I worked on international night trains in Europe in the 1980s

300 night train journeys in five years!

In five years, I’ve accompanied almost 300 overnight trips and covered some 350,000 km, or almost nine times around the Earth. My employer was the famous Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT).

I still have fond memories of this period, one of the most memorable experiences of my life, both in terms of the openness it gave me to other horizons and the wealth of human contacts it brought me.

My ambition is to give you an idea of what night trains were like in those days, through my own experiences, with two articles:

• The first one recounts my travels in France.

• The second one, my international travels to other European countries (this one).

I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible, but forty years on, it’s not unlikely that a few errors have crept into my memory.

Above all, it’s a story I’d like to share with the younger generation, to show them what Europe was like when the night train was a fully-fledged mode of transport. And for the older ones, I hope my story will bring back fond memories of those days.

Nota bene: Illustration sources have been acknowledged wherever possible. In the event of a problem, please contact me for amicable resolution, including immediate removal if necessary.

Europe by night trains

In the 1980s, international trains were numerous, and night trains played a significant role in long-distance travel. This is indeed the great benefit of night trains, which, by making you travel during your sleeping hours, reduce the total perception of travel time.

The leading European railway companies cooperated within the Trans Euro Night (TEN) pool to connect major European cities by night train with sleeping cars and couchettes.

Journeys either as a sleeping car conductor or couchette attendant

As occasional attendants, we had the chance to work on some of these international night trains.

As on domestic routes in France, we sometimes accompanied sleeping cars as a ‘conductor’. This was the official term, inherited from the past, to describe our role as steward in charge of on-board service, security, and checks. I explain our role in more detail in the first article dedicated to domestic routes in France.

But most often we worked on board couchette cars. On international routes, couchette attendants were employed to carry out control operations on behalf of passengers with the railway, customs, and police authorities of the various countries crossed.

Source: SNCF Media Library – Bruno Vignal (left and right)

The countries I regularly went to were Italy, Spain, Denmark, and, more occasionally, Austria. As a young student, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to discover our beautiful continent.

Here is the map of the routes on which I did at least one accompaniment (in blue). I have added some routes that existed at the time, but which I was unable to do (in gray)

Italy and France: Two countries well connected by night trains.

Ah, Italy! The rail connections between France and Italy were numerous, with trains that had names like Palatino, Galileo, or Stendhal, a bit more poetic than simple numbers. Given the distance, the majority were night trains. I made good use of them!

I went to Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Trieste, Rimini, Bologna, and Bolzano. The only ones missing from my record were the Paris-Naples and Nice-Rome routes!

The TEN timetable was very comprehensive. In addition to schedules, it indicated the type of sleeping cars, the presence of couchettes, and the sections where there was a dining car or grill-express.

The Palatino: Paris — Modane — Turin — Genoa — Pisa — Rome

The most prestigious of them was the Palatino, which served the Paris — Dijon — Chambéry — Modane — Turin — Genoa — Pisa — Rome line.

Between Chambéry and Dijon, SNCF attached a Grill-Express car to the Palatino, with self-service dining. The hamburger and fries, the standard dish, fell far short of France’s gastronomic reputation.

Between Genoa and Rome, an Italian dining car was attached to the Palatino. It was still a service with white tablecloths and meals prepared on board by a real chef. On the return journey, I have very fond memories of the pasta dishes and espressos that were served to us once the customers had returned to their compartments!

Sources: SNCF and FS

Once on the Palatino, I had to activate the emergency signal on the descent from Modane to Turin. I still remember the sensation of pulling the red handle and seeing the train stop. I had been alerted by passengers who had noticed thick smoke and sparks coming from one of the wheels of my couchette car. It was the brake that had locked.

The Galileo: Paris — Vallorbe — Domodossola — Milan — Venice or Florence

The Galileo was certainly one of the most tiring journeys, as the train crossed two borders and traversed three countries: France, Switzerland, and Italy. We had to present tickets to the conductors of each country and identity papers to the relevant police and customs. In total, there could be eleven checks! Rest was very fragmented. Fortunately, I was young and could easily fall back asleep after each interruption to my sleep.

