattress of the lower cabins. * And, as you shown, there are large secured luggage racks available near the seated train carriage I don’t think that all travelers know about these options, and OBB should put up a sign in te couchette car, to let people know that these extra options exist.
I had booked Nightjet tickets last year soon as Austria opened itself totally to the world. However, I had to cancel due to pressing issues at work. To date, I never have experienced a European sleeper train yet. For those wanting to save up money for Nightjet, this is one of the rare moments that Eurail/Interrail passes would shine, provided you have at least a couple more long-distance train trips within a month.
I'm sad that they are not aligned in the direction of travel / opposite the direction of travel (as the new comfort-standard compartments), but rather perpendicular to the direction of travel. That still makes sleeping comfort not that good on curvy and older, more bumpy lines. But the solo occupancy for a decent price is a HUGE improvement on any previous night train product in Europe in the last 50 years, and one that I think will set a new standard and attract a ton of new customers. Well done, OBB!
To get beds in the direction of travel + high density, there is an option: A few years ago China introduced a new style of sleeper on the Beijing-Shanghai route, with 2+2 interleaved pods like some airline business class beds, except in two layers like the Nightjet pods. 60 berths per car, which is much closer to the density of regular seats. Even Ouigo bilevels are ~100 seats per car. I'd be very interested to see what that kind of layout would do to ticket prices if used more broadly. 880 beds on a 400m long train is quite a lot.
I did this route but the other direction a few years ago in a six bed couchette. It was an awful night's sleep with people coming and going at the numerous stops and the doors banging every time which reverberated through the whole coach. These pods look to be a great step forward, but your experience shows a good night's sleep is still not guaranteed. I do love sleeper trains and hope to experience this route again some time soon.
I loved the step free access at Wien Hauptbahnhof and seeing that guy trip up! Comedy is all about timing!! Still miss Wien Sudbahnhof though and the Westbahnhof termini from back in the day.
I think something like this can replace 2AC coaches in Indian trains, especially the Rajdhani trains. Considering its broad gauge, wider carriages can accommodate this arrangement much easier than the night jet trains
Ok Mr. Incognito.....glad you enjoyed your pod....hopefully your long legged friend did also...BUT....I guess i am too claustrophobic to enjoy those tight spaces......good show on explaining all the features of the different train accommodations.....🚂🚂
Three hours late is no big surprise. The Hamburg-Vienna night train is notoriously often delayed in Germany. In July, August and September 2023, it wasn't on time on a single day, with a maximum delay of more than eight(!) hours on September 19th.
The US trains had a WONDERFUL private compartment called a Slumbercoach. You had a full bed, sink and toilet in each. Amtrak personnel told me their downfall was the plumbing. I would be thrilled to have a Slumbercoach again even without the plumbing. This is years ago, but the average price was maybe $20 over coach.
Nice review of the train in general and the mini cabins. Personally I've taken the seat option on night trains a few times and I don't find it that bad compared to a six bed couchette with people coming late and going early. It is kind of calmer in the seating section.
as a health care professional and travelling mostly alone I can prepare myself for a night travel or 13-15 hours by sleeping before and going to bed a little early the next day to mostly get everything out of a night travel if it means I only get to pay 25 bucks for such a long travel. Movies + Games on my laptop and I'm good to go. Though I can understand other people are kinda disappointed that the seat compartments are gone. If ÖBB fixes the costs for a sleeper pod at 60-80€ they could even ad another car to the train and they will get booked. Pretty sure about that. For me personally I'm a little...careful with my optimism being 1,86m tall and not exactly skinny xD
I've seen this train "parked" in Salzburg a few months ago. It looks nice and these pods are perfect for solo travel. I could go to Linz to visit my brother with this train (he lives close to Hannover with his family)
I found Railjet best train service in Europe also thanks to you ,always helpful for rail travel I planned my Europe trip after watching ur videos last year
Saw someone on Twitter who commented on the new Nightjet prices: €600 for a single sleeper Vienna-Hamburg on a random off-peak date in winter. For the same amount of money you can fly business class with Austrian & stay at the 5* Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten on the Inner Alster Lake in the heart of the city. I do hope ÖBB will change this to more reasonable prices.
