About the dynamic price policy: Seeing such a surge in prices is actually a good sign. Not for the individual passenger, but for the night trains in total. Getting high prices on an dynamic price policy means that people _really_ want night trains and are willing to pay for it.
30 minutes delay is quite good because they normally drive with a minimum of 1 to 2 hours delay, I have one seen with a 5 hour delay but here in the Netherlands they are also being known because of the many delays they are experiencing
This is the first video I've watched from your channel and I'm impressed about the level of detail going into your videos, and as far as i can tell all the facts in this video were correct! So there must be a fair amount of research going into your content. Its much apprechiated!:) A little sidenote; the VSOE is usually hauled by 2 Re 420 locomotives on it's leg through switzerland! Also you were lucky to spot a green one as there are only 2 left with this livery, one of them hauling freight trains, and the rest is painted in red.
Good film thanks. You were lucky to ride on it, I had a reservation for a couchette on 28th September 2024. Two days beforehand they emailed me to say there were no couchette vehicles on the train (technical difficulty) and I could either travel in the seating carriage or have a refund. I elected for the refund, which to my amazement came within a few days. Changing my itinerary a little, I booked a night in a hotel in Mannheim which was both cheaper and better than the train option, and continued my journey to Amsterdam by daytime trains. This involved changing trains at Koln Messe Deutz which is close to the riverfront, where I had an excellent coffee + fruit tart between trains. I can recommend the Bismarck Hotel in Mannheim by the way! So although I got to Amsterdam later than expected, I think I had a better experience.
Apparently this happens quite often. Especially on the Zurich- Amsterdam Route. The swiss national broadcaster even made a documentary about it. The statement from the swiss railway operator was that they don't have any spare sleeper cars since they are owned by ÖBB so they can only substitute them with their own standard train cars if the sleeper cars have a technical problem and apparently they have problems pretty often since the sleeper cars are pretty old.
I paid 425 Euro for a double with shower and WC inluding breakfast and two small bottles of sparkling wine Hamburg - Innsbruck in August. It was the largest of the doubles in the New Nighjet from Siemens. The other doubles having a combined shower and WC, while ours had a separate shower. It was quit luxurious. For comparison: I paid 200 Euro for two first class tickets with DB Kiel-Freiburg and 150 Euro for a premium hotel room for two in July. I think this will be the price to expect forwards. There are many cheaper options: standard doubles, shared sleepers, couchettes and mini cabins. 20 to 30 years ago I travelled reguarly in coach on night trains to save money. New rolling stock is extremely expensive, and Nighthet has to start buying new roling stock. I have travelled Berlin - Budapest for much less money in a double, but I am not sure if that is Nightjet or a Nighjet affilate. Generally prices drop when traveling in Eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe. European Sleeper will have to buy new rolling stock sooner or later also. Their oldest rolling stock are from the 50ies. So I expect their prices to rise also.
Yes, the cabins are good. If you can get one. My experience is that I am often too early to make a reservation, or when I try later, everything is sold out. When traveling from Zurich to Prague, the train left about one hour earlier, without notifying passengers. The attendant told me that 5 passengers were missing. No surprise. It happened to friends that the sleeper coach simply did not show up. 14 hours is a very long time to cover the distance between Zurich and Amsterdam. Don't forget that there is nothing else to do on the train than stay in your cabin. In short, the Nightjet CAN be good,
Did the Basel BBHf to Utrecht sleeper-train vv. regularly in the 90s. Even then on-time was rare, but it was the best ever way of travelling I have done. And I travelled a lot.
I liked what a friend of mine who now lives in Denmark had to say about this: ‘We find our railway just as unreliable as in Germany. But we're less upset about it. Because we can't change anything in the short term anyway. Your delay is still good, our NJ was 13 hours late from Hamburg Altona because the drivers couldn't lock their cars, which ended in a fire brigade operation
The big attraction of this is city centre to city centre without the hassle of airports and airport security - I just wish they would hurry up and start building the high speed rail tunnel under the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin that could join the main Dublin - Belfast line, allowing arrival at Dublin Connolly - I’d love to see a dedicated direct service from Hull via Leeds, Manchester Victoria and through to Holyhead to connect with such a high speed line to Dublin
I have taken nightjet, it was great, only issue was breakfast was later than I had asked. Right now prices indeed insane but the trains have 100% occupancy anyway so OEBB can get away with it.
