Travel of the future is a thing of the past

European speed trains are a thing of the past, but they’re making a comeback in parts of the continent.

The once-modern-looking Trans Europ Express is about to revived with new routes across central and northern Europe.

In the decades after the Second World War the torn map of western Europe was stitched back ­together with a sprawling network of first-class intercity rail routes known as the Trans Europ ­Express.

The beige-and-burgundy-­liveried trains became a potent symbol for ideals of a modern, united continent, but by the late 1980s the scheme had been abandoned, mostly due to declining passenger numbers.

Now, however, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, under pressure to meet their carbon-emissions targets, are seeking to revive the spirit of the express with four new sleeper train routes that will ultimately link 13 western European cities.

The first two routes, from Amsterdam to Zurich, and from Vienna to Paris via Munich, will begin operating in a year’s time. By 2024 two further lines will connect Berlin to Barcelona and Amsterdam to Rome, with offshoots stretching to Warsaw and Graz.

One of the animating forces behind the project is German Transport Minister, Andreas Scheuer, who suggests it could be possible to board a train in ­Warsaw in the evening and arrive in Paris in time for breakfast the following morning, 13 hours later.

The expansion is likely to ­require substantial state investment, given the superannuated state of Europe’s remaining sleeper carriages.

A number of planned routes, such as a line from Turin to Lyons and a tunnel under the Baltic from Germany to Denmark, are well behind schedule.

The network is also fragmented between several national operators, each with its own byzantine ticketing system.

Yet there is also a degree of ­optimism, with passenger numbers on the existing routes growing by 10 per cent a year.

OBB in Austria has put in a €1.5bn order for 700 carriages from Siemens, at least 91 of which will be kitted out with bunk beds and other sleeping facilities. In August a private German rail company launched a twice-weekly sleeper train from Salzburg to the North Sea holiday island of Salt.

The Times