No way in HELL I could do one of these coffins with my claustrophobia. NO THANK YOU!!! I actually had to stop when you crawled into the pod - it set off my claustrophobia.
I have taken OBB several times and used both couchettes and a proper sleeping accomodation. Wanted to see how these new pods were and I shall no doubt take this on my next journey! Thank you ! ( my husband no doubt wnat to fly!!)
if you book these POD's many months in advance, for example the begin of june, you can have a POD for as low as 55 euros, on the hamburg to innsbruck/vienna route.
Thank you for sharing your train trip. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. Can you tell me the name of the first dance song there as ypu began your video?? Thanks.😊😊😊
You were lucky about the resets, because the portion of the train I was on, the one from Innsbruck, had been resetting itself all the way from Innsbruck to past Nürnberg!
It looks a lot more salubrious than the couchette I travelled in from Wittenberg to Basel Badischer in 2016. It was the last season that D-Bahn ran sleeper trains. In those days, you slept in 3 tier bunks, although one bunk per compartment was reserved for luggage. And it only cost somewhere in the region of €60, including a morning train from Berlin and a connection to Todtnau in the Black Forest. I remember being woken up by a very loud alarm going off throughout the train somewhere north of Offenberg; we also had Swiss border guards get on at Freiburg, wielding machine guns - if they had asked to see my passport, I wouldn't have argued, even though I was technically getting off in Germany.
Sorry, I arrived late *Well, I watched this about 12 hours after the release of the video, set yesterday at 9:30 PM CET, so I don't know if I arrived late* Btw, Austria is doing great returning back to the sleeper trains' mood. I hope Renfe will return back ASAP to its sleeper trains (As known as "Trenhotel"). All the sleeper trains were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, but, as Renfe's website says: *"Talgo and Renfe are working together to build new sleeper coaches capable of travelling on both Classic & High Speed Lines at a maximum speed of 220 km/h"*
I had a 3.5 hour delay on a night train starting in Germany in the summer. I think I just get unlucky with trains that even go near Germany. Btw, not sure I'd go into a train toilet with just socks on!
Thank you for the video. The train looks nice BUT... Just one aspect missing : don't you feel too claustrophobic inside ? I've this problem and like capsule hotels in Japan, I don't know if I will fit inside. I travelled already on the double decker nightjet with shower it was an amazing experience. Btw Vienna with fresh snow is soooo beautiful !!
The train swap in Nürnberg is normal procedure. Because the train is split up in the parts going to Amsterdam and Hamburg and your delay quite likely had another reason than a locomotive failure.
If we had a fleet of these trains leaving STP between 23:00 and 23:59 to destinations all over the continent, that would be awesome. If the price was competitive….
Don't count on just "a delay"... You must count on "several delays and/or a cancellation". I used to frequently travel the German DB often 10 or so years ago, and it was great. Recently I had to again make a few DB trips... and they ALL were total disasters. Delays after delays and frequent cancellations happened on each and every trip. I don't know what happened to the wonderful service they used to have. I suspect the privatization of the DB is the culprit. Once private enterprise got their hands on it, budget cuts (to increase profit margins) and staff layoffs (squeezing more work out of fewer people) came into play. The old saying, "If it's not broken, don't fix it" comes to mind.
I'm quite concerned about the seating comfort in these waggons, the sofas in the couchettes and the sleeping car looks superuncomfy. The same for the pods, what about head- and backrest?
Not surprised the locomotive failed on the innaugural ride. It's been happening regularly in Germany and Austria lately. Their famous efficiency is a thing of the past, if it ever was a thing at all.