The supermarkets in HB are ok if you're in a hurry, otherwise there is a huge Coop Supermarket right across the road next to the river Limmat. The selection and prices are way better.
I've paid ~80EUR for couchette last February from Zurich to Budapest, which I thought was quite a reasonable price, especially because I was booking few days in advance. They used MAV cars along the route, to which I have a major complaint, that the upper couchettes don't have a power outlet. Given they were retrofitted not so long ago, I believe MAV could've installed outlets.
Brilliant video once again! Had no idea about this route and this video was making me want to do it till you mentioned the price at the end 😭 Do you know another similar experience (with private cabin like the one you booked) but cheaper or a more "worth the money for what you get"?
Thank you for the comment! The Nightjet used to be a decent value for money overall, but the dynamic pricing really has put many people (including myself going forward) off which is a shame. Sadly Nightjet rule the roost when it comes to night trains in Western Europe these days, but start-up European Sleeper I found to be pretty decent value for money when I tried them (Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Dresden-Prague). They'll also be launching a Brussels-Venice service in February next year too, and recently launched a dining car!
@@OMtheRails I travelled on both European Sleeper (Brussels to Prague) and Nightjet (Innsbruck to Dusseldorf) recently. European Sleeper definitely felt like the poor relation, but the service provided by staff was much better. On the European Sleeper, breakfast was extra (I think around EUR10), but was included on the Nightjet. Both services ran late! (But don't even get me started on trying to get across Germany on my way from Dusseldorf to Brussels!!) Great video by the way - it just makes me want to go back and try some more night trains 🙂
@@d9dga it took me until today to realise that 😆 it makes so much sense now. I always thought it was when they were built, the newer ones have a higher number, but that didn't quite match up
Lucky you. Our trip from Brussels to Salzburg last week cancelled on 48 hours notice. Whilst I understand why, more notice would have helped as this completely messed up the holiday, and trying to get the money back from outside Austria when you don't speak German is not straightforward (visited the OBB travel office in Salzburg when we eventually arrived - fingers crossed that the form will be processed).
The SBB coaches aren't 'standard SBB type 4 intercity coaches', they are EuroCity-coaches. They look similar to the type 4 coaches, but have different interiors, and the door placement is also different.
I've taken this train way too many times for my liking. Always in the 4/6 person sleeper room. Never again. Well, if I would need to take this route, I would much prefer to go via Paris during the day. If I would take the sleeper, I would only take it with a private cabin.
How much?? But if i took my wife and daughter would it be the same price as it is for a cabin? I was thinking about taking this for a second and then heard the price. Used to live in Basel and enjoyed the Swiss trains
Hi, i'm planning this route and can I ask what should I present to the ticket inspector if I have interrail pass? Is it both the interrail ticket and the nightjet ticket reservation? Many thanks!
Whichever one they ask for! I think they generally ask for Nightjet reservation, partly to check you're in the right accommodation. Because you need your interrail pass to book the Nightjet reservation, they didn't seem as concerned about the interrail pass on the night trains and Eurostar.
@@damcoentertainment3956 At that price it would cover 2 nights in a hotel + flight especially if booked in advance which you have to do for cabin if you went by train.
It's meant to be 150 million, the captions say "million", and that's the correct number (it's slightly above that). But yes I could also swear he says billion.
@@Ghfvhvfg but the flight only takes an hour, you really don't need any comfort for this short of a journey, just eat something before, take a good rest. There is no enjoyment on the night train, the last time I went, it was cold for hours as the heating didn't work, all food was sold out, there was a terrible screeching noise from the brakes and we had many last minute passengers getting the free beds in our cabin in the middle of the night. We were woken many times. Given the price difference you might be able to just book another night at a hotel. Seriously no matter how you look at it, it's not worth it.
