Early years

In 1998, Deutsche Bahn hived off its night train services, which were provided with the train categories EN (EuroNight) and UEx (Urlaubsexpress), from DB Fernverkehr AG to DB AutoZug GmbH. One year later, the CityNightLine AG company, domiciled in Zurich and until then a joint venture operated by Deutsche Bahn and the state-owned railways of Austria and Switzerland, ÖBB and SBB, became a wholly owned subsidiary of DB Fernverkehr AG. It was run by the same management team as DB Autozug GmbH, so that responsibility for all night train categories, which still form the core element of the City Night Line network, lay with one single source from then on. The management of services, rolling stock and pricing of CityNightLine and its then DB counterpart (NachtZug), however, remained separate.

Redevelopment of services

Parallel to the integration of the two companies, the DB Autozug GmbH night trains were renamed DB NachtZug. On introduction of the new timetable on 15 December 2002, the DB Nachtzug portfolio was increased to 20 trains.^[4] Following the emergence of low-cost airlines and the expansion of the international high-speed rail network, DB realised it had to adapt its night train services to the changing requirements of the transport market. The target was to establish overnight services as a supplementary product to high-speed trains over long distances (between 800 and 1500 km). To achieve that objective, the existing train categories CityNightLine (CNL), DB NachtZug (NZ) and UrlaubsExpress (UEx) were amalgamated to form one new product called City Night Line (CNL), which was integrated in the fare systems and sales processes of the different departure countries. The line network was then redesigned to reflect these new objectives: routes which ran parallel to long-distance services were discontinued, other routes were systematically extended, destinations with strong seasonal fluctuations and tourist destinations were replaced by daytime services. In the course of this bundling process, older passenger cars were taken out of service. Since then, the entire fleet of sleeping, couchette and seated cars has been fully air-conditioned. The cars were given a uniform livery in white with red window stripe and all-white doors. The service was standardised on all lines.

The night lines were originally operated by the former railway company CityNightLine. Like DB AutoZug GmbH, the company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn and was integrated in the DB Group as from 1 January 2010 in the form of an asset deal.

Demise

At the end of 2014, all City Night Line trains to Denmark and France (Paris) were terminated, as well as some of the lines to the Netherlands (Amsterdam). At the end of 2015, the domestic night trains between Munich and Berlin were also terminated.

In December 2015, Deutsche Bahn decided to cancel all remaining night train services including City Night Line, effective December 2016.^[1] Deutsche Bahn plans to run some additional ICE highspeed train services with standard seating by night as a replacement and will also continue to cooperate with foreign train companies that operate night trains to Germany, for example ÖBB.^[1]

In October 2016, DB and ÖBB announced that the Austrian railway company will inaugurate six new night train services under their ÖBB nightjet brand by 10 December 2016 of which several will run through Germany, partially on identical routes as the German night trains before.^[3] ÖBB also took over some of DB's former night train cars.^[3]

Sleeping cars

Couchette cars

The couchette and seated cars were converted from existing Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn coaches. Couchette cars had 4 or 6 berths and there are three different categories in use, which differ in respect of their additional functions:

• Couchette car (type 248.5)
• Couchette car with compartment for passengers with restricted mobility (type 249.1)
• Combined luggage and couchette car (type 874.1)

Seated cars

The seated cars consist of compartment cars (six seats per compartment; type 236.9) and open-saloon cars with reclining seats (types 875.X)

Last schedule

The last City Night Line schedule, valid from December 2015 to December 2016, consisted of the following services:

In 2014 these trains were also going:

Germany

Fares for CNL services were allocated to the IC/EC Product Category (formerly Product Category B), the second-highest in the three DB passenger transport categories. All saver fares for long-distance services and the corresponding discount options (such as BahnCard) could have also been used on City Night Line routes.

The special offers for long-distance services which have meanwhile been introduced (such as the Lidl-Ticket or Tchibo-Ticket) were normally valid, but not always on all City Night Line routes. Passengers had to check the conditions of the individual offer.

Tickets could have been purchased a maximum of three months before the first day of validity. Tickets for group travel can be purchased up to twelve months in advance, provided that the relevant timetable has already been published.^[5] In addition to the train ticket, passengers also have to make a reservation (see above for exceptions). The reservation is simultaneously valid as the charge for the additional night-time services and the prices vary according to comfort category.

Other countries

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, City Night Line tickets were generally sold as a global fare, like the fares which apply to transit routes in Germany. Passengers who already had a rail ticket (e.g., Interrail passengers) can purchase reservations separately.

Austria

Like the Netherlands

Switzerland

Like Germany. In view of the high share of transit traffic, i.e., passengers heading to the Netherlands, Czech Republic or Denmark, there was a high share of global fare tickets.

Italy

The principle was similar to that in France, but with a few special national features.

Citations

Bibliography

• Groundwater, Ben (30 April 2013). "Why trains are better than planes". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
• von Uslar, Moirtz (16 July 2010). "Freitagnacht im Schlafwagen nach Zürich" [Friday night in a sleeping car to Zürich]. Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 28 March 2013.