During this time, passengers could sleep peacefully, except in rare cases where they were not in a state of order. Since then, the implementation of Schengen has greatly facilitated travel in Europe. It’s a convenience that we tend to take for granted these days.

The Galileo, after crossing the Franco-Swiss border at Vallorbe, continued towards Lausanne, then skirted Lake Geneva, turned east towards the Simplon tunnel, and emerged on the other side of the mountain in Italy at Domodossola.

At night, of course, we could only discern shadows or lights from the villages or cities we passed through. But at that time, we could still open the windows of the trains. Crossing the Jura or Alps mountains, we felt the temperature becoming cooler and the air purer. In summer, after Domodossola, the humid heat of the Po Valley made us realize we were elsewhere!

In the early morning, we arrived at the monumental Milan Central Station, or Garibaldi Station, depending on the season. The Galileo was then split into two, with one part heading to Venice and the other to Florence.

As an anecdote, one day, upon arriving in Florence, I discovered posters of the Italian Communist Party stuck on my couchette car, for which I had unwittingly become the promoter.

The 80s coincided with the arrival of the Walkman, which was a true musical revolution. With my headphones on, I loved watching the landscapes go by while listening to the music from my cassettes. At that time, I was listening to Blondie, Supertramp, or Pink Floyd.

The Simplon Express: Paris — Trieste — Zagreb — Belgrade

The first time, I was misled by the scheduling department when I was offered the opportunity to accompany the Simplon Express. I thought I would find myself on one of the prestigious branches of the Orient Express bound for Istanbul!

The reality was quite different. I ended up accompanying an ordinary sleeping car to Belgrade. Moreover, my shift ended in Trieste, Italy, just before the border with former Yugoslavia.

The clientele was mainly composed of Croatian and Serbian emigrants returning home for holidays. At that time, both peoples were part of the same country, and cohabitation in our sleeping cars was peaceful.

In summer, I was always impressed by the large number of people, family, friends, or neighbors who came to the platform to greet travelers returning to Yugoslavia. Heading southbound, bags and bundles of all kinds accumulated incredibly, filled with gifts and essential products for the emigrants’ families.

It was certainly the train with the poorest clientele on our network departing from France. But it was also the only one where passengers spontaneously and joyfully invited us to share their picnics in their compartments.

At that time, by changing trains in Belgrade, it was possible to travel to Athens in sleeping or couchette cars. Nowadays, this is no longer possible, as the Greek rail network is no longer connected to the rest of Europe.

The Italia Express: Calais — Lille — Strasbourg — Florence — Rome

This was the longest journey we had to accompany. It departed at 3:45 PM from Calais, arriving in Rome the next day around 2 PM. The train passed through Lille, Metz, Strasbourg, Basel, Zurich, Milan, and Florence. It only had couchette cars, no sleeping cars, or dining cars. It was therefore better to plan to buy food and drinks before departure.

The Italia Express departed from Calais maritime station to facilitate connections with ferries coming from Great Britain. It was therefore a train mainly scheduled for English clientele.

Source: Summer 82 timetable – Thomas Cook Europe Guide (left)

On this train, I had one of the biggest scares of my career as a couchette attendant. The Italia Express was running late, and while waiting for departure, I had gotten off to stretch my legs on the platform in Calais. And there, without any announcement, I saw my train start without me! Fortunately, automatic door closures didn’t exist yet, and I was able to get back on my car before the train gained too much speed. Otherwise, I would have been left on the platform with all my belongings on board, and my travelers would have been abandoned. Total shame!

Chartered sleeping cars or couchettes

On several occasions, I had the opportunity to accompany groups to Italy who chartered a couchette car for their exclusive use.

Once, near Bologna, my clients were cheerful Catholic pilgrims. The organizer asked my permission to celebrate a mass on board the couchette car. The priest used my office to set up an improvised altar. It was a strange feeling to hear the faithful praying and singing in chorus in each compartment.

