i've had a Deluxe cabin experience with the shower. it was wonderful and private but anecdotally i still ended up sleeping better in the first class seats of the TGV that we had connection to right after the night train
I took an overnight train from Paris to Munich. Got on the train from Paris in the evening. My private stall had three seats with a folding table and a sink. The seats folds down and you can unfold three beds from the wall. I had a good sleep, woke up, got some breakfast delivered, took a shower and I was in Munich.
Yup. Being on a train is only a location not an activity. Like any other location it can be made more or less comfortable, I've been on a train where the heating failed; and one that was so crowded you could hardly breathe (last train home for the night so nobody was willing to miss out) but I've also been comfortably asleep in bed; eaten a decent (not award winning, but certainly reasonable even for a restaurant that wasn't hurtling though the countryside at a hundred miles per hour) meal; and watched some good movies on Netflix.
For me I have travelled many time in sleep-trains in the post soviet countries.
Provided you are in 2nd class or higher, the sleep is generally comfortable and lulling. But I might be used to it, as we also did often when I was a child and I was used to rocking and train noises.
The wild is a very different environment from a train ridden by a dude’s with years of acclimation to it.
A comfortable train seat or train bed is definitely a place where a tired person can and will ass out. I’ve slept through a plane takeoff and food service and thought 5 minutes passed, only to realize it’d been hours.
I have found them to be highly uncomfortable. I’ve taken several night trains in and around Central Europe and the rooms are claustrophobic, and god help you if you are in a four person. There’s barely any room for two people to stand. I’ve had arguments about temperature control where a lower bunk wanted air con off as it blew on their face, leaving it about 40c on the top bunk in summer overnight.
In Finland I’ve taken one of the more “luxurious” cabins with two bunks and a tiny shower. It’s marginally better but the walls are made or paper and the train stops during the night and you are awoken by passengers coming and going and worse the beeping of doors closing. This is with silicon earplugs.
The best sleeping train experience I had was from southern Thailand to Bangkok. The whole car was one big compartment, but it was surprisingly clean and comfortable.
I took trains all over Europe the thing is the smell.
Imagine someone taking MC Donald's in a train, which is already horrible on a open floor plan wagon. Some people just can't stand some smells and cabins are usually always small and don't provide enough fresh air to compensate for Smelly food.
I've left cabins before, and I've seen other people do so. It can be a huge annoyance.
All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc.
Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen here as some kind of benchmark are noisy with earplugs. They stop multiple times in the night so you wake to the beeping of the doors opening and closing.
I think there’s a market for rail travel. I love the idea. But it’s just not comfortable at all, or at least not economical to travel comfortably.
Sleeping compartments are AFAIK about the same price as hotel rooms. I used to sleep on the benches when a bit younger, but stopped that after a couple of sleepless attempts. Nowadays I do night trains solely for the time saving reasons.
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