Two of us travelled on the NJ from Munich to Rome in September. We were in a two-person en-suite room in one of the new carriages. It was quite comfortable - the mattress was just slightly too think for me - but it was also quite small and I don’t know how anyone with lots of luggage would get on. The en-suite is not supposed to have a shower but it does have a flexible shower hose and a clip on the wall. We didn’t get the chance to use it because we were thrown off at Florence, where we were about 1.5 hours late, and in the middle of breakfast. To be fair FS were very efficient at putting us onto a Frecciarossa at the adjoining platform, and by taking the high speed line we arrived in Rome earlier we would have got there if the NJ had been on time!
About the dynamic price policy:
Seeing such a surge in prices is actually a good sign.
Not for the individual passenger, but for the night trains in total. Getting high prices on an dynamic price policy means that people _really_ want night trains and are willing to pay for it.
30 minutes delay is quite good because they normally drive with a minimum of 1 to 2 hours delay, I have one seen with a 5 hour delay but here in the Netherlands they are also being known because of the many delays they are experiencing
At least you can get a partial refund in those cases which is quite a lot of money when traveling with in the premium sleeper cabin.
30 min late isnt that bad, i have seen +14h on Vienna-Amsterdam once. XD
Yikes! Yeah I consider myself lucky, especially with the crossover through Germany! 😬
Regarding delays, expecting the unexpected is the norm., all in all a great way of travel by train Great review and nicely presented video👍
This is the first video I've watched from your channel and I'm impressed about the level of detail going into your videos, and as far as i can tell all the facts in this video were correct! So there must be a fair amount of research going into your content. Its much apprechiated!:) A little sidenote; the VSOE is usually hauled by 2 Re 420 locomotives on it's leg through switzerland! Also you were lucky to spot a green one as there are only 2 left with this livery, one of them hauling freight trains, and the rest is painted in red.
Good film thanks. You were lucky to ride on it, I had a reservation for a couchette on 28th September 2024. Two days beforehand they emailed me to say there were no couchette vehicles on the train (technical difficulty) and I could either travel in the seating carriage or have a refund. I elected for the refund, which to my amazement came within a few days. Changing my itinerary a little, I booked a night in a hotel in Mannheim which was both cheaper and better than the train option, and continued my journey to Amsterdam by daytime trains. This involved changing trains at Koln Messe Deutz which is close to the riverfront, where I had an excellent coffee + fruit tart between trains. I can recommend the Bismarck Hotel in Mannheim by the way! So although I got to Amsterdam later than expected, I think I had a better experience.
Apparently this happens quite often. Especially on the Zurich- Amsterdam Route. The swiss national broadcaster even made a documentary about it. The statement from the swiss railway operator was that they don't have any spare sleeper cars since they are owned by ÖBB so they can only substitute them with their own standard train cars if the sleeper cars have a technical problem and apparently they have problems pretty often since the sleeper cars are pretty old.
@@Breitiger Thanks for that explanation, which makes sense. Unfortunately one bad experience tends to put me off trying again.
@@Clivestravelandtrains For the time being that seems to be a smart decision since the problem is still recurring.
I paid 425 Euro for a double with shower and WC inluding breakfast and two small bottles of sparkling wine Hamburg - Innsbruck in August. It was the largest of the doubles in the New Nighjet from Siemens. The other doubles having a combined shower and WC, while ours had a separate shower. It was quit luxurious. For comparison: I paid 200 Euro for two first class tickets with DB Kiel-Freiburg and 150 Euro for a premium hotel room for two in July. I think this will be the price to expect forwards. There are many cheaper options: standard doubles, shared sleepers, couchettes and mini cabins. 20 to 30 years ago I travelled reguarly in coach on night trains to save money. New rolling stock is extremely expensive, and Nighthet has to start buying new roling stock. I have travelled Berlin - Budapest for much less money in a double, but I am not sure if that is Nightjet or a Nighjet affilate. Generally prices drop when traveling in Eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe. European Sleeper will have to buy new rolling stock sooner or later also. Their oldest rolling stock are from the 50ies. So I expect their prices to rise also.