Another time, it was a group of high school students going on a school trip to Bolzano, a destination that, however, was not regularly served from France. In Verona, our car was detached from the Lombardy Express to be attached to a local Italian train. I’m not sure that today’s European railways could offer such a tailor-made service.

Finally, I also remember a group of retired military personnel who had chartered a sleeping car to Rome. Some wore their military decorations. I have unfortunately forgotten the reason for their trip.

I loved this diversity of human contacts in my travels.

La Dolce Vita

Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Rimini, Trieste. All the cities we served were enchanting. In five years, I never tired of returning to them. For the young man I was, discovering and revisiting them was a privilege.

Sometimes, during extended spring weekends, we would stay for one or two nights on location, instead of returning as usual on the same evening. This allowed us to enjoy the Italian cities even more.

As we traveled more, I developed my habits, wandering in the places that appealed to me the most. I had the feeling of being almost at home, no longer just a simple tourist walking around with a guidebook in hand.

My best memory is in Venice at the exit of Santa Lucia station, where we arrived on a large pedestrian square lined by the famous Grand Canal. The vaporettos, gondolas, and water taxis created a magical bustle that transported us to another world.

Source: Google Earth

After a morning where I usually slept to recover from the broken night, I would then stroll around leisurely.

The tourist influx in Italy was much more moderate than today, and there were still genuine low seasons. Thus, in Venice, one of my favorite destinations, it was still easy to get lost in the alleys and along the canals without encountering anyone other than Venetians. The city was still populated by about 90,000 inhabitants, compared to less than 50,000 nowadays. Airbnb rentals didn’t exist.

In Rome, Milan, or Florence, I discovered other atmospheres. In Rimini, I took the opportunity to go to the beach.

Return like a pasha!

Sometimes, specific trips held pleasant surprises. It happened that I brought back an empty sleeping car from Italy to Paris, just for myself.

In these cases, I played the grand seigneur by setting up two ‘single’ compartments just for me: one in bed version, the other in lounge mode. Needless to say, in the early morning, I attracted envious looks by giving myself airs of a young, wealthy person, under the eyes of commuters crammed into suburban trains that crossed ours!

Madrid aboard the old Puerta del Sol.

At that time, to go to Madrid, there were not one, but two night trains.

The Talgo – the prestigious hotel train: Paris – Madrid and Paris – Barcelona

The most prestigious was the Talgo, composed of sleeping cars, with the new feature of on-board showers, and a dining car.

It was truly revolutionary. On the one hand, its tilting technology allowed for higher speeds on conventional rail lines. On the other hand, it featured an automatic system that adjusted the bogies to fit the different track gauges between France and Spain, without needing to change them.

On board, travelers benefited from hotel-type service with a Madrid crew. It was the flagship of the Spanish railways.

Source: SNCF promotional leaflet

This train operated to Madrid and Barcelona, but we didn’t have the opportunity to work on it, as it was managed by the Spanish railways. We contented ourselves with observing it enviously on the platform of Gare d’Austerlitz in Paris.

The Puerta del Sol: a downgraded train Paris – Bordeaux – Hendaye – Madrid

As for us, we worked on the other train, the Puerta del Sol. Since the arrival of the Talgo in 1981, it had been downgraded, and its sleeping cars had been removed. The journey time was much longer, and the train was mainly composed of old couchette cars or non-air-conditioned seating cars.

Source: Summer 82 timetable – Thomas Cook Europe Timetable

During holiday periods, we would find many Spanish families who had emigrated to France returning to their country of origin. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, but also noisy! Very noisy, even, as I had more than once the impression that travelers were arguing when they were just chatting.

At the border, in Hendaye, the train passed through a shed where it was elevated to change the bogies, adapted to the French network (1,435 mm gauge) or Spanish (1,668 mm gauge). The operation was well-managed but took more than an hour. We had to ensure that we locked the car doors properly to avoid accidents.

