# Mediocrity on the City Night Line, Basel-Copenhagen



## greatcats (Jun 24, 2014)

A few days ago I wrote on this forum about Italian and Swiss trains and then I arrived Basel, a beautiful city on the Rhine. I have already remarked on how expensive Switzerland is, so will not belabor that point further. The Hotel Basel was by far the nicest place I have encountered since starting in Bulgaria - it appears to be a rather new building, but blends in with the style of the old city on the exterior, and is quite modern on the inside. I went to the Muenster ( Cathedral ) twice on Sunday; in the morning for the German service, mainly to hear the excellent organ and choir, and at 6pm attended the Anglican service in English in the St. Niklaus Chapel, complete with choir and small pipe organ. An aesthetic delight for me!

The next day, I had intentions of taking a Rhine boat cruise, but they take the day off on Mondays. Likewise the art museum. So, for FREE! ( imagine that in Switzerland, because of a pass for hotel guests ) I had unlimited use of the public transport system and opted for what was billed as the Panorama tram tour. ( aka streetcar, aka trolley - w/ pantograph, aka light rail . ) The extensive system in Basel is quite amazing - multiple cars and articulated units snake through the narrow streets. This suggested route makes two loops, on either side of the Rhine, and ascends via a separate right of way up to the Bruederholz neiighborhood, which looks pretty upscale. I debarked up there and walked some woodland paths and around the water tower, which was quite pleasant. Arriving back downtown, I had a nice lunch of pork with mushroom and wine sauce out on the sidewalk, making this the main meal of the day, since there would be no dining car on the train. Per one of our forum members suggestions, I purchased a takeout box and Black Forest tort from the Migros supermarket in the SBB station. ( this is the big station that handles the Swiss and also French trains, and my City Night Line Train left from here. ) There is another station on the north side of the Rhine, the Bad Bahnhof, which belongs to DB, Deutsche Bahn. This huge structure looks like it had a **** architect, with sweeping stone lines that somewhat resemble the stadium where the notorious Olympics were held in the 1930s. Maybe the same architect. I will say one thing for this station - on the above ground platforms, they are very wide, serving two tracks. Penn Station in New York could use platforms of these dimensions, but there would not be many tracks remaining after such a remodel!

OK, with picnic in hand, our train pulled in the station. Vestibule open, nobody there - had trouble finding my room, as things are labeled differently than what one expects. Finally found the car attendant, John, who was a nice guy, but I'll have to say he was out to lunch. When we arrived in Copenhagen, he was in his cabin, not assisting passengers getting off. It is common in Europe for passengers to open doors themselves, but the people ahead of me did, I followed, and we found we were on the wrong platform, not meant for public use. So, I opened the door on the other side myself - no sign of John! Duh!

What I am about to describe, not that the trip was horrible, but in some respects it made Amtrak look pretty good. My sleeping car compartment was pretty nice; this was a single level car. Intended to sleep three passengers, with quite a bit of room to maneuver, and a spacious bathroom with shower, with a clever design of a swiveling sink that is filled from the showerhead. One of the two light bulbs in the room was out. John did not have a replacement. I took a shower later and the squeeze bottle labeled soap and shampoo was empty. ( I had my own shampoo, just in case. ) Not too impressive.

A few months ago the dining car was eliminated on this train. It now reads Bistro. Harrumph! Amtrak snack cars have more to say for them than this. I procured a small bottle of wine with my remaining Swiss cash to have with my picnic in my room, for which there was no table, although there is a rack for drinks. The bistro is in one portion of a sleeper, with a small window for service and a table or two with benches and a standup area. I did not linger here, although the young lady attendant was very sweet. They only have wine and beer, no brandy or Scotch which I might have liked later. These trains have no lounge car, so other than this small snack bar area, there is no place to go besides one's room and mingle with other passengers. In lieu of a baggage car, there is a large area in one of the cars for bicycles.

