Central Europe Train Ride Recommendations

Hello all,

Since the strong dollar and the low oil prices are making overseas travel temporarily more affordable, I'm going to take a week-long vacation in central Europe this winter between 26 December 2016 and 3 January 2017. My plan is to fly into Oslo and purchase a EuRail Global pass in advance so that I may ride some scenic trains south eventually towards Vienna. I'm planning on using some night trains as they will likely not exist for much longer. I understand that some nordic countries still have sleeper trains, and I always have appreciated the bi-level sleeper rolling stock used on the City Night Line. I don't know between which cities these sleeping cars operate, so any tips or recommendations on which sleeper trains to use would be greatly appreciated.

After making it to Austria, I plan on spending time on the trains in Switzerland before making a brief jaunt to London and then flying back to the US. My pass gives me access to all trains in Europe except the UK, so any recommendations on a route which i should use to take advantage of great winter scenery, or specialty equipment would be tremendously appreciated.

I do not know which trains they use the bilevel sleepers on. I know I haven't seen those cars in München in a long time. I want to say past time I saw them they were on the train to Switzerland.

As far as scenic rail lines I love the Mittenwald Railway. Go from München to Innsbruck via Mittenwald on the branch line. It's very very scenic and usually runs with older cars with open windows for photography.

City Night Line is gone after 11 December. ÖBB will take over some routes; not sure what equipment they will use, but they also have some bilevels. See http://seat61.com/news.htm for more info. They do presently operate Hamburg-Vienna, which I imagine would continue but is not specifically listed. Current ÖBB routes and consists can be found at http://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/razeni.php?zeme=OeBB&kategorie=EN&rok=2016.

railbuck said:

City Night Line is gone after 11 December. ÖBB will take over some routes; not sure what equipment they will use, but they also have some bilevels. See http://seat61.com/news.htm for more info. They do presently operate Hamburg-Vienna, which I imagine would continue but is not specifically listed. Current ÖBB routes and consists can be found at http://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/razeni.php?zeme=OeBB&kategorie=EN&rok=2016.

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OBB bought most of the sleepers from DB so the level of service will be similar.

I dont recall any bi level sleeper trains in europe, every German, French, Spanish Italian and UK sleeper has always been single level trains

Thanks for your responses, and as for Seaboard 92, I am definitely going to find time for the Mittenwald Railways while I am out there. I read a blip or two on the internet about DB discontinuing a few trains and passing on a few trains to the Austrian Federal Railway system, I just didn't have a clue as to whether they were going to be using any of the newer City Night Line bilevel sleepers for the Nightjet service. It seems they would have to take the better part of the City Night Line rolling stock and also keep the amenities i.e. wine by night in the 1st class sleepers and breakfast near arrival time in order for any new product line of sleeper trains to be a commercial success.

What, you don't want to take the Bergen Line over the mountains!!!! The train up to Lillehammer along Mjøsa is also very scenic. *grin*

Metra Electric Rider said:

What, you don't want to take the Bergen Line over the mountains!!!! The train up to Lillehammer along Mjøsa is also very scenic. *grin*

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Unfortunately I won't have the time to make it out on the Bergen line, but that's going to be at the top of my list if I ever come back during the summer. Upon your recommendation I'm gonna have to make a trip to Lillehammer once I make it to the airport in Oslo!

Gulfwind2 said:

Metra Electric Rider said:

What, you don't want to take the Bergen Line over the mountains!!!! The train up to Lillehammer along Mjøsa is also very scenic. *grin*

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Unfortunately I won't have the time to make it out on the Bergen line, but that's going to be at the top of my list if I ever come back during the summer. Upon your recommendation I'm gonna have to make a trip to Lillehammer once I make it to the airport in Oslo!

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The Bergen line is scenic even in winter. I keep forgetting that the airport is out at Gardemoen rather than in town at Fornebu - you're a chunk of the way to Lillehammer from there already.

The movie O'Horton is about a train driver (as they would call him) on the Bergen line. A lot of Norwegian films use the Bergen station. All of which is irrelevant to heading south to the continent.

I can't remember if the Hallandsås tunnel is open yet, but it's quite scenic if it isn't. It seems like a lot of the Austrian mountain lines might be very scenic if you wanted to go that far east.

Metra Electric Rider said:

I can't remember if the Hallandsås tunnel is open yet, but it's quite scenic if it isn't. It seems like a lot of the Austrian mountain lines might be very scenic if you wanted to go that far east.

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The new tunnel is open and the old line closed.

Also there is currently no night train any more from Scandiavia and South as the City Night Line from Copenhagen ended last year and the Stockholm-Malmö-Berlin train is currently suspended and might or might not come back. If so probably only seasonally.

From Oslo to Copenhagen there hasn't been night trains for a lot of years, but that is partly due to an overnight, very pleasant ferry connection, which is still running fine.

trainviews said:

Metra Electric Rider said:

I can't remember if the Hallandsås tunnel is open yet, but it's quite scenic if it isn't. It seems like a lot of the Austrian mountain lines might be very scenic if you wanted to go that far east.

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The new tunnel is open and the old line closed.

Also there is currently no night train any more from Scandiavia and South as the City Night Line from Copenhagen ended last year and the Stockholm-Malmö-Berlin train is currently suspended and might or might not come back. If so probably only seasonally.

From Oslo to Copenhagen there hasn't been night trains for a lot of years, but that is partly due to an overnight, very pleasant ferry connection, which is still running fine.

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I assume they've built one of those new "out of town" stations there?

I took the ferry to Kiel, not much farther than Copenhagen, though I don't remember much of it - just that we were below the car decks.

Metra Electric Rider said:

trainviews said:

Metra Electric Rider said:

I can't remember if the Hallandsås tunnel is open yet, but it's quite scenic if it isn't. It seems like a lot of the Austrian mountain lines might be very scenic if you wanted to go that far east.

Click to expand...

The new tunnel is open and the old line closed.

Also there is currently no night train any more from Scandiavia and South as the City Night Line from Copenhagen ended last year and the Stockholm-Malmö-Berlin train is currently suspended and might or might not come back. If so probably only seasonally.

From Oslo to Copenhagen there hasn't been night trains for a lot of years, but that is partly due to an overnight, very pleasant ferry connection, which is still running fine.

Click to expand...

I assume they've built one of those new "out of town" stations there?

I took the ferry to Kiel, not much farther than Copenhagen, though I don't remember much of it - just that we were below the car decks.

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The climb over the Hallandsås ridge only had one or two small rural stations. I think only with local service. They will not be replaced as far as I know (I don't think they kept up local service on the old route).

I can't remember the name off hand, but there is the resort town there that was concerned about losing direct service. I think they were building them one of the remote stations like several other cities got as the higher-speed line bypassed town centers.

Metra Electric Rider said:

I can't remember the name off hand, but there is the resort town there that was concerned about losing direct service. I think they were building them one of the remote stations like several other cities got as the higher-speed line bypassed town centers.

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Yes you're right. Båstad station appears to have been relocated to the edge of town. The new station is immediately north of the tunnel opening. However the old station was not too near the centre of town near the harbour either.

Ju, det var namnet...

(yes, that was the name)