As a woman that travels alone a lot I thought these looked great and a lot more secure than a shared space if sleeping on a train. That divider between does not look very secure though.
Would been good to have on the railroad to Stavanger from Oslo, but much of rail network is notorious for breakdown due to wind and weather and work delays. As well as problem with the carrier firm,also sadly.
I love your videos! Also those of Simply Railway and Superalbs Travels. Y'all keep me entertained big time! And you also teach me stuff about Indian Railways that I myself, as an Indian, don't know! The next time you're in India, you should try out the Vistadome coaches on some trains that ply between Bengaluru and Mangaluru. These are dome cars with swivelling chairs and large windows (and windows on the roof as well). There's also an observation space at the back. The train gives you fantastic views of the Western Ghats rainforests, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Vistadome service is booked as an "Executive Chair Class" (ECC) ticket on 16515 Karwar Express, 16575 Gomateshwara Express or 16539 Mangaluru Jn. Weekly Express. All these trains originate from Yesvantpur (YPR) Station, Bengaluru. Do take care to book this service from Bengaluru to Mangaluru to get the best views of the track and the many tunnels, as the observation car faces the *locomotive* on the reverse journey and is a bit of a let-down. There is no meal service, only some vending machines that deplete quickly. Hawkers mostly don't enter the ECC coaches either. So you should probably get your food at a station with a long stop, such as Subrahmanya Road. The Kukke Subrahmanya Temple is a popular destination which you might wanna visit too, btw.
Thank you for a very interesting video! There is only one aspect of your trip where I am entitled to comment on from first-hand experience. I agree that the fish-and-chip shop at Wien Hbf is excellent! (You see these excellent Nordsee restaurants all over German-speaking Europe.) OBB is to be congratulated on its faith in the long-term future of overnight sleepers. Only a few years ago DB gave up on sleepers, and SNCF very nearly did the same. OBB (supported by SBB) had other better ideas! There is still one major problem with overnight sleepers. Punctuality leaves a ;lot to be desired. And as your trip showed, there is still the risk of identity checks in the middle of the night.
Indeed a nice review and with a delay >2 hours, i'm a bit surprised you mentioned nothing about the 50% refund eligibility. Did you know about it? Have you tried asking for a refund due to delay? It would've been nice to include this in the video. Cheers!
Did they send a new Vectron from Vienna to Nürnberg in the middle of the night or how did they get that ÖBB Vectron we can see in the end of the video onto the train in Nürnberg? :o
The only vectron on the Nightjet was a NS International BR193 for the Nightjet to Amsterdam Centraal wich had the old Nightjet coaches and it was combined with the new nightjet @@NonstopEurotrip
@@NonstopEurotripÖBB currently is only allowed to use the new NJ in a pull configuration inside Austria and Germany and the cab car trailer can't be used until ÖBB got the license to use the new NJ in a push configuration too.
3:10 Interesting to see a train going to "Hamburg Amsterdam" (instead of Hamburg Altona). Could be the title of a movie: "Night train to Paris Bordeaux".
Wonderful review and an interesting new product! Would definitely like to try. Please review VIA Rail in Canada (Train 1-2 Toronto to Vancouver or the new Siemens Charger/Venture trainsets :)
Travelled (or attempted to) from Brussels to Vienna in May by couchette - however we missed our sleeper by five minutes because our Eurostar to Brussels was 1 hour 40 minutes late (and Eurostar gave us a paltry £55 compensation while the insurance took five months to pay out the £1200 it cost us for an airport hotel and flights the next day). However we were able to come back by couchette and were very disappointed by the hard, frayed beds and the very minimal breakfast. We have to go to Vienna again next October (for the installation of a plaque in memory of my mother's family who perished in the Holocaust) and it will definitely be sleeper (the pods don't look ideal for three people....)
You know, but for a relatively small length of unrepaired railway in Cambodia & now EU sanctions against Russia, we could have a Singapore to London train. It’ll just need a dual gauge setup, which isn’t a problem today
