Paris-Berlin sleeper train reaching end of the line
Commuters jostle to get on and off gleaming high-speed trains at Berlin's main railway station on a cold December morning, but one platform remains stubbornly empty. At last, a grimy engine draws in, pulling carriages that look like they saw their best days in the 1980s.
It's the sleeper train from Paris, 20 minutes late. But the dozen or so passengers who tumble out with heavy bags and rucksacks don't seem to mind. It's the last stop on a long journey, much as it will be soon for the train itself.
Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company, is ending its sleeper service between Paris and Berlin this week, citing unsustainable losses. The service has been running since before World War II, and used to go all the way to Moscow.
Fierce competition from airlines has lured passengers away from night trains that were once a mainstay of cross-border travel in Europe, Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman Susanne Schulz said.
"Demand has dropped by 30 percent over the past decade because of the sinking cost of airline tickets," Schulz told The Associated Press.
Railway enthusiasts fear other routes could soon follow, spelling doom for Europe's night trains as a whole. Campaigners have launched petitions calling on governments and the European Union to save what they argue is an ecological and family-friendly way to travel.
The carbon footprint for the Paris-Berlin rail journey is less than half that of a flight, according to Deutsche Bahn's website. While children pay close to full fare on airlines starting at age 2, they can ride the sleeper for free until they turn 15 and only need to reserve a seat or bed.
Others evoke the romance of rail journeys, and the fact that passengers are lifted out of the bustle of daily life for the time it takes to reach their destination.
"Going from Paris to Berlin in two hours is simply too fast," says Marie-Helene, a regular on the train who declined to give her surname. "I love reading, and there's plenty of time for that on the night train."
Pointing to the two big bags in front of her, she said budget airlines would have charged her a hefty excess baggage fee.
"I don't like to travel light," she laughed.
"It's also perfectly viable as a business connection," insisted Jon Worth, a consultant who started taking night trains as a means of discovering Europe and now uses them to travel between meetings. "You don't need to book a night in a hotel, and you wake up in the morning at your destination."
The cost of a midweek journey from Berlin to Paris by night train (four bunks to a room) starts at 70 euros ($87) and takes 12 hours. A two-hour flight with one piece of checked luggage starts at 55 euros.
Along with the link to the French capital, Deutsche Bahn is ending sleeper services to Amsterdam, Prague, Basel and Copenhagen, and cutting the Amsterdam connection for its overnight service to Warsaw.
(China Daily 12/13/2014 page10)
