New ÖBB Nightjet coaches

Here is an interesting article on the new rolling stock for ÖBB due to enter service in 2022. The individual sleeping pods look great for solo travellers (although they can have a door slid back to join two at the head end of the bed).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...orient-express-but-europe-s-sleepers-are-back


The slide showing the floor plan is quite interesting. It looks like there are 28 sleeper pods and 3 rooms of the 4 berth couchettes per coach. I can't quite make out what is at the far right: Is it the deluxe 2 berth sleeper, a crew cabin or a communal shower?

The pods look a good idea BUT how secure are they and where are travellers meant to put their belongings?

Apart from that, I do like the designs and look forward to 2022 to when they enter service.

They have lockable doors and the lockers between them are able to take a full size suitcase. There also appear to be smaller shoe lockers above and below the ladder.

My main concern is how easy will they be for depot staff to clean?

33Hz said:

They have lockable doors and the lockers between them are able to take a full size suitcase. There also appear to be smaller shoe lockers above and below the ladder.

My main concern is how easy will they be for depot staff to clean?

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Unlike most stock it's not like they haven't got all day.

Bletchleyite said:

Unlike most stock it's not like they haven't got all day.

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Which still seems to be causing problems for Caledonian Sleeper. But the point is this looks like it has lots of nooks and crannies to get dirty and how easy will it be for staff to climb into the pod with a vacuum cleaner.

These are not RailJet, they are NightJet, RailJet are on order too

Excellent news. Really good to see rail trying to respond quickly to changes in demand and society. Hopefully the EU policies which led to increased prices can be amended to a sleeper network flourish again.

I hope with faint optimism we could do the same to domestic flying in the UK. But then again, unlikely.

If the pods are in lieu of most of the couchettes, I wonder whether the balance is right. The pods look a bit claustrophobic to me... if I'm paying for a cheaper couchette rather than a sleeper, then I can cope with the communal aspect. I wonder whether most people really want a pod rather than a traditional couchette bunk? And will there be a price differential, I wonder?

If I can afford it, these days I'd always prefer a proper sleeper bed instead of a couchette; but I worry about developments with those too - I'd hate it if new sleepers went even a bit of the way towards the Caledonian sleeper luxury hotel-on-wheels-market. Even if I want a sleeper rather than a couchette, for the extra comfort and pirvacy, I don't want to have to pay for anything beyond the traditional sleeper basics...

Looks pretty similar to how the Japanese have got it, though sleepers are also getting slowly out of use here. Those ´pods´ are nowadays pretty common in newer styled hoStels too. And the JPnese are also pretty good in cleaning and keeping things clean, but that starts with the customers there too. What type of bed/matttess is in is not determined by it being CC or WL, but who pays and orders to get hem in. See the ex-Soviet railways where that mattress (called matrats) is very much the same in whatever kupey/platskart there is.
Or take a lok at what airlines are now offering on long-haul in bis.-seems also able to get cleaned thoroughly enough.
Stlll I keep wondering why all those sleeper-fans always insist it saves a hotel-it does not, if one looks earnestly at the facts, it replaces a hoStelbed-which tend to cost far less as a sleeper and have many things thrown in for free: a better shower/bath, more space, lockable lugage store, and often even a kitchen with free Cf/T or so. And also not the tipical grumpy and tip-angling attendants who barely speak a word out of their own country, one is most often encountering in areas where the trainsleepers are part of normal travel.

AlbertBeale said:

If the pods are in lieu of most of the couchettes, I wonder whether the balance is right. The pods look a bit claustrophobic to me... if I'm paying for a cheaper couchette rather than a sleeper, then I can cope with the communal aspect. I wonder whether most people really want a pod rather than a traditional couchette bunk? And will there be a price differential, I wonder?

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Almost everyone I speak to these days is put off by the idea of sharing a room with strangers. The one time I have done it I had to get into a dark, occupied 6 berth couchette several stops down the line from its origin, find a place to stash my suitcase, then suffer the comings and goings of other passengers all night. It totally puts off the solo business traveller and not everyone can get the cost of a single occupancy compartment past their finance department. The ability to open the door between two pods is a smart move.

33Hz said:

Almost everyone I speak to these days is put off by the idea of sharing a room with strangers. The one time I have done it I had to get into a dark, occupied 6 berth couchette several stops down the line from its origin, find a place to stash my suitcase, then suffer the comings and goings of other passengers all night. It totally puts off the solo business traveller and not everyone can get the cost of a single occupancy compartment past their finance department. The ability to open the door between two pods is a smart move.

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I guess it's partly a matter of the number of people you are or aren't travelling with. I can see that the individual pod might suit a solo business traveller. My overnights on trains have - over many decades - been 99% non-business travel. With a group of friends, especially when younger, then a cheap and cheerful couchette is just fine (which is why I wonder whether couchette bunks will still exist and be cheaper than pods). If I'm going on holiday with just one companion, and don't feel up to "slumming it" in a couchette - or an overnight seat! - then a shared sleeper cabin can cost no more than the combination of a travel ticket and a cheap hotel for the night. For me that's ideal as a nice way of saving on journey time - even apart from the "romance" of overnight rail travel. But I realise that the economics are different if you're travelling solo.

I've obviously done overnights in a seat - in coaches, trains, boats, planes - over the years, but I generally avoid this if at all possible; though there are times when [lack of] finances means there's no option...

AlbertBeale said:

which is why I wonder whether couchette bunks will still exist and be cheaper than pods

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Couchettes will still exist - there are photos of the couchettes and they are shown in the floor plan of the original post.