Tag: by train

From Serbia 🇷🇸 to Bulgaria 🇧🇬 – the international train with only one carriage!

GarethLeave a Comment on From Serbia 🇷🇸 to Bulgaria 🇧🇬 – the international train with only one carriage!

When I think of an international train, what springs to mind is a long train with at least two classes to choose from and a Dining or Café Car to assist with hunger on the trip. Most international trains in Europe are like this, however, there are some unique exceptions. The once per day train from Dimitrovgrad, Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria, which was the only way to get from the capitals of Belgrade to Sofia from September to June (the winter season), was formed of a locomotive and only one Second Class carriage. They don’t lie when they say train travel isn’t popular in the Balkans!

I took a trip on this international Bulgarian Railways (BDZ) train in September 2019 as part of my trip from the United Kingdom to Türkiye exclusively by train. This particular train ran exclusively in the winter season as in the summer period the same train, except two carriages, started from Belgrade, completing its journey to Sofia in just over eleven hours.

Belgrade did happen to be our origin for this leg, however, as the direct train wasn’t available on our date – the only option was three trains from Belgrade to Niš, Niš to Dimitrovgrad and Dimitrovgrad to Sofia. All three journeys were possible to do in a day, though we opted to break the journey overnight in Niš and explore the fortress there (highly recommended!).

Surprisingly, having to take three different trains actually turned out to be a blessing as I explain below. At the time of booking this blessing was unknown as I tried to piece together timetables with the help of Mark Smith, the Man in Seat 61, to double check that I wouldn’t get stranded. Timetables have been known to not line up with connections. On the day I did witness the Niš to Dimitrovgrad train waiting for passengers connecting from the delayed Belgrade to Niš train, so it appears some people do make connecting journeys on this route, and this was known by the conductor on the train.

Unfortunately as of 2023 there is track work taking place on the Niš to Dimitrovgrad route with no replacement transport provided – there are public buses, however, they do not connect with the train as explained by the Man in Seat 61 here rendering Belgrade to Sofia in a day challenging if not impossible.

Here is a map of the journey from Dimitrovgrad to Sofia:

Departure from Dimitrovgrad

Dimitrovgrad is a town in the south-east of Serbia and was a peaceful place to enjoy a quick break from travelling. There wasn’t much going on at the station, however, I did find a kiosk that sold some cold drinks. These were very welcome as I glanced at a thermometer that confirmed that it was a hot day with the outside temperature of 32oC.

As we were connecting from the Serbian train from Niš, the platform change was a straightforward one – the Bulgarian train to Sofia, that departed fifty minutes later than the scheduled arrival into Dimitrovgrad, would depart from the same platform. We were running thirty-five minutes late, however, which meant that we would only have fifteen minutes in Dimitrovgrad before the only train that day to Sofia. It was hair-raising to see the Serbian train, that was our chariot for the last few hours, reverse out of the station almost straightaway after dropping us off. The reason immediately became apparent – the Bulgarian train that would take us to Sofia soon after, arrived on the same platform from a siding from the same direction.

They call it a small world and what happened next validated that. I never thought, at a small station in Serbia, I would meet a fellow traveller from the UK. Peter, who teaches at the University of Cambridge. had in fact followed us all the way from the UK by train, taking a similar route. We also met Alejandro from Spain who was en route to Kiev. We all made friends quickly and shared what was left from our food reserves for that day including a banana, a pack of apricots and biscuits to accompany our now lukewarm drinks.

Onboard the Bulgarian electric train

As we boarded the Second Class only Dimitrovgrad to Sofia train, we were immediately hit by how hot the carriage was inside – the train must have been sat in the sun for the whole day since its outward journey from Sofia. It was the first train on our journey from the UK without air conditioning and we had soon realised how spoilt we were on our previous trains. Myself and my new found friends wasted no time in opening all of the windows in the carriage for much needed respite. On departure, we were joined by three other passengers resulting in total occupancy of seven passengers.

The carriage, that was partitioned off into three compartments, had seats that were arranged in tables of four (without the table) as well as airline-style seating for two passengers. A toilet was available at the very rear of the carriage which I had the displeasure of using – it was very dark and not clean.

