It was believed to be obsolete, old fashion, out of date… So the rail networks of Western Europe have each in turn abandoned it.
The night train was no longer popular.
Farewell The Palatino which, from Paris, went to Rome, the Orient-Express which rolled towards Vienna, the Talgo which took passengers to Spain… Faced with the ever cheaper plane, the night train lost its reason to be.
For a simple reason: beyond 800 km, transporting a passenger by plane costs less than by train.
Read also: Train or plane: which transport to choose for your trips to Europe?
Forced to have to align their prices with those of the airlines, the rail operators found themselves operating structurally loss-making lines.
On the Paris-Briançon (Hautes-Alpes) line for example, as well as on the connections to Occitanie, the cost per passenger is around 120 euros while the average ticket price is 55 euros.
The prospect of closing these lines was not without provoking an outcry among local elected officials, in particular Jöel Giraud.
And for good reason, the current Secretary of State in charge of Rurality was a regular at Paris-Briançon from his small station in L'Argentière-les-Ecrins which has long been his constituency.
Although operated with equipment from another age that is not very comfortable, the Paris-Briançon line still attracts 125,000 passengers per year.
The State had thus arbitrated in favor of maintaining the Paris-Briançon, Paris-Rodez (Aveyron) and Paris-Latour de Carol (Pyrénées-Orientales) lines.
Read also: Night trains: the new lines to take in France from this year
The second class berths of a refurbished car.
SNCF
It is therefore the State which compensates for the deficit of these lines, judging that their conservation falls within its mission of regional planning.
Another difficulty, these trains suffer from a strong seasonality: overcrowded during school holidays and some weekends, they are very little used at other times during which the 499 places of Paris-Briançon have difficulty finding a taker. .
However, the new price policy of the SNCF, under which 60% of tickets are now sold below the 60 euros mark, had a
boosting
effect
on attendance, increasing it by 25% on the same. Paris-Briançon in 2018.
IN VIDEO - Secretary of State Joël Giraud, great defender of night trains
Wifi, individual sockets and more comfortable berths
When in France the night train was dying, in England the night trains were doing well.
And a small country with a strong tourist activity had the good idea to follow the example of the British train: Austria.
His government has decided to provide financial assistance to the national operator Oesterreichische Bundesbahn (ÖBB).
The latter, through its Nightjet brand, has multiplied trans-European connections with real success (Vienna-Berlin, Vienna-Split, Vienna-Brussels, etc.), thus supporting the movement for a more sustainable mode of travel.
Faced with the success of Austrian trains and the ecological push, the state has changed its tune and, with financial assistance, asked the SNCF to make a radical change.
First of all with an improvement of the existing one.
Currently, the 71 cars in service to the Hautes-Alpes and the Pyrenees are being renovated to provide more comfort to passengers.
A budget of 44 million euros.
At the Périgueux maintenance center, we were able to attend the boning of these cars with a view to their modernization: Wifi, electrical outlets, more comfortable seats and berths, secure places for bicycles and finally, air conditioning and soundproofing.
But to increase frequencies and open new lines, you have to have cars ... which the SNCF no longer had.
The old sleeping cars were destroyed;
only about fifty remained on a siding at Tergnier (Aisne).
The SNCF thus saved them from scrapping at the last
minute
, and taken by time, rather than completely renovating them, the national company nevertheless intends to do what is necessary to bring them back to current standards.
Before getting them back on track.
These wagons will be used to open new lines such as Paris-Nice on April 16 (reopening possibly postponed to May 13 given the context) and Paris-Tarbes at the end of the year, for which the SNCF is considering an extension to Hendaye during the season.
Read also: Paris-Warsaw, Berlin-Barcelona ... How Germany wants to revive the Trans Europ Express
A Paris-Vienne from December
A private cabin on an Austrian night train.
ÖBB
Having anticipated this renewed interest in night trains, Austrian railways have a head start.
Indeed, the only operational European manufacturer for this type of car is the German Siemens, and today it takes four to five years to be delivered.
SNCF therefore had no other solution than to reuse existing equipment.
As for tapping into the fleet of Russian cars, that had become technically impossible.
Indeed, if this equipment was used on the Paris-Nice line until its closure, and this for the greatest satisfaction of the customers, the FPC (Federalnaya Passazhirskaya Kompania) Russian equivalent of the SNCF and owner of these vehicles, n no longer intends to maintain it outside of Russia.
We will therefore have to wait before seeing new sleeping cars appear on the French network.
Alongside the Franco-French framework, SNCF signed an agreement last December with three other European operators (the Germans of the DB, the Swiss of the CFF and the Austrians of ÖBB) an agreement providing for the creation of European lines.
Thus, the opening of a link between Paris and Vienna with Austrian equipment is planned for December 2021. A Paris-Berlin should see the light of day in December 2023, while a line between Barcelona and Zurich via Montpellier is expected for December 2024.