warakorn

Farewell Tour on one of the most iconic sleeper trains in Europe - EuroNight Jan Kiepura

This trip report is not about flying, but about a tour in a sleeping car train.

German Railways (DB Fernverkehr) and Polish Railway (PKP Intercity) sadely have decided to withdraw the Cologne-Warsaw sleeper train.
This is due to the fact that German Railways completely shuts down its sleeper train service (CityNightLine).
The Austrian Railways (ÖBB) will take over some routes and rebrand them as "NightJet". However, the Cologne-Warsaw is to be cancelled.
Such a train between West Germany and Poland/Russia has also operated since the beginning of the 20th century as "East-West-Express" train, surviving two World Wars and the Cold War.
In June 2004 the EuroNight Jan Kiepura train brand was relaunched due to Poland joining the European Union.
That train connected Brussels with Warsaw. It has also carried through cars from Brussels to Moscow and Minsk. The train was 11 cars long. 3 of them were sleeping cars Brussels-Warsaw.
Over time the terminal station of the Jan Kiepura train was moved from Brussels to Frankfurt/Main. Later in 2007 the train started in Amsterdam Centraal.
With the introduction of through cars Basel SBB - Warsaw/Moscow and Munich - Warsaw/Moscow, one could take a sleeping car on purely domestic German routes, incl. Frankfurt-Berlin. Cabotage!
Over the course of the last five years the through cars to Minsk and Warsaw were cut one by one.
In 2014 the Dutch section was cancelled, thus the train had to start in Oberhausen. During its last year of operation the route was shortened to just Cologne-Warsaw.
One week before its final voyage, I rode this train from Cologne to Warsaw for the last time. I've chosen to buy a single sleeper compartment.

Here are some meta info on the train:

Train: EuroNight EN 447
Name: EN Jan Kiepura
Departure from: Cologne, Germany (Köln Hbf)
Arrival: Warsaw, Poland (Warszawa Wschodnia)
Travel Class: Sleeping Car Compartment (Schlafwagen Single)
Price Rail Ticket: EUR 39 (Sparpreis Europa)
Price Supplement: EUR 112
Train Operator: DB Fernverkehr, PKP Intercity
Sleeping Car Operator: WARS
Travel Time: 12 hours 34 minutes
Distance: around 1144 km
Maximum speed: 200 km/h
Travel season: Early December 2016
Withdrawn: last ride on December 9, 2016
Registration Sleeping Car: PL-PKPIC 61 51 70-90 005-9 WLABmnouz
First Locomotive: 101 092-5 [Cologne - Berlin Wannsee]
Second Locomotive : 5 370 009 (1251 Husarz) [Berlin Wannsee - Warszawa Wschodnia]
Route: Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Hannover, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Potsdam, Berlin, Frankfurt/Oder(Gr), Rzepin, Poznan, Kutno
Through Cars: CityNightLine EN 61447 Cologne-Dresden-Prague [between Cologne and Berlin Wannsee]


Here is the video:




Since I do not live directly in Cologne and I was taking a connecting train to reach Cologne in the first place.

First class cabin on a domestic German daytime intercity train:





Arriving at Cologne Main Station (Köln Hbf):





Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) - this is the scene of the New Year Eve sexual assaults scandal:





Entrance to Cologne Main Station (still, one does not really feel safe due to all the various Maghreb gangs):







The timetable of the Jan Kiepura train (it travels from Cologne to Warsaw via Düsseldorf, Hannover, Magdeburg, Potsdam, Berlin, Frankfurt/Oder, and Poznan):





The ticket (you need both a rail ticket "Fahrschein" for EUR 39 and a supplement reservation "Aufpreis" EUR 112):





Our train will depart from track 2 (the Cologne-Prague through cars have been attached to the EuroNight train Cologne-Warsaw, that's why both destination are announced):





EuroNight Jan Kiepura train has arrived just after 11pm. Because a lot of photographers were populating the platform I could not take good photos anymore.
The train is composed of 11 cars. 3 of them travel from Cologne to Warsaw (my booked sleeping car, a CityNightLine couchette car and seating car).
Another 3 cars just go from Cologne and Dresden. Finally, 4 cars will be taken all the way to Prague (one sleeping car, two couchette cars and one Czech seating car).