Very soon after departure from Dimitrovgrad, the train brakes were applied and we were stopped in a siding. This was for the Bulgarian Border Force to conduct passport checks to allow us to enter back into the European Union and Bulgaria. Passports were taken away for about thirty minutes and then returned to us before the train departed.

Once we were en route we sailed through to Sofia, having to close the windows at one point so the train didn’t lose its dark blue curtains in the draft, branded with the BDZ logo to match the seats. I noticed that the guard had a rather unusual cardboard pole that looked like a long cigar that he was using to signal to the driver to dispatch the train.

Scenery

The train from Dimitrovgrad to Sofia passes rural parts of northern Bulgaria with calls at some villages and towns en route.

Arrival into Sofia

We arrived on time into Sofia Central Station which is situated 1.7km from the centre of Sofia. The station was built originally in 1888 and rebuilt in a Brutalist style in 1974. It had extremely long platforms as you can see in the video below.

As we disembarked the train we noticed that this same carriage had been used for the direct summer only service from Belgrade Topčider to/from Sofia as shown on the carriage door and the plate on the side of the train.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed my Balkan trip and the train from Dimitrovgrad to Sofia was certainly a memorable experience.

Despite having to make three train changes to travel from Belgrade to Sofia, we concluded that this was the best way to do it in the hot weather to make the most of trains with air-conditioning. Travelling for some eleven hours in this carriage in this heat would have been a real challenge.

It’s a shame that the line from Niš to Dimitrovgrad is closed and no alternative transport is available. I hope that the service will resume soon to allow more seamless journeys from Belgrade to Sofia, two great capitals to explore.

Booking and Fares

I had used a free coupons issued to European rail staff for the full trip for both Serbian Railways (SV) and Bulgarian Railways (BDZ), though I think only the latter was necessary for this train. My travel companion had a Global InterRail Pass. The public price is available to buy only at the station prior to departure – it cannot be booked online.

While doing his ticket checks, our conductor was taking pictures of our passes. I don’t know why exactly, I’d like to think he was impressed we had travelled such a long way!

Journey LegFull Public PriceInterRailEuropean Rail Staff FIP Coupons
DImitrovgrad to Sofia10 Bulgarian LevIncludedFree

This article was first published in April 2023.

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The Istanbul-Sofia Express 🇹🇷🇧🇬 overnight train – comfortable but exhausting!

Gareth1 Comment on The Istanbul-Sofia Express 🇹🇷🇧🇬 overnight train – comfortable but exhausting!

Every evening, the Istanbul-Sofia Express sleeper train departs into the night connecting stations in the two countries of Bulgaria and Türkiye. This train is jointly operated by state operators in the countries it serves, the Turkish Railways (TCDD) and the Bulgarian Railways (BDZ), and is the only direct rail daily scheduled service available connecting the two countries. Believe it or not there is not a daytime option to travel between the two places, and the questioning as to why will be even more apparent as you read this Travel Report.

This journey was the final leg of my epic trip from the United Kingdom to Istanbul exclusively by train, taking place in 2019. This grand finale did bring plenty of excitement and a sense of achievement, but also tiredness as the journey ahead resulted in little relaxation.

Recently after a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Istanbul-Sofia Express has started running in 2023 again with some changes. The departure from Sofia is earlier, at 18:40, and thus the arrival into Halkali, a suburb in Istanbul, is now at 05:34, the following morning. The departure is now three hours earlier than in 2019.

Departure from Sofia Central Station

We arrived in good time at Sofia Central Station for our 21:45 departure – over an hour and half prior to this time. This meant that there was some waiting around required in the station and, to accommodate, the Sofia Central Station did have available plenty of places to sit in the warmth to admire its unique architecture.

Sofia Central Station is the main passenger station in Sofia and is located about one kilometre north of the city centre. The station in its current form is built in a Brutalist architectural style and dates back to 1971 where the station opened in 1974. It has more recently been renovated. Direct trains to/from Sofia serve four countries including the cities of Belgrade, Bucharest, Thessaloniki and Istanbul.

The notices and departure boards are in Bulgarian and English. Bulgaria is one of the few European countries to use the Cyrillic alphabet.

