European Railroad Discussion > A couple of interesting trains at Salzburg

When I was in Salzburg in May, I was able to spend a little time watching trains at the Hauptbahnhof. While I was there, I saw two trains that I found particularly interesting.

On my first morning, when I arrived at the HBF, the first train listed on the departure board was SDRV 79154, destined to "Villach HBF-Autoverla." It was running late, but when it finally arrived, I was surprised to see a rather varied set of equipment behind the Railpool Traxx locomotive. What ultimately allowed me to identify this train was the "Urlaubs-Express" (Holiday Express) sign on a couple of the cars.

Tom

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Here are more photos of the train's equipment. The third car shown below was particularly interesting to me, reminding me of the Chesapeake & Ohio stainless steel cars I used to see on trains moving in and out of Pennsylvania Station, New York, in the late 1960s (these would move over the Pennsylvania Railroad to Washington, D.C., and were interchanged there to the C&O).

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/17 16:39 by tmrail.

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And here's one more passenger car plus one of several auto (and motorcycle) carriers on the rear of the train. As I said above, the "Urlaubs-Express" sign on a couple of these cars allowed me to identify the operator of the train. Apparently this operator runs an "Auto Train" type of service from Hamburg to various destinations including Villach. For more info, see https://www.urlaubs-express.de/en.

I would be interested to hear whether anyone on Trainorders has used this service and if so, what further information or comments they might have about it. Those cars certainly have a lot of service behind them!

Tom

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The other train that I found especially interesting during my two mornings at the Salzburg HBF was Nightjet train EN 294, from Rome to Munich. I understand that this service had been operated by Deutsche Bahn until the timetable change last December, when ÖBB took over this route as well as several other former DB overnight services.

On my second morning at the station, I knew that the EN 294 was due to arrive on track 9, the farthest track away from the main station area, so I found a spot in the bicycle parking facility east of the station to get a few photos. The train arrived about an hour late (it's due to arrive at 06:16 and depart at 06:27) and as I waited for it I noticed a number of policemen gathered on that platform. I didn't think too much of that, since it seemed there were quite a few security people around the HBF every time I was there.

Anyway, the train finally arrived, with its full complement of eight cars (five from Rome and three from Milan, added at Villach). Soon, I noticed several "polizisten" in the first car of the train, a couchette style car (third image below). I thought they might be checking passports, although if that were the case, it probably should have been done at the first station in Austria (Villach). After about ten minutes, a woman emerged from one of the compartments and appeared to be escorted off the train by one of the police officers. I couldn't see what was happening on the platform because the train blocked my view. I'll never know why she was detained, but it certainly was an interesting show!

The train finally departed for Munich, by this time running about 90 minutes late.

For more, see http://bit.ly/2fqpBU7.

Tom Murray



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/17 10:31 by tmrail.

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Neat photos, thanks for posting.

I am sure there are a lot of aging equipment working alongside all the glitzy hi-speed equipment in Europe. Neat to see some!

Photo 6 just needs "Chesapeake and Ohio" on the top yellow stripe to give it some additional spunk.

I know that Austria has reintroduced checks on the border with Italy to try to stem the flow of illegal migrants from Libya, possibly the police presence has something to do with that?

86235 Wrote:
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I know that Austria has reintroduced checks on the border with Italy to try to stem the flow of illegal migrants from Libya, possibly the police presence has something to do with that?
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In this case, the police seemed to be targeting this specific car, and a specific compartment within the car. I didn't see a police presence in any of the other cars.

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/17 15:43 by tmrail.

The stainless steel sleepers were built using Budd patents/designs so certainly have a familiar look.

tmrail Wrote:
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> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> I know that Austria has reintroduced checks on the
> border with Italy to try to stem the flow of
> illegal migrants from Libya, possibly the police
> presence has something to do with that?
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> In this case, the police seemed to be targeting
> this specific car, and a specific compartment
> within the car. I didn't see a police presence in
> any of the other cars.
>
> Tom

Maybe so but until 2015 Austria, as part of the Schengen group of European countries, had no border controls with Italy or any other fellow Schengen country so what you saw probably wouldn't have happened. It's a bit different now and that has been caused by the migrant crisis.

tmrail Wrote:
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> .... Soon, I noticed
> several "polizisten" in the first car of the
> train, a couchette style car (third image below).
> I thought they might be checking passports,
> although if that were the case, it probably should
> have been done at the first station in Austria
> (Villach)....

Tom,
thanks for your report and pic´s.
The Polizisten are German Federal Police, checking the trains in Salzburg, Austria for illegal emigrants. Not sure this is legal, but for train riders it is better to check here than with an extra stop across the border. Anyway there are about 80 trains daily from Salzburg to Germany, a lot of it S-Bahn trains to the nearest point Freilassing, Germany. This S-Bahnen are not checked in Salzburg because they are arriving Freilassing on a platform with only 1 exit.
Erwin from Austria

Thanks, Nick (86235) and Erwin (spandfecerwin), for your helpful information on the factors underlying the checking of international trains at Salzburg.

Tom

I notice that one of the cars is a "couchette," a type of sleeper. I had read somewhere that some European railroads are eliminating sleeping car service. I think part of this is due to cheaper airfares: you no longer have to take a sleeper to avoid losing a day in travel on a train.

Anyone know more about this?

UPDATE: I decided to do a little research, and it appears that ÖBB has reinstated some overnight trains and has upgraded some sleeping cars. Apparently SNCF and DB are cutting back on those services, not without some protests.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/17 07:34 by colehour.

colehour Wrote:
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> I had read somewhere that some
> European railroads are eliminating sleeping car
> service. I think part of this is due to cheaper
> airfares: you no longer have to take a sleeper to
> avoid losing a day in travel on a train.

To see the most recent articles about developments in the European overnight business, go to http://www.railwaygazette.com and enter the phrase "night trains" (in quotation marks) in the search box. This will bring up more than 20 articles on the subject.

If you want to do a deep dive into this subject, go to http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU(2017)601977 to download a 228-page report on night trains. Fortunately, there's a four-page executive summary that will probably tell you as much as you want to know.

One paragraph that relates to your question is this: "The use of night trains for business travel appears to be in decline, although the best accommodation with the highest fares on some trains appears to be sold out first. The use of night trains is dominated by leisure travel, a growing proportion of which may be by passengers visiting friends and relatives, for whom the night train may offer no savings in hotel costs. Changing social norms, and rising expectations, mean that passengers are less willing to sleep with strangers, or without direct access to a toilet or an opportunity to shower or bath. Night trains also face growing competition from other modes."

Tom

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Photo 6 just needs "Chesapeake and Ohio" on the
> top yellow stripe to give it some additional
> spunk.

I was thinking the same thing, but with "Delaware and Hudson" lettering.