These are some very old seating cars (Bimz), which will travel between Cologne and Dresden (these cars will go to the scrapping yard soon):





Entering the Polish sleeper car:







My single sleeper compartment (the cabin shows its age, its a bit dirty, but this is normal):













Double sleeper compartment (passenger may book a cabin for 1, 2 or 3 persons; 1st class ticket is only required for the deluxe cabin with a shower):







A lady from WARS (Polish service company) is the conductor for this sleeping car. She checks my ticket and off she went.



Safety Advise at the compartment door:





Public Shower at the end of the car (however, as you can see, it is not operational):





Destination board:





Another one:





Transiting Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof:







Inside the 50 year old CityNightLine couchette car (these ones will be scrapped soon due to the shutdown of all CityNightLine services):







At around 5am we have arrived at Berlin Wannsee station. The through cars Cologne-Warsaw are detached from the through cars Cologne-Prague.
From Monday to Saturday the EuroCity Berlin-Warswaw-Express cars are attached to the Cologne-Warsaw through cars. Hence, a restaurant car becomes available from Berlin Wannsee.
Normally, the Polish restaurant cars on this early service starts operating once it reaches Rzepin.
But today is Sunday. The early EuroCity train does not go on that day, hence, only our three cars travel alone from now on between Berlin Wannsee and Warszawa Wschodnia.

Shunting action at Berlin Wannsee station:





We arrived 20 minutes early at Berlin Main Station. A scheduled stop of 15 minutes was extended to 35 minutes.
It is not possible to (officially) book a ticket in the through cars Cologne-Warsaw from or to Berlin. Hence, no passengers get off or join the train here.
The German conductors (DB ERS) are guarding the train from the outside to not allow Berlin party folks to enter the train.













Christmas decoration at Berlin Hauptbahnhof:





Leaving Berlin Hauptbahnhof:





Passing Berlin Alexanderplatz:





Berlin TV Tower Fernsehturm:





Daylight has arrived near Frankfurt/Oder near the border between Germany and Poland:





The Oder River marks the border Germany and Poland since 1945:





Good Morning, Poland:





Train depot near Poznan, Wielkopolska:





At Poznan Glowny railway station:











EuroNight Jan Kiepura is hauled by a PKP IC 5 370 009 electric locomotive between Berlin Wansee and Warszawa Wschodnia:





Digital departure board at the Poznan rail platform:





Riding the rails somewhere between Poznan and Warsaw; the line was only opened in 1921:





Locomotive, seen from the sleeper car (I do not know why the connecting door was open):











Stopping at Kolin railway station:









Polish Seating car Cologne - Warsaw:





Seat pitch could be compared to Domestic First class in USA:





Another look into the CityNightLine Couchette car:





Complementary breakfast in the sleeping car, served half an hour out of Warsaw:





Reaching Warszawa Zachodnia railway station:





We are 15 minutes delayed at this point due to some construction around Lowicz:





Deep (and scary) underground station of Warszawa Centralna (luckily, I did not have to get off here):







Crossing the Vistula River just east of Warszawa Centralna:







Passing Warszawa Stadion (PGE Narodowy):






Arrival of EuroNight Jan Kiepura train at the terminal station Warszawa Wschodnia:







Most long distance train stop at Warszawa Wschodnia (the eastern terminus). A large depot exist nearby.

PKP Intercity train from Wroclaw:





TLK train by PKP Intercity:





Inside the newly-renovated Warszawa Wschodnia railway station:







PKP Intercity bought 20 ED250 Pendolino high speed trains in 2011 to operate on the trunk line Gdansk-Warsaw-Krakow via the Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa (CMK).













Lonely and short EuroCity train to Prague (a restaurant car is missing though):





After spending some time in Warsaw I left this great city with the EuroCity Berlin-Warszawa-Express. It runs up to 4 times a day.