Onboard the Istanbul-Sofia Express

The Istanbul-Sofia Express came with a colourful mix of carriages – some old, covered in graffiti and rather dirty and others much newer looking and cleaner. Attached to the train was a variety of accommodation – sleeping cars, couchette cars and seated carriages, the former which are only available as far as the border where they are detached.

It is worth noting that there is no dining car or snacks to purchase on this train, nor any breakfast offering. Therefore, before departure we’re raided a supermarket in the centre of Sofia to arm ourselves with plenty of snacks and drinks for the journey.

Sleeping Car Accommodation

The sleeping cars on the Istanbul-Sofia Express are provided by the TCDD and make up all of the newer carriages built in the late nineties.

Armed with our reservation for car number 483, it took us a few moments to work out which car was ours as the coach number indicators weren’t in the usual place by the external doors as seen on other European train carriages. Hand-written on the side of the cars, in marker pen, were large three-digit numbers, one of which matched our reservation. The car numbers also happened to be marked on the destination plates, however, clearly these haven’t been obvious enough in the past to warrant the large scribble as well.

I’ve always wondered why many continental European trains have car numbers that are in the hundreds -if you know why please let me know in the comments section!

The sleeping car accommodation on the Istanbul-Sofia Express included the usual features of a sleeping car including air conditioning, a sink and curtains. It also had clean bedding, blankets sporting a tartan design (very cosy vibes indeed) and pillows provided. What really made this sleeping car compartment stand out compared to other European sleeper trains were a few features. Firstly, the compartments were the largest I’ve come across, and, secondly, there is also a fridge in the room that is stocked with some complimentary items including free bottled water, orange juice and cheese crackers.

Upon boarding, we found our sleeping car host who checked our travel documents briefly who then returned later to scrutinise them more after departure. Our compartment was initially set-up in ‘daytime mode’, which is that the beds that have been folded away to make way for two armchairs. When we were ready to sleep, we could fold the beds down to make up them ourselves.

There aren’t any en-suite compartments on the Istanbul-Sofia Express, with toilets at the end of each car. There was a choice between a western-style toilet at one end and a squat toilet onboard in each carriage. The western-style toilet, which also had toilet paper available, even had a bidet fitted to the toilet bowl. I can’t vouch for its success though!

Couchette Car and Seated Car

The Istanbul-Sofia Express also has a couchette car available for the full journey. At the time of the trip this was provided by the BDZ and it was quite a contrast to the cars provided by the TCDD with the carriage covered in graffiti and no air conditioning. Fast forward to today, this car has now been replaced with an upgraded air-conditioned TCDD Couchette Car improving the service offering.

Also on the train is seated accommodation available on the train as far as Svilengrad, on the Bulgarian side of the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Seated accommodation is not available, however, for the full trip unlike nearly all other sleeper trains in Europe.

Border Controls

As Bulgaria is in the EU and Türkiye is not, there are two border controls to go through on the trip once the train has arrived at the border stations of Svilengrad, on the Bulgarian side, and Kapikule, on the Turkish side. As this is a sleeper train unfortunately these controls fall during the night. Today, the eastbound train arrives at Svilengrad at 23:40, and in Kapikule at 01:45,

To keep things interesting the process required at each border station is different. At Svilengrad, the passports were collected by the sleeping car hosts and returned to us shortly before departure after checking by the police. Quite an easy process without the need to leave the compartment.

At Kapikule, the experience was entirely different. We had to disembark (with our luggage as is the case on eastbound trains) to go through passport control (showing my eVisa) and place our luggage through an x-ray machine, including our remaining items out of our compartment fridge! This took place in the main station building so we had to walk from the platform via the underpass. We were off the train for a pretty miserable hour, to be honest, and it was a chilly September night with only some stray cats to keep us company. Kapikule, like most border towns, didn’t exactly have a lot going on. One passenger was quite emotional, rushing to one cat’s defence, as one cat launched an attack at the smaller one. The authorities didn’t start the bag x-rays until after the last person has had their passport checked.

In 2019, when I made this journey, the train departed Sofia three hours later than today and not only that, the train picked up a delay of two hours within Bulgaria. This meant that we were finished with both borders at 05:00, which killed any hope of a good quality sleep. Not only that, the train was scheduled to arrive early in the morning, but we didn’t know how much time the train would make up in the early hours. Still we managed to get a few hours sleep and not miss our stop and end up in the train depot!

