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Actually, Andreas Chapt should be annoying travelling in night train. Chapt is a man of two meters. It’s just as big as a sleeping-car bed is long. If he’s lying on his back, he’s hitting hard head. “But luckily,” says Chapt, “I’m a side-sleeper.”
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Already as a young man, 55-year-old drove into summer holidays in Italy in reclining car. He loves it, he says, in evening in Vienna to climb train to Venice and next morning shortly after eight o’clock on Canale Grande to drink first espresso. Anyone with Chapt, head of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), gets to know a night train enthusiast. Not a bad condition for a project that has been a bit of a surprise for a year across borders.
It all began in year 2016 with announcement of Deutsche Bahn (DB) to stop operation of night trains. After 150 years! There was talk of a yearly 30 million euro deficit. A hopeless case, DB Headquarters said. The decision enraged many customers. There was a hail of protest – in vain. The ÖBB announced that it would save night train operation in neighbouring country. This raised a question which touches on subject of national pride: what can Austrian state railway do better than much larger German?
The case not only shows what Bahnchef Mätthä knows about his night trips: that size can be hindering. For Austrians, German failure is an opportunity. This makes m increasingly important for rail transport in Central Europe.
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After one year, you want to take a closer look at status of this project. It starts with a test drive in one of new ÖBB-trains. En 471 starts at 20.52 a.m. in Hamburg and is scheduled to reach foolishly at 9.05 am Zurich. Booked is a place in a sleeping car with shower – which is located at end of hallway. The night conductor, a young man from Salzburg, leads a good mood in compartment. In welcome re are slippers, towel, earplugs, a bottle of prosecco. And still for free: a feeling of deceleration.
This article dates back to time No. 51/2017. Here you can read entire output.
The Austrian market access was, on or hand, a forklift action. They had only a few months to do so – in railway world, where new timetables usually take two years to run, this is via supersonic. In addition re was a difficulty: ÖBB had to take over German trains in running traffic. “On evening of takeover, we quickly glued our ÖBB sticker on wagons,” says Kurt Bauer, “after that it was about to start.”
Bauer is head of ÖBB long-distance traffic. A young, ambitious manager who equally emphasizes that he does not consider night business on track nostalgic: “I am a hard-working economist.”
Bauer likes anglicisms like “efficiency hub”. He tells of “mock-ups”, designs for interior of a recumbent car, which was made by a London design studio for ÖBB. He made a new image for trains tinkering. Internet videos show a DJ from Vienna on drive to after-work-party to Zurich. A young windsurfer travels to Hamburg. Two Posterboys of generation easyjet – who take night train instead of a cheap flier. The slogan: “Casual instead of stressful”.
How can it be that a ruinous business now pays off for Austrians?
The ÖBB know why people use Nightjet in market research. One has fear of flying, ors want to “rest at destination” (40 percent), thinking about environment (31 percent) or want to “save one night at hotel” (18 percent). The cheapest places in top category, single room in sleeping car, costs from Zurich to Hamburg 139 euro, breakfast included. Tickets for your car are sold by ÖBB at a competitive price of 29 euros. This is supposed to attract those who orwise sit in coach.
But how can it be that a business so ruinous for Germans now suddenly pays for Austrians?
