"Revamped" Austrian Sleeper Service

[Gilbert B Norman]

It appears that the State owned Austrian Railways, the OBB, is prepared to take a "damn the torpedoes" approach to other European operators with an introduction of NightJet Sleeper service starting next month:

http://www.oebb.at/en/angebote-ermaessi ... kategorien" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since European railroads have indeed become a "splash of colors" since I first "went over" during 1960, this initiative could be nothing more than painting up the existing cars for a "last hurrah" of a service that is clearly "dead" anywhere there is a HSR option. Austria, however, does not have HSR (dedicated ROW's; 300kph); just Higher Speed Rail over which incremental improvements are continually being made.

Here also, is a "workaround", as well as an interesting array of photos, to a "Footsie" paywalled article.

[george matthews]

I have taken sleeper service from Wien to the Netherlands - probably getting off at Utrecht.

[johnthefireman]

It's about 20 years since I was on an Austrian sleeper, probably from Salzburg to Koln, if I remember rightly. I do recall that it seemed like a very smart, neat and modern sleeper car.

[johnthefireman]

Since European railroads have indeed become a "splash of colors"

A few years ago I read an article somewhere in the railway press which noted that modern British privatised train liveries look more like ice-cream vans rather than the dignified liveries of earlier times. There have been some notable exceptions - GNER's dark blue, and the current GWR green - but generally it is still the case. The removal of the requirement for the front of a train to be painted yellow is a step in the right direction, but the requirement that passenger doors must be easily distinguishable for visibility-impaired passengers is a challenge - I can't recall offhand how GWR handles that one.