Arrival into Istanbul

Due to long-running engineering work, the sleeper train terminated in Halkali (and still does today) instead of the more central station of Sirkeci. Halkali is situated twenty-three kilometres from the centre of Istanbul. We were still able to finish our epic journey by rail, however, by using the Marmaray Metro direct from Halkali to Istanbul Sirkeci.It was lovely to finish our trip at the beautiful station of Sirkeci which is where the Orient Express finished its journey from Paris between 1883-1977. The station has its own museum which is jam-packed with old TCDD merchandise and machinery – well worth a look and free to enter.

Conclusion

The Istanbul-Sofia Express was quite a memorable experience! The sleeper train itself was comfortable and well equipped. Unfortunately, the disrupted night with the delay and the border controls, especially having to pack our bags and disembark with our luggage at Kapikule, meant for a largely sleepless night. The sense of achievement travelling across Europe exclusively by train was well worth it in the end, however.

Booking and Fares

This train is well known for being complicated to book, especially from abroad, with tickets only available in person at the station booking offices or via a travel specialist. Tickets or reservations can’t be issued online. The train can book up quickly and at the time I was able to use a renowned travel agent in Belgrade, Serbia who issued us with a hand written reservation to go with our tickets (quite a rarity these days!). This appears to no longer an option – you can check the Man in Seat 61 for the latest booking options from abroad.

Passengers with Interrail Passes (and FIP Free Coupons for European rail staff) are required to only purchase the reservation fee outlined below for their journey.

Journey LegCouchette
(2nd Class Ticket + couchette supplement)		Sleeping Car – 2 berth
(2nd Class Ticket + sleeping car supplement)		Sleeping Car – Solo Occupancy
(1st Class Ticket + solo sleeping car supplement)
Sofia to Istanbul18,48€ (+ 10,00€)18,48€ (+ 15,00€)27,72€ (+ 35,00€)

This article was first published in March 2023.

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Amtrak Coast Starlight – San Francisco 🇺🇸 to Los Angeles 🇺🇸 by train – the most scenic route in the US?

GarethLeave a Comment on Amtrak Coast Starlight – San Francisco 🇺🇸 to Los Angeles 🇺🇸 by train – the most scenic route in the US?

Across the world, the Coast Starlight will ring a bell with many and evoke scenes of travelling long distance on the rails in America. After-all, the route has existed in its current form since 1974, when it was formed from an amalgamation of two former Southern Pacific routes: the Coast Daylight and the Starlight.

The full route of the modern day Coast Starlight begins in the Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, running down the West Coast of America to Los Angeles in Southern California, making calls in the cities of Portland, Sacaramento, Emeryville and Santa Barbara. The full duration of the train trip is in excess of thirty-five hours for the impressive 1,377 mile journey.

For me, I opted to take it for the southern daytime part of the journey, only travelling from Emeryville to Los Angeles, taking in excess of twelve hours – still an all-day commitment. However, is this route and the Amtrak experience really what it lives up to be, and is it worth taking the Coast Starlight over flying? Let’s find out, as I bought a ticket for Amtrak’s cheapest accommodation option in Coach Class.

Departure from Emeryville

As there isn’t an Amtrak railway connection from San Francisco, the first part of the journey is by coach to Emeryville station, where the Coast Starlight would take us directly to the City of Angels. When booking with Amtrak it is possible to book a through journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which includes both the leg on the Amtrak Thruway Bus to Emeryville and the train to Los Angeles in one go.

The bus departed San Francisco promptly at an early 06:55 in the morning, arriving at Emeryville station soon after at 07:14. This arrived in plenty of time to wait for the train in Emeryville, which is scheduled to depart at 08:39.

Part of the reason for the early departure of the bus is that you can take advantage of the complimentary baggage check-in on the train. This is only possible up to forty-five minutes prior to the train’s departure time and must be done at the railway station (Emeryville in this case). It’s not the end of the world if you do miss the baggage check-in time as you can take the bag onto the train with you – as I found out on my trip on the Capitol Limited.

Facilities were limited at Emeryville station, though there was a waiting room with comfortable chairs, vending machines, an ATM, a café, which opened at 08:00, and toilet facilities.

