Back in June 2021, a company in France called Midnight Trains launched its ‘Hotel on rails‘ project for luxury night train services worthy a hotel experience. Every Friday, Midnight Trains sends a newsletter with some sort of update on its project.

On 23 September 2023, Midnight Trains employee Nicolas Bargelès talked about a popular topic in the night or sleeper train debate: rolling stock. 

Locomotive-hauled carriages

From the beginning Midnight Trains founders Adrien Aumont and Romain Payet chose to go for locomotive-hauled carriages rather than self-motorized elements. 

“Because, even if the latter make up the majority of daytime passenger transport, they’re not as suitable for night trains – especially for running on several different networks”, Bargelès says. 

Self-propelled elements or electric multiple units (EMUs) rule thelselves out for what Midnight Trains want. 

“Despite common European legislation, national regulation varies everywhere. This applies to towed carriages, but approval is even more difficult for self-propelled train sets”

So pushed or pulled carriages it is. 

More modular

“The simplicity of this rolling stock, compared to self-propelled elements, gives us more freedom for the interior layout of the cabins, which is an immense added value of Midnight Trains”, Bargelès says.

Midnight Trains chooses luxury over capacity. “In comparison to other night train providers, ours needs to use space so as to create a new experience. However, we have to resolve the contrast between technical systems – doors, air conditioning, electronics, etc. — and design. We don’t want a motor getting in the way of this. The question of design, such as adding a queen size bed or a shower in a cabin, changes the distribution of masses and can complicate the approval process.”

Chosen builder

“This is where our chosen builder comes into play. He has significant experience in the field and already knows how to manufacture and have night trains approved, whether they’re carriages containing cabins or restaurant carriages. By working with him and ordering equipment that already exists, but can be adapted to our needs, we’re avoiding starting from scratch, with a blank page. He’s already largely familiar with the additional rules of each country, compiled in a document called Notified National Technical Rules. He knows the Italian requirements on emergency exits and fire/smoke detection systems linked to the large number of transalpine tunnels. He’s not fazed by the importance Switzerland puts on small radius curves. It enables us, even today, to move forward calmly and collectively on the issue of sharing the burden.”

Which train builder it is, is not communicated. 

More than approval

Getting your rolling stock certified is one step. But more hurdles present themselves. 

“Infrastructure managers can impose rules on train operators like Midnight Trains. Even equipment authorised to travel at 200 kilometres per hour on the French network, can be limited to 140 kilometres per hour by SNCF Réseau, so as not to damage the already ageing French rail infrastructure”, Bargelès says.

“Of all the lines we plan to use, it’s in the worst condition, excluding high-speed lines.”

Power

Another challenge is getting power in the carriages. which is received through the catenary. 

“However, between the two, there’s the locomotive pantograph. If the model isn’t suitable for the lines used by the train, with fourteen carriages and a restaurant car, the catenary could melt, especially when at a stop, at a station or in the sidings. A train made up of carriages that are too heavy won’t be able to attack the Alps, because it will be limited by the available power. A bit like on certain lines in the South West of France where the TGVs are forced to operate at a quarter of their power to avoid shutting down the electricity sector. Many of these installations were designed in the 1940s and 1950s.”

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• SNCF and NMBS / SNCB to link Paris to Brussels with ‘slow’ classic train in about 3 hours from December 2024.
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• GreenCityTrip launches new destinations for its chartered night trains: Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Malmö, Bologna, Firenze, Bolzano, Como, Salzburg, Linz.
• ‘Hotel on rails’ Midnight Trains to link Paris to Edinburgh, Brussels, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid and Porto.
• Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.
• Why the expensive ÖBB Nightjet is really not that expensive.
• Reliving the era of the great railway journeys, travelling overnight on Nightjet.
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• BOOK REVIEW | ‘Night Trains, The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper’ by Andrew Martin.
• To use night trains in Portugal and Spain or not?.
• Night trains in Europe.
• Low-cost, long-haul trains to conquer Europe?.
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