Yes, the cabins are good. If you can get one. My experience is that I am often too early to make a reservation, or when I try later, everything is sold out.
When traveling from Zurich to Prague, the train left about one hour earlier, without notifying passengers. The attendant told me that 5 passengers were missing. No surprise. It happened to friends that the sleeper coach simply did not show up. 14 hours is a very long time to cover the distance between Zurich and Amsterdam. Don't forget that there is nothing else to do on the train than stay in your cabin.
In short, the Nightjet CAN be good,
Did the Basel BBHf to Utrecht sleeper-train vv. regularly in the 90s. Even then on-time was rare, but it was the best ever way of travelling I have done. And I travelled a lot.
I liked what a friend of mine who now lives in Denmark had to say about this: ‘We find our railway just as unreliable as in Germany. But we're less upset about it. Because we can't change anything in the short term anyway. Your delay is still good, our NJ was 13 hours late from Hamburg Altona because the drivers couldn't lock their cars, which ended in a fire brigade operation
Looks great! Thanks for the comprehensive review including all the details. 👌
Design Peces glad you are enjoying them
The big attraction of this is city centre to city centre without the hassle of airports and airport security - I just wish they would hurry up and start building the high speed rail tunnel under the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin that could join the main Dublin - Belfast line, allowing arrival at Dublin Connolly - I’d love to see a dedicated direct service from Hull via Leeds, Manchester Victoria and through to Holyhead to connect with such a high speed line to Dublin
that would be amazing but probably won't happen:(
Great vlog! Glad I came across you. Just subscribed 😊
I have taken nightjet, it was great, only issue was breakfast was later than I had asked. Right now prices indeed insane but the trains have 100% occupancy anyway so OEBB can get away with it.
Great video !!
The supermarkets in HB are ok if you're in a hurry, otherwise there is a huge Coop Supermarket right across the road next to the river Limmat. The selection and prices are way better.
I've paid ~80EUR for couchette last February from Zurich to Budapest, which I thought was quite a reasonable price, especially because I was booking few days in advance. They used MAV cars along the route, to which I have a major complaint, that the upper couchettes don't have a power outlet. Given they were retrofitted not so long ago, I believe MAV could've installed outlets.
Brilliant video once again! Had no idea about this route and this video was making me want to do it till you mentioned the price at the end 😭 Do you know another similar experience (with private cabin like the one you booked) but cheaper or a more "worth the money for what you get"?
Thank you for the comment! The Nightjet used to be a decent value for money overall, but the dynamic pricing really has put many people (including myself going forward) off which is a shame. Sadly Nightjet rule the roost when it comes to night trains in Western Europe these days, but start-up European Sleeper I found to be pretty decent value for money when I tried them (Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Dresden-Prague). They'll also be launching a Brussels-Venice service in February next year too, and recently launched a dining car!
@@OMtheRails I travelled on both European Sleeper (Brussels to Prague) and Nightjet (Innsbruck to Dusseldorf) recently. European Sleeper definitely felt like the poor relation, but the service provided by staff was much better. On the European Sleeper, breakfast was extra (I think around EUR10), but was included on the Nightjet. Both services ran late! (But don't even get me started on trying to get across Germany on my way from Dusseldorf to Brussels!!) Great video by the way - it just makes me want to go back and try some more night trains 🙂
I really like NJ, but I usually book only the ones where RnGsus has blessed me with reasonable prices
Great document, thank you.
2:32 the tracks 31-34 are just one set of underground tracks! There's also 21-22 for the SZU (originally intended for the Zürich Metro) and 41-44
It took me a whole year to realise that these platforms were numbered because of how many floors below ground they were 😂
@@d9dga it took me until today to realise that 😆 it makes so much sense now. I always thought it was when they were built, the newer ones have a higher number, but that didn't quite match up
wow good one!
Love this channel ;)
Lucky you. Our trip from Brussels to Salzburg last week cancelled on 48 hours notice. Whilst I understand why, more notice would have helped as this completely messed up the holiday, and trying to get the money back from outside Austria when you don't speak German is not straightforward (visited the OBB travel office in Salzburg when we eventually arrived - fingers crossed that the form will be processed).