Source: SNCF Media Library – Coppin (left) – Bruno Vignal (right)

During the technical operations, we would go to the customs and police offices to have our passengers’ documents checked. They could continue sleeping peacefully, except in case of a problem. I remember a retired Australian couple who didn’t have visas for Spain, and the police forced them off the train in a rather unpleasant manner, leaving them stranded in the middle of the night in the small town of Hendaye. The Schengen agreements did not exist yet.

At 1 AM on the outbound journey and 3 AM on the return, it was rather exhausting for us.

Before Madrid, an American Wild West landscape!

Upon waking, heading south, we discovered a landscape vastly different from the day before. We were on the Castilian plateau, a vast semi-arid and sparsely populated expanse. Yellow became the dominant color, replacing the green fields we had crossed the previous day as we left Paris. Of all the night train journeys I’ve made, this was undoubtedly one of the most exotic. We felt like we were in the American Wild West!

Source: Pixabay – Sierra, Madrid, Guadarrama

The view of the Sierra de Guadarrama signaled our arrival at Madrid-Chamartín. The station had been built less than ten years earlier, in the 70s. Its modern and functional architecture, somewhat like an airport, contrasted with that of Paris-Austerlitz, which we had left the day before, dating from the 19th century and, at that time, never renovated.

Our stay in the Iberian capital was brief, as our train arrived at 10 AM (or even later, due to frequent delays) and our return was scheduled for around 6 PM. In Madrid, we were accommodated in a nice three-star air-conditioned hotel with a pool. It was the only destination where CIWLT offered us quality accommodation. Everywhere else, we had to make do with very simple guesthouses or dormitories for railway workers.

The Puerta del Sol: A Challenging Train for Sleeper Car Attendants

The Puerta del Sol, however, was not my favorite train. It was very tiring: the cars were old, the track in Spain was in poor condition, and it was very bumpy.

Moreover, as occasional workers, we only worked on the additional cars. The regular cars were accompanied by professional Madrid-based sleeper car attendants with whom relations were rather complex. They were relatively older, embittered by years, even decades, of working on the Puerta del Sol. They viewed us unfavorably and did nothing to assist us when we needed help.

Finally, delays were frequent, often one or two hours. On the outbound journey, this meant that our rest time, theoretically between 10 AM and 6 PM, was shortened.

We did, however, have one compensation. On the return journey, on the Spanish side, an antique dining car from the 1930s was added to the train. After our service, we would gather for dinner around a paella, in an atmosphere worthy of the Orient Express of yesteryear.

Source: “Europe by Sleeping-car” – Michael Patterson

The Anxiety of Forgetting to Wake a Passenger

Forgetting to wake a passenger was my nightmare. In five years, it only happened to me once, on a return trip of the Puerta del Sol departing from Madrid. I had several passengers to wake for the Bordeaux stop at 5:30 AM, including a 14-year-old boy. I don’t remember why, but I had forgotten him, and it wasn’t until shortly before Paris that the kid came to ask me when we would arrive in Bordeaux!

I immediately imagined the worst scenarios: the boy’s family panicking, alerting the police when they didn’t see him in Bordeaux. And of course, we didn’t have mobile phones to reassure them immediately, as we would nowadays.

But luck was on my side this time, as the final destination of my young traveler was not Bordeaux, but Brest, with two connections in Nantes and Quimper. With the help of the SNCF ticket inspector, I was able to find him a direct Paris-Brest train which, moreover, arrived ten minutes before its scheduled time.

Upon arrival of the Puerta del Sol in Paris, it was with great relief that I accompanied the young boy from Austerlitz station to Montparnasse station, where I entrusted him to the ticket inspector of the Paris-Brest train, explaining the situation!

Austria: In the Footsteps of the Orient Express

We served three destinations in Austria: Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Vienna. However, it was exceptional for us students to secure these assignments, as we had to be lucky enough to replace, at the last moment, a professional conductor who was unavailable.

The Orient Express: Paris – Vienna – Budapest – Bucharest

As a result, I only went to Vienna once on the Orient Express. The train departed from Paris, Gare de l’Est, at 11:15 PM and arrived in Vienna the following day at 3:30 PM. Its late departure allowed for stops in Stuttgart, Munich and Salzburg during the morning.

