A little piece of literary travel history will be squeaking its last brakes, and with hardly a whimper. The last piece of the proverbial Orient Express, the legendary sleeper train that once connected Calais, France and Istanbul in high fashion and efficiency, will, as of December 12th, cease to exist.
Seventy-five years after the first publication of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, and more than 125 years after its first journey between Paris and the Romanian city of Giurgiu, the only remaining leg of the original journey given to daily European timetables (that between Vienna and Strasbourg) will play out like the characters in her book, in a slow and traumatic death.
As reported by The Independent:
International service [of the Orient Express] presently shuttles each night between Vienna and Strasbourg in eastern France. But when the final westbound service arrives in the Rhine city at one minute to nine on the morning of 12 December, the Orient Express will have reached the end of the line.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express – a luxury private train that use 1920s rolling stock – continues unaffected; it runs from Calais (with connections from London) via Paris to Venice. As its one-way fare of £1,550 demonstrates, it is not a conventional component of the European rail network – unlike the Orient Express, which appears in timetables as a regular "EuroNight" train.
At its height, the Orient Express provided a trans-European artery, linking Paris with Istanbul, with onward connections to eastern Turkey and Syria. The service to Istanbul ended in 1977, but the Orient Express continued from the French capital to Bucharest in Romania. Then, in 2001, the eastern section beyond Vienna was abandoned. Even so, this left rail romantics with the 915-mile stretch between Paris and Vienna that Georges Nagelmackers, founder of the Wagons-Lits sleeping-car company, had pioneered in 1882.
Two years ago, however, the portion from Paris to Strasbourg was severed, leaving passengers with only a short overnight link between the Rhine and the Danube. Even this is less grand than it sounds: barely an hour after leaving Strasbourg the carriages are connected, at Karlsruhe, to an Amsterdam-Vienna express (itself to be withdrawn in December).
As budgets in nearly every industry are being cut to seal profit margins, the end of this line for this great train was not unexpected. Discounted air service through Europe has been becoming more and m
ore pertinent, and with fares like £50 for a flight from London to Istanbul, flying is now widely regarded as the best way to get across the continent, all nostalgia, charm and grace notwithstanding.
For now, take the train before it's gone. May it rest in peace.
*Map of the 3 Orient Express routes circa 1945 - 1962 (via Creative Commons)
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