5:20 This locomotive is a Re460 belonging to the SBB
The SBB coaches aren't 'standard SBB type 4 intercity coaches', they are EuroCity-coaches. They look similar to the type 4 coaches, but have different interiors, and the door placement is also different.
A MUn sleeper on this Nightjet again? I thought they only use AB33 on the route. You had luck and travelled aboard the best sleeping car ever made!
living in switzerland ive saw the trains being in my 50s the trains look old
I've taken this train way too many times for my liking. Always in the 4/6 person sleeper room. Never again. Well, if I would need to take this route, I would much prefer to go via Paris during the day. If I would take the sleeper, I would only take it with a private cabin.
Wow
16:10 Freiburg is located in the Breisgau region. Baden-Württemberg is a state, not a region.
Nice video as usual. Out of curiosity. What is your speedometer app?
Can you board the train at the intermediate swiss stations on Sundays?
Apologies forgot to mention! But yes you can, quite a fair amount of people boarded the train at that point!
2nd in 😍🥰🤩! Great video as always!
Thank you!!
How much?? But if i took my wife and daughter would it be the same price as it is for a cabin? I was thinking about taking this for a second and then heard the price. Used to live in Basel and enjoyed the Swiss trains
Please try again vande Bharat express
Hi, i'm planning this route and can I ask what should I present to the ticket inspector if I have interrail pass? Is it both the interrail ticket and the nightjet ticket reservation? Many thanks!
Whichever one they ask for! I think they generally ask for Nightjet reservation, partly to check you're in the right accommodation. Because you need your interrail pass to book the Nightjet reservation, they didn't seem as concerned about the interrail pass on the night trains and Eurostar.
How do you book the MuN double bed bunk?
18:45 which speed app is that?
you forgotten the. platforms. 41to 44 for s Bahn … and the. tracks. 21/22 for. a very unig service of SZU !
It’s such a short flight. Why suffer that long on a train.?
Why does it take a whopping 14 hours?! With the car It can be done in 8 hours. Maybe 10 hours during the day.
if they want to make traintravel a viable alternative to flying, it needs to be cheaper,.... but it isn't.
I think it's way too expensive for a ticket, I fly for just 90 from Amsterdam to Zürich.
So much for modern European trains. Our slow old XPT Sydney to Melbourne 800 kilometres is only 12 hours.
Yikes that's so expensive, at that price you can just fly as it's cheaper and faster.
You will have to pay another night at the hotel.
@@damcoentertainment3956 At that price it would cover 2 nights in a hotel + flight especially if booked in advance which you have to do for cabin if you went by train.
But not as much fun!
Did he really say 150 billion a year?? That's about 4.1m a day. Sounds a bit iffy......
It's meant to be 150 million, the captions say "million", and that's the correct number (it's slightly above that). But yes I could also swear he says billion.
A plane ticket is much cheaper. It makes no sense.
More confort security cheks no rhank rather enjoy a longer journey
@@Ghfvhvfg but the flight only takes an hour, you really don't need any comfort for this short of a journey, just eat something before, take a good rest. There is no enjoyment on the night train, the last time I went, it was cold for hours as the heating didn't work, all food was sold out, there was a terrible screeching noise from the brakes and we had many last minute passengers getting the free beds in our cabin in the middle of the night. We were woken many times. Given the price difference you might be able to just book another night at a hotel. Seriously no matter how you look at it, it's not worth it.
Two of us travelled on the NJ from Munich to Rome in September. We were in a two-person en-suite room in one of the new carriages. It was quite comfortable - the mattress was just slightly too think for me - but it was also quite small and I don’t know how anyone with lots of luggage would get on. The en-suite is not supposed to have a shower but it does have a flexible shower hose and a clip on the wall. We didn’t get the chance to use it because we were thrown off at Florence, where we were about 1.5 hours late, and in the middle of breakfast. To be fair FS were very efficient at putting us onto a Frecciarossa at the adjoining platform, and by taking the high speed line we arrived in Rome earlier we would have got there if the NJ had been on time!
First in