The platform was announced shortly before departure and the train rolled in, albeit on a different platform than what was announced. This led to a mass sprawl of passengers, once the penny dropped that the train arriving was indeed the Coast Starlight. Having located the Coach Class car indicated on the side by the entrance, our car attendant appeared at the door. There was some confusion and giggling amongst passengers as the door was not on the platform, but the car attendant soon whisked out a yellow step to solve the problem.

Onboard the Coast Starlight

Coach Class Accommodation

Coach Class on the Coast Starlight entitled me to my own reserved reclining seat for the duration of the journey, in addition to access to the Sightseer Lounge and the Café Car on the train – more details of these areas below. This is more than enough to get by for the duration of the journey, especially if you’re travelling from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which is exclusively during the daytime. For those joining at the train’s origin in Seattle, this may be a different story, depending on preferences, as the train proceeds to travel through the night before its arrival into Emeryville.

Amtrak provides seat reservations on this route; however, unusually for the train provider world, you don’t find out what your specific seat is until the train has arrived into the platform. The specific seat number is scribbled down on a coloured piece of cardboard and handed to you by the car attendant. The same as my trip on the Amtrak Capitol Limited, customers are grouped together according to their destination.

By chance I was handed seat 61, which was an honour, as it would be for all of those who follow The Man in Seat 61 and his helpful DIY train travel website. I headed upstairs to locate my seat, which turned out to be a good one, of course, with a window view.

The seating in Coach Class is in a 2+2 configuration, so, if you’re a solo traveller, as I was on this trip, you’ll be seated next to another passenger going to the same destination. My seat-mate had disappeared soon after departure before we had a chance to say hello, which I tried not to take personally. As it happened, I only spent about 10% of the journey seated in Coach Class accommodation as soon after departure I decided to take a walk down the train and just like my seat-mate, we both had the same idea…

Sightseer Lounge

The Coast Starlight is one of the selected Amtrak routes to have a Sightseer Lounge – a good indication of what sights are on offer on the trip. This car is available for all customers and is the place to enjoy the scenery on offer with its panoramic windows. It’s also one of the best places to meet fellow passengers and has handy nearby access to the Café on the lower deck of the same car. The car has a variety of seating configurations, including seats facing the windows on each side as well as tables for four – perfect for admiring the views on offer on this trip.

This is where I ended up spending the remainder of the journey (90% of it) and sat on the right hand side in the direction of travel for the best scenery. This car became the hub of activity on the train; every so often new people would drop by to sit and chat, people from all walks of life, residing in all types of accommodation on the train – from a retired couple returning from a cruise in Alaska about to head to dinner to a local gentleman who seemed to know every landmark we were passing. The Sightseer Lounge is available to everyone after all and it was a great place to be.

Business Class Accommodation

There is a second type of seated accommodation on the Coast Starlight: Business Class. I was very glad that I hadn’t chosen to upgrade my Coach Class ticket to this class since the car was identical to Coach Class, other than a rather dull brown leather upholstery on the seats. There is very little to differentiate between the two classes in terms of service offering too, with the only perk being free bottled water provided at a station in the centre of the car. The Business Class car was only about 50% occupied during the trip, unlike Coach Class, which was fully booked; so that could be a hidden benefit.

Dining Car and Café Car

A trip on the Coast Starlight is a long one, so being able to purchase food and drink throughout the journey is important. Situated downstairs in the Sightseer Lounge is the Café Car, which was open, for most of the trip, for all passengers and closed only for staff breaks and to cash up at the end of the journey. On offer were some hot selections, sandwiches, salads and snacks.

Passengers with sleeping car tickets (for Superliner Roomettes and Bedrooms) have their meals included in the cost of the ticket and provided in the Dining Car on the train. This serves Amtrak’s Traditional Dining menu. However, since I was travelling in Coach Class, I only had access to the Café Car. I hope to review the Traditional Dining menu in the future.

In the Café Car I developed a love-hate relationship with the characterful lady serving in there. My first encounter of the trip with her was when she came upstairs to the Sightseer Lounge. She yelled down the carriage instructing us to use the trash boxes for rubbish – we were being too messy and leaving rubbish lying around! She then proceeded to splash me with a half cup of coffee she was clearing away after her rant with no apology, just an “oops”.