First Class car (EuroCity Berlin-Warszawa-Express):









First Class compartment (EuroCity Berlin-Warszawa-Express):




Polish Lunch in the WARS restaurant car (its a good deal):







Here is the video again:







All my trip reports on FT:

Airbus:

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong - Helsinki in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y

British Airways Airbus A380-800 Singapore - London Heathrow in Y



Boeing:

Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong - Singapore in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita in C

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



Trains:

CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in Sleeper Car

EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Lötschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F



Lounges:

Five Star Alliance Lounges: LHR

Four OneWorld Lounges: HKG

TBIT Star Alliance Lounge: LAX



Enjoy!

Skipcool3

A great read.
I miss the option of travelling overnight and arriving in town before the first flights, avoiding the airport scrum and the inevitable hassle..

halfcape

Very interesting trip report. Great photos and commentary. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.

CMK10

As a lover of long distance trains, I really enjoyed this report, thank you for posting it.

capedreamer

Great report! As someone who loves Germany and the Deutsche Bahn, I felt really nostalgic reading this report.

So the EuroNight train to Prague travels northeast all the way to Berlin from Cologne before turning south towards Dresden and Prague? Seems like a very circuitous route.

What's the rationale for this? If they're going to stop in Berlin HBF anyways, why not make it an official stop?

enviroian

I was thinking of the train reports you posted on here with your dad in the past when reading this. ^

OP great report!

Bretteee

You seem to be the only person it.

Is there a toilet / shower in the room? I see a curtain.

MADPhil

Thanks for the TR. Overnight sleeper trains are great, at least for those who can sleep on them, but I guess they are not appreciated enough. I took advantage of the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Eugene, OR, to San Jose, CA, in May. It is close to optimum: board at 17:00, eat dinner, retire and sleep, rise and eat breakfast, disembark at 10:00.

Madone59

Nice trip report! Thank you for sharing ^

Gardyloo

Thanks for this.

I took a group of Scottish grad students on the Ost-West Express (Oostende - Warsaw) in the 1970s and remember the trip very well. The carriages were mounted in reverse order - Soviet ones at the front, then Polish, East German and West German, with the dining car at the end; it was removed (and a new one added) as you departed the country where they'd dropped the carriages.

We had several changes of traction - Belgian to Aachen, DB electric to Helmstedt, DDR to Frankfurt-am-Oder where the Polish locos were added. I assume they switched to Russian units later but we got off in Warsaw.

Transiting Berlin was really interesting and quite depressing. The wall and no-man's land from the train:

Vinotraveller

Great review. I took this train 3 times - twice from Koln to Poznan in 2008 and once from Amsterdam in 2011. Rather sad that so many sleepers around Europe have disappeared - but I suppose budget airlines and costing cutting by railways have killed the market?

nequine

A great trip report and you can see the carriages have certainly seen better days!

Aspen

.......you might have saved me some money because your report, photos and video may have satisfied my hunger for another year ^^^

warakorn

Thank for all the input so far!

I recall a night train operating between Amsterdam and Prague via Leipzig (thus, avoiding Berlin). However, that train was cancelled in the early 2000s. Dutch Railways closed down its sleeper train business then.
Since, then Deutsche Bahn was in charge. For many years, there was no Amsterdam/Cologne-Prague night train at all. In the late 2000s Deutsche Bahn decided to extend its Cologne sleeper service from Dresden to Prague. Since that train called in Berlin, the extended train would call in Berlin, as well.

the official explanation: Berlin pax should not disturb the through pax (Cologne-Warsaw).
However, the truth is somehow different. Both Deutsche Bahn and PKP Intercity worked very hard in tandem to make the EuroNight Jan Kiepura as unattractive as possible. Hence, giving them the excuse in the end to cancel the service.
In 2007 you could easily book (and print) an e-ticket for the Amsterdam/Cologne-Warsaw train in both directions. In 2016 -> that was not possible. It was done by design. You need a paper ticket. You may order it online, but you need to wait a couple of days for it to be delivered by post (which you need to pay, as well).
This is 2016 -> you can book an air or bus ticket within minutes online - not so for the railways.

capedreamer

Very interesting. Thanks for the answers!