I will say my compartment was comfortable, and in the past I have done couchettes in Europe and similar stacked sleepers in China, which I detested. The ride through Germany in the evening is mildly interesting, mostly rural. We pulled into Frankfurt about three and a half hours after departure, around 10pm and the ventilation and electric plugs went out, evidently because the locomotive was run to the other end to reverse direction. About 2am I was awakened because my CPAP machine went out - for switching and I believe this was in Hamburg. The other section of the train came from Prague.

I awoke about 6:15 am and we were stopped at the Danish border at Padborg. John brought me my " deluxe " breakfast " as requested at 7:15. I realize this is a take on the traditional European continental breakfast, but I was unable to give a thumbs up - one hard roll, a sweet roll, liver spread, cream cheese, jam, a little container of applesauce and tea, as the coffee was not recommended. ( I have been in too many hotel breakfast buffets lately. ) The rest of the trip was mainly through rural areas. One thing I do not like about Europe, plus we have it in the US, is the preponderance of graffiti, even in Switzerland. It is shame to see sleek, modern rail equipment and buildings defaced this way. We arrived Copenhagen only about 5 minutes late. I give the train credit for being pretty comfortable, having a smooth ride, and arriving as advertised. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 5. In the next two weeks I will be on Norwegian trains, and hope that I will have more positive reports.


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## cirdan (Jun 24, 2014)

The city Night Line used to be a real jewel. At the time I was run by a dedicated management more or less as an independent company.

DB has since dismantled that and integrated it with its other operations and this has led to a lot of things going downhill.

It's all very sad really.

On the other hand, many other iconic night trains have been discontinued entirely in recent years so we can count ourselves lucky this one is still running... for now.


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## greatcats (Jun 24, 2014)

Moderator - I see you edited out the name of a well known German political party. They were undesirables, but I didn't know the term was a curse word.


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## MrFSS (Jun 24, 2014)

greatcats said:


> Moderator - I see you edited out the name of a well known German political party. They were undesirables, but I didn't know the term was a curse word.


No one on the staff did it, the forum software automatically does it.


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## greatcats (Jun 24, 2014)

How remarkable! Thanks for the explanation, Mr. FSS! Tripadvisor did the same thing to me when I used the word a**, saying they would not tolerate profanity!


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## MrFSS (Jun 24, 2014)

greatcats said:


> How remarkable! Thanks for the explanation, Mr. FSS! Tripadvisor did the same thing to me when I used the word a**, saying they would not tolerate profanity!


You have to remember we are seen all over the world and by children. What may not seem bad to you might to someone else.


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## Ispolkom (Jun 24, 2014)

Could be worse. I found that an ancient post of mine to a listserv that had been archived using a censorship program. In the post I said, "I live in Northern ******ia..." Yes, it had censored Virginia.


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## cirdan (Jun 24, 2014)

greatcats said:


> There is another station on the north side of the Rhine, the Bad Bahnhof, which belongs to DB, Deutsche Bahn. This huge structure looks like it had a **** architect, with sweeping stone lines that somewhat resemble the stadium where the notorious Olympics were held in the 1930s. Maybe the same architect. I will say one thing for this station - on the above ground platforms, they are very wide, serving two tracks. Penn Station in New York could use platforms of these dimensions, but there would not be many tracks remaining after such a remodel!


Actually this station is a bit older than that. It's actually pre WW1. The architect was the same that built Helsinki main station and there are certain similarities.

The station used to have a larg train shed, but this was demolished in the 1980s after having fallen into disrepair.

It used to be a very large and spooky place with its very large and empty halls. Walking through it was a bit like walking through some ancient palace or tomb. The recent renovation of the headhouse has brought in some shoops and restaurants to fill that space so it's quite different now.


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## greatcats (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks for the additional insight. I could imagine that it was rather spooky, but it seems pretty well utilized. Copenhagen is an impressive station with a big wooden beamed ceiling.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 24, 2014)

Too bad what used to be a crack train has been allowed to deteriorate!Did the invisible SCA get a large tip???

According to my gf whose daughter lives in Copenhagen, you will really enjoy crossing over to Sweden and Norway across the water! And Danes go to Sweden and Germany to shop since Denmark has such High Value Added Taxes on everything!