I allowed her some time to cool down and then walked downstairs to order something to eat. She thanked me for my order, wondered where I got my crisp $10.00 notes from and said that I talk funny (yes I have a north-east England accent that many Americans struggled to understand). She wished me an enjoyable trip and jokingly told me to “don’t get too fat on American food”.

Later on, there was a casualty on the trip (not a human one thankfully) but I did manage to lose my wireless headphones case. In the hope of locating it, I went down to my friend to see if anyone had handed it in. It’s not there, so the same lady told me it’s highly unusual for anyone to steal anything, and so she happily put an announcement out to the train for me: “please, have a good look around, the young man is in tears”. I proceeded back upstairs and became the subject of the trip. People said “was it you?”, “were you really in tears?”, “did you find them?”. I didn’t, but I admired the Cafe Car Lady’s sense of humour.

Sleeping Car Accommodation

As the Coast Starlight runs overnight in the northern part of the route, there is a choice of sleeping car accommodation which is also available for the day part of the journey, these are Superliner Roomettes and Bedrooms. Photographs of the same Superliner Roomettes can be found in my Amtrak Capitol Limited post.

Scenery

Quite contrary to the expectations, for the first seven hours of the journey there is no coastline visible from the train at all. But this isn’t all bad as the views are sublime of the passing hills and countryside. Think of a crop and it’s likely to be there right next to the railway line as the train will pass fields of lettuces, grapes, avocados, onions and strawberries – to name a few. Not only that, but you’ll pass through what are the garlic and artichoke capitals of the world at Gilroy and Castroville and you can catch a whiff of garlic as you pass Gilroy.

At San Luis Obispo, the southbound Coast Starlight met its northbound counterpart and soon after the train would join the coast. The timing of the trip was perfect for seeing the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

Arrival in Los Angeles

After twelve hours and thirty two minutes the Coast Starlight arrived into Los Angeles on time at 21:11. As we approached, there was an amusing announcement to ask “can all staff please ensure they take their items out of the fridge”. Baggage was soon available after arrival from the Baggage Reclaim section of the station.

Conclusion

I had a great time on the Amtrak Coast Starlight. The trip offered a highly memorable experience with great views throughout – and surprisingly only coastal views towards the end of the trip. There was a friendly ambiance onboard with passengers from all walks of life to pass the time with. For me, purchasing a Coach Class ticket for this trip was more than enough and I was happy that I chose not to upgrade to Business Class.

Booking and Fares

Booking the Coast Starlight isn’t a complicated affair as fares are available online at Amtrak.com.

Journey LegCoach ClassBusiness ClassSuperliner RoometteBedroom
San Francisco to Los Angeles (including Amtrak Thruway Coach)from $54.00from
$94.00		from
$257.00		from $378.00

Book with Omio.com

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If you book via the below link with Omio, Rail-Away earns a small commission that helps to support the running costs of the site – this is greatly appreciated.

Make sure if you’re looking for the Coast Starlight that you choose Train 11 Coast Starlight as there are other trains available for the same journey.

Book Emeryville to Los Angeles direct with Omio

This article was first published in January 2023.

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Train across the Alps 🗻 – Zürich 🇨🇭 to Vienna 🇦🇹 via the scenic Arlberg Pass

GarethLeave a Comment on Train across the Alps 🗻 – Zürich 🇨🇭 to Vienna 🇦🇹 via the scenic Arlberg Pass

It would certainly be quicker to fly for the 787 kilometre journey connecting Switzerland’s largest city with the capital of Austria, but there would be a lot to miss out on too. In April 2022, as restrictions were being lifted from the COVID-19 pandemic, I took a trip on one of the two hourly departures direct from the centre of Zürich to the centre of Vienna.

Most of these trains are operated by the RailJet, the modern flagship intercity train of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) capable of travelling at 230 kilometres per hour (143mph) known for its three classes of travel and dining car – so I opted for one of these. More specifically I took the 12:40 departure that starts its journey in Zürich and is bound not just for Vienna, where I was headed to, but actually finishes its journey in Bratislava, Slovakia. One for another trip.

