European passenger rolling stock furthest from its host country

SeanG · 26 Jan 2024

Just a bit of trivia really. In Europe, which service would take a piece of passenger rolling stock furthest from its host country? It's probably easier to go "as the crow flies" to the nearest border given the multitude of rail routes.

Beat I can think of is SBB coaches to Przemysl on EC106 which is 963km as the crow flies from the nearest part of Switzerland.

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LNW-GW Joint · 26 Jan 2024

The Moscow-Warsaw-Vienna-Nice Russian (RŻD) sleeper vehicles must have beaten that before the service was withdrawn.
It must be at least 2000km in a straight line from the Russian border near Smolensk, and there were several dog-legs through eastern Europe and the Alps.

dazzler · 26 Jan 2024

LNW-GW Joint said:
The Moscow-Warsaw-Vienna-Nice Russian (RŻD) sleeper vehicles must have beaten that before the service was withdrawn.
It must be at least 2000km in a straight line from the Russian border near Smolensk, and there were several dog-legs through eastern Europe and the Alps.

In the early 1980s there were through sleeping cars from Moscow to Rome. I'm not sure of the eastern end of the route, but they ran via Yugoslavia (I saw them in Ljubljana) and on to Rome via Trieste and Venice.

Cheshire Scot · 26 Jan 2024

dazzler said:
In the early 1980s there were through sleeping cars from Moscow to Rome. I'm not sure of the eastern end of the route, but they ran via Yugoslavia (I saw them in Ljubljana) and on to Rome via Trieste and Venice.

Also Moscow to Athens, attached to a Venice to Athens service at Belgrade

30907 · 26 Jan 2024

Wien-Bucuresti is around 1100km depending on route, but unless OeBB supply any of the stock, that doesn't cut it - they don't

Redonian · 26 Jan 2024

There are two Ukrainian sleeping cars which runs from Kyiv to Vienna via Budapest Keleti which is where I saw them in September last.

popeter45 · 26 Jan 2024

the class 20's and German couchette cars on the Kosovo Train for Life probably take the cake if we allow them

rvdborgt · 26 Jan 2024

dazzler said:
In the early 1980s there were through sleeping cars from Moscow to Rome.

Also Moscow to Madrid.

87015 · 26 Jan 2024

CD B249 in Mauritania (and some French rubbish)

popeter45 said:
the class 20's and German couchette cars on the Kosovo Train for Life probably take the cake if we allow them

Swedish stock on service trains is surely further?

Mk2s in NZ can’t be beaten can they? Loads of stuff in the States but that isn’t as far

SeanG · 26 Jan 2024

I doubt a service would have taken them to NZ though

Whistler40145 · 26 Jan 2024

What's the distance of the European Orient Express?

nwales58 · 26 Jan 2024

87015 said:
CD B249 in Mauritania
...
Mk2s in NZ can’t be beaten can they? Loads of stuff in the States but that isn’t as far

Has NZ attached some serious, maybe Wärtsilä, plant to both islands in order to make their way north and rejoin Europe (see title)?

As where Europe really ends is a matter of debate, I was thinking of the Iranian pacers if they still exist.

87015 · 26 Jan 2024

nwales58 said:
Has NZ attached some serious, maybe Wärtsilä, plant to both islands in order to make their way north and rejoin Europe (see title)?

As where Europe really ends is a matter of debate, I was thinking of the Iranian pacers if they still exist.

Fair. Entire OP is wrong then though as the SBB coach to Prezmysl is leased to CD and doesn’t come from Switzerland

43096 · 26 Jan 2024

87015 said:
Fair. Entire OP is wrong then though as the SBB coach to Prezmysl is leased to CD and doesn’t come from Switzerland

Is it? Does it not come through from Zürich on EC163 and swap over on to the stock for EC106 to Przemysl at Graz.

dazzler · 26 Jan 2024

Cheshire Scot said:
Also Moscow to Athens, attached to a Venice to