I remember when Sweden was the most expensive place in Europe so this is a surprise!

Be sure and look for Hamlet while you're there in Denmark! LOL

Looking forward to your next report on your adventures in Scandinavia!


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## greatcats (Jun 24, 2014)

Jim. I will not be going into Sweden as I've booked the overnight boat to Oslo. Regarding tipping, Europeans do not tip the way we do. I have left some gratuities in some places, but have cut back. The SCA received zip. Too bad, he was a friendly guy.


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## seat38a (Jun 24, 2014)

Nice report! After reading this, it makes Amtrak's dinning car meals seem like a 5 star affair.


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## Railroad Bill (Jun 24, 2014)

Enjoying reading your trip reports from Europe. Hope to someday travel there but flying is a problem and the RR trestle from NY to London has yet to be completed..


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## Train person (Jun 28, 2014)

seat38a said:


> Nice report! After reading this, it makes Amtrak's dinning car meals seem like a 5 star affair.


How much worse would Amtraks meal service be if they only ran a maximum of one night?

Most German and Swiss stations have enough (and better) eating venues that you can dine in before joining your sleeper.

A spot of breakfast is all I would be looking for.


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## greatcats (Jun 28, 2014)

I agree with you up to a point about eating in the station, which is what I did, but took it to my sleeper. However, I was disappointed with this train over that much discussed topic of " amenities. " Essentially, one was stuck in the sleeper compartment. This was not a bad place to be, but I also found it isolating.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 28, 2014)

Sort of a European version of the Harvey House Restaurants without the Harvey Girls!


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## train person (Jun 29, 2014)

greatcats said:


> I agree with you up to a point about eating in the station, which is what I did, but took it to my sleeper. However, I was disappointed with this train over that much discussed topic of " amenities. " Essentially, one was stuck in the sleeper compartment. This was not a bad place to be, but I also found it isolating.


Kind of agree with you about the isolating thing.

Lounge cars have never been a feature of European night trains, the dining car was the nearest thing to it. Given the much shorter journey times I doubt a lounge car would see much use anyway. The London to Inverness sleeper has a bar car serving drinks and meals but that's (I think) just for sleeper passengers.

A journey time of 11 hours from 2100 to 0815 probably doesn't need much more.


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## Steve4031 (Jun 29, 2014)

I ride a train from Paris to Copenhagen in 1995. It left Paris at 4;30 pm and arrived Copenhagen the next morning. There was no diner. I packed food and dealt with it.

I had a first class compartment to myself. The attendant gave me a handle which I could use to open and shut the window. It only opened about 4 inches. So no "Dutch door action". It was still cool to have an open window.

This was an interesting ride because I only new arrival and departure times. I had a hard time tracing the route in the cooks timetable. We went north from Paris through Belgium and Namur to cologne And then hamburg on the way to Copenhagen.


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## CHamilton (Aug 4, 2014)

DB shrinks City Night Line network


> GERMAN Rail (DB) long-distance subsidiary DB Fernverkehr is planning to further restructure its night train and Autozug motor rail services, which have collectively lost more than €20m annually in recent years....
> 
> Services will be withdrawn in December on the following routes:
> 
> ...


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## cirdan (Aug 4, 2014)

CHamilton said:


> DB shrinks City Night Line network
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Apparently this move is fuelled by trouble with the double deck sleeper cars. They are withdrawing these without replacing then.

There is no plan in place, not even long term, to buy any new cars, so it seems likely the network will shrink further as successive generations of cars are withdrawn,

Much the same thing is happening in France.


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## greatcats (Aug 5, 2014)

Thanks, Charlie, for the story. It is rather sad what is happening. It would appear that short and medium distance trains in Europe are well patronized, but that overnight services are on the decline. I was not too thrilled with my trip Basel-Cooenhagen, but it served my purpose.


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## CHamilton (Aug 12, 2014)

Europe needs a shared vision for overnight trains



> The slow death of overnight trains in Europe isn't inevitable, but it is a possibility unless a common vision can be found for their future and operators take a more pragmatic approach to filling every berth.


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