The train had retained its prestigious name, Orient Express, but by the 80s, it had become just an ordinary train, featuring only a dining car on certain sections of the journey.

Three times a week, a sleeping car continued to Budapest, then Bucharest. The journey lasted 37 hours. I would have dreamed of doing it, but French conductors did not operate the section beyond Vienna.

Needless to say, the Orient Express was one of my biggest frustrations in my career as a sleeping car conductor! I could only console myself by reading Agatha Christie’s novel ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.

Source: TEN Timetable Winter 82 83

The Arlberg Express: Paris – Zurich – Innsbruck

The Arlberg Express was a train bound for Innsbruck. It also left late in the evening to allow travelers to arrive in Zurich at 7 AM. Then, the train continued along Lake Zurich towards Innsbruck.

The journey was splendid, especially in winter, with the snow-capped mountains. The most surprising thing was the arrival in St. Anton, where the ski slopes almost ran down to the station!

Copenhagen: The Nord Express

The Paris-Copenhagen night train was one of my favorites, as I have always been attracted to Northern European countries and Scandinavian culture. Luckily, it was often offered to us as sleeper attendants.

The Nord Express in Summer: Paris-Liège-Hamburg-Puttgarden-Rødby-Copenhagen-Stockholm

The train departed from Gare du Nord, continued to Liège, Cologne, and Hamburg, then to Puttgarden, where we boarded a ferry to reach Rødby, Denmark. During the crossing, it was possible to go on deck to breathe the sea air. The feeling of being in a different world was intense. Today, you have to go to Sicily to experience something similar to a train boarding a boat!

Source: TEN Timetable Winter 82 (left)

Upon arrival in Copenhagen in summer, sleeping cars sometimes continued to Stockholm. However, since the journey took place during the day, it was no longer necessary for them to be accompanied by sleeper attendants, as railway or police checks could be conducted directly with passengers without interrupting their sleep.

Source: railfaneurope.net Morten S. Sørensen

The bridge-tunnel connecting Copenhagen to Malmö did not exist yet. A second ferry transfer was established between Helsingør on the Danish side and Helsingborg on the Swedish side.

The clientele on this route was relatively young. Scandinavian and French backpackers mingled to discover a different exoticism depending on their point of view. The Interrail pass already existed but was reserved for young people.

The Nord Express in Winter: A Train Combined with the Paris-Moscow, the Famous East-West Express

In winter, during the low season, our train was a combination of several trains: the Nord Express and the East-West Express.

Departing from Paris, our train consisted of sleeper cars and couchettes bound for Copenhagen, as well as others destined for Moscow. In Aachen, the train was reconfigured, and we picked up additional sleeper cars and couchettes from Ostend and Brussels heading to Copenhagen. We then detached the Paris-Moscow carriages, which were connected to another train.

I was fascinated by the Russian sleeper cars, with their deep green color, quite different from ours. It was still the era of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. The Russian conductors traveled in pairs, likely to keep a closer eye on each other. Upon arrival in Paris, they remained in their car and departed directly for a nearly 48-hour journey to Moscow, passing through East Berlin, Warsaw, and Minsk.

The compartments were equipped with rather kitsch curtains. We would go and greet our Soviet colleagues, the provodnik, because despite the Iron Curtain, we were part of the same railway family. Speaking only rudimentary English or French, the conversation was limited, but we were kindly received with a cup of excellent tea, served from a superb samovar.

Source: SNCF Media Library – Michel Henri

My Last Journey: An Overwhelming Emotion

The Copenhagen-Paris train on August 28, 1986, was my last journey as a conductor or couchette attendant. I felt an overwhelming emotion, as I had loved working on night trains so much. It was time to take stock.

Thanks to CIWLT, I had fulfilled my desire for travel. I had traveled across France and Europe. I felt at home in Rome, Venice, Madrid, or Copenhagen, which I had the pleasure of visiting several times, although they were previously unknown to me.

