France Reveals New Sleeper Trains Built From Upcycled Carriages

These days, many travelers are experiencing the joys of rail travel, getting from A to B with no flights involved on comfortable sleeper trains. Just at the right time, France has announced its new sleeper trains, built from upcycled carriages and made for comfort.

France announces new sleeper trains

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which still hangs on by a thread, people are returning to travel. However, with flights being canceled all over Europe and elsewhere in the world, travel is becoming something of a nightmare. This is likely the perfect time for travelers to experience sleeper trains to get from A to B in comfort. There is also the benefit of reducing travelers’ carbon footprint.

Right now, long-distance train travel is making a major comeback, partly from the chaos at airports all over Europe. However, also, travelers are becoming conscious of the carbon impact of their flights. Another theory is that, following the COVID-19 pandemic, people are appreciating a slower pace of life, where the journey is part of the vacation. Whatever makes travelers choose the rail, train travel is a good way to go, with more options added all the time.

Upcycling trains in France

Back in May 2021, France reopened the sleeper train from Paris to Nice after a four-year break in service. On top of that, from July 1, a summer-only special route has been added from Paris to Henday on the Bay of Biscay, right on the Spanish border. This service will be running until August 28.

However, that isn’t all, as France has started recycling some of its old trains into sleek, comfortable sleeper trains. The country is doing so in order to increase its capacity to run more night trains. In fact, SNCF is transforming 100 carriages, previously destined for the scrap yard, into brand new sleeper trains. Moreover, the historic workshop close to Périgueux Station in southern France has already completed more than half of its transformation target.

Meanwhile, many of the carriages going under transformation had already been stripped to use their parts for fleet maintenance. Julien Polito, rolling stock manager at the Charentes Périgord Technicentre, said they had been “damaged, vandalized, squatted in” and were in a bad state of disrepair. In fact, he said they were the most damaged carriages in the fleet which had no commercial usage. This means that to put them into service, they had a significant amount of work to do to bring them up to standard.

According to Julien, it takes approximately 4,000 working hours to transform an abandoned carriage into one with beds. It further takes 2,500 – 3,000 hours to transform a seated carriage.

Night trains are returning to France

As reported by Euronews Travel, back in 2017, the French government terminated its night train service on all routes where passengers had other alternatives. This was done, due to the high costs of maintenance, and they kept only two, the route between Paris and Briançon in the Alps, and Cerbère in the Pyrenees.

However, in 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron’s administration went through a change of heart. Plans were announced to revive the night train service as part of a €5.3 billion program of investment in rail. In January, French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said he hoped to have night trains running on a dozen routes by 2030. In addition to the Paris-Nice link, there will be a revived service between Paris and Tarbes, near the Spanish border.

Meanwhile, France is already looking to the future. The country aims to have overnight trains running between provincial capitals and other European cities.

Other countries improving train services

Austria is also doing its bit, where state railway operator OeBB has recently launched several international routes. For example, travelers can hop on a trail in Vienna, and wake up in Amsterdam, Rome, or Brussels. It doesn’t get much better than that!

However, the UK also offers its Caledonian Sleeper that takes passengers between London and Scotland.

Travelers can imagine skipping airport chaos by climbing onto a comfortable sleeper train and making the journey part of the vacation.