This seven hours and forty minute journey to Vienna crosses more borders than you might think – four in fact! Firstly the border from Switzerland into Liechenstein, which you wouldn’t realise unless you checked with no station stops here, then into Austria, then the RailJets opt for a brief crossing into Germany (also non-stop), before Austria once again for the final stretch. This had the potential to cause much confusion with a cocktail of COVID-19 restrictions and mask-wearing requirements at the time, where masks in Austria were required. However, for simplicity travel rules were subjected to Austria’s requirements east of Buchs St Gallen station, and there was a helpful announcement in German and English reminding customers to wear a mask for the rest of the journey from here.

If you’re flexible with timings, there is also the EuroCity Transalpin that takes in the same route as far as Wörgl Hbf and then a more scenic route towards Graz, with connections available to Vienna. It departs at 08:40 and offers one of the best travelling environments in Europe, the Swiss panorama car with its large windows, available for First Class ticket holders.

Onboard the ÖBB RailJet

The modern ÖBB RailJet boasts three types of accommodation on board – Economy, First and Business, with Business being more premium than First Class. There’s also a Dining Car onboard, called DoN’s, and hosts serving the Dining Car menu to tables in First and Business classes.

First Class Accommodation

For this journey I had booked First accommodation that has 2+1 seating in a variety of configurations (airline style and opposite seating at tables). A menu was provided soon after departure and shortly followed by the first of many ‘check-ins’ with the host to see if we wanted anything from the Dining Car menu. The service on our trip was second to none – the host was very attentive throughout the journey, which was impressive considering the length of his shift – he didn’t stop in the nearly eight hours. Safe to say he got a much deserved tip at the end.

Catering Options

As mentioned already there is a Dining Car on the RailJet train situated between Economy Class and First Class. This is open to all customers, however, there is little reason in moving to sit here from the comfort of a First Class or Business Class seat with the at-seat service provided. The menu isn’t the cheapest, but the food very enjoyable. I enjoyed a Wiener Schnitzel for mains, followed by Griesflammerie for dessert and all washed down with a very good bottle of Reisling – this set me back a total of 31,20€. Highlights from the menu are pictured below.

The Dining Car was first-come-first-served and did get busy at times. Otherwise meals can be taken back to your seat for customers in Economy Class.

Economy Class Accommodation

There are four carriages of Economy Class on a RailJet which is arranged in a 2+2 configuration and offers a mixture of airline style and table seating. There are power sockets available at each seat. WiFi is available throughout the train.

Business Class Accommodation

The most premium accommodation on the train is Business Class. For 15,00€ customers with a ticket for First Class accommodation can upgrade to a very comfortable Business Class, this includes a specific seat reservation if booked in advance. Not only that you are able to take advantage of a complimentary welcome drink of wine or fruit juice as well as being able to take advantage of the Dining Car menu from the host. This would’ve been a no-brainer for me travelling for such a long journey – however it was fully reserved for much of the journey.

Scenery

The dramatic scenery on this route was a feast for the eyes for most of the journey. On departure from Zürich, the train runs along two lakes, Zürichsee and Walensee, before starting the ascent to the stunning Arlberg Pass, reaching a modest 1,310 metres above sea level. To add to the magic, in April time there were snowy landscapes thrown in. The snow on the ground increased as the train reached the highest part of the line, then the train travels through the short Arlberg Tunnel before descending into Innsbruck, and eventually Salzburg and Vienna.

Booking and Fares

Booking this journey on my specific date in April would have actually cost more by purchasing a point-to-point ticket direct from Zürich to Vienna direct from the Austrian Railways (c.120,00€), subject to availability as fares change according to demand.

By purchasing a Frankfurt to Vienna and typing in “via Zurich” into the DB Bahn website the fare reduced to 60,90€. As it happens I was travelling from Frankfurt, but you could get away with needing to turn up for the first leg. A full day’s worth of travel for this price isn’t bad in First Class!

Alternatively it may be cheaper to book Zürich to Vienna direct depending on this availability.

Journey LegEconomy ClassFirst ClassBusiness Class
Frankfurt to Vienna via Zürich (bought from DB Bahn)from 37,90€from 49,90€First Class +15,00€ (upgrade bought from ÖBB or on train)
Vienna to Zürich (bought from ÖBB)from 39,90€from 54,90€from €69,90

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This article was first published in December 2022.

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