The human experience was incredible. During my five years of work, I met thousands of travelers, dozens of colleagues of all ages, and had interesting exchanges with many of them. On night trains, we had time to talk, and we weren’t enclosed in our digital bubbles like today.

My night train journeys also involved intense physical sensations. There was the noise, with the regular rolling on the tracks, the numerous and changing smells depending on the places we passed through, the swaying of the train, which, with habit, became a real lullaby, as well as the various languages we heard in stations or from our travelers.

It was also the fatigue after a night in a somewhat old sleeper car, the urgent desire for a shower after a summer night in a non-air-conditioned train, or, in winter, the biting cold on the platform while waiting for our passengers. I loved it.

And above all, I remember the night and its intimate atmosphere, as well as the sunsets and sunrises, which are always unique. It’s something almost indescribable that you have to experience to understand why the night train is an absolutely unique mode of transport.

Below is my Service Record as a Sleeping-Car and Couchette Attendant.

After Night Trains, My Take-Off with Planes !

On September 1, 1986, I joined UTA, a small French airline that would be bought out a few years later by Air France, as a young executive. I was then leaving trains for planes, my second passion… but that’s another story, which I partly mention in another article: “Was It Better to Fly in the 80s?”

Forty Years Later: Almost Nothing Remains of the 80s Legacy

In 2025, forty years later, almost nothing remains. From Paris, there are no night trains to Italy, Spain, or Denmark. Thanks to the Austrian railways, it is only possible to go to Vienna or Berlin, and only three times a week.

In France, among the destinations I used to reach from Paris in sleeper cars, only Nice, Briançon, Cerbère, Toulouse, and Tarbes remain, with only couchette offerings and no sleeper cars. The province-to-province connections have completely disappeared! Too bad for regional development and planning.

Pepy: “ I’m nostalgic for night trains ; but yes, now we’re in a new world “

In 2017, Guillaume Pepy, then CEO of SNCF, declared: ‘I am nostalgic for night trains; but yes, now we’re in a new world.’ During an interview with France Inter, he took a very hostile stance on night trains, which he wanted to stop due to the service’s deficit and lack of customer interest.

The development of too cheap air travel and high-speed rail lines has partly contributed to the decline of night trains. New economic and competitive rules have also changed the game, making the operation of international trains more complex than before.

Sources: Night Trains – Georges Ribeill (left) / ANV Hautes-Pyrénées – Night train users’ protest in Lourdes 2017. (right)

SNCF has its share of responsibility in the demise of night trains

I think SNCF did nothing to reverse the trend either.

Even in my time, SNCF’s rolling stock was obsolete and was never renewed afterwards, until its near disappearance in the 2010s. The promotion of night trains was almost non-existent. It’s true that after 1981, SNCF was much more interested in developing TGVs, these ‘planes on rails’.

We had to wait until 2023 and the Austrian railways, ÖBB, to see a real innovation with a 21st-century night train: the new Nightjet, which I had the opportunity to try and which I describe in the article ‘I tested the new generation Nightjet night train.’

Nowadays: A renaissance of night trains

The public once again desires night trains, driven by both ecological concerns and a desire to travel more sustainably. The revival has begun, but it will be slow, firstly due to a lack of equipment, and secondly because of the lack of will and innovation from major European railway companies.

The proof? They shift responsibility to governments by asking for subsidies… which, of course, don’t come. A startup, Midnight Trains, had tried to think differently, but without the support of a major railway operator, they had to throw in the towel.

It’s a shame that we weren’t able to capitalize on the magnificent heritage we had in the 80s. Now we have to rebuild everything… and inevitably, it will take longer.

My blog: Supporting this renaissance of night trains

Since 2021, I’ve started a travel blog, which has allowed me to promote this fantastic mode of transport: the night train. With each new line opening, like Paris-Berlin in 2024, my eyes light up.

I’ve grouped all my current train trips in a dedicated section: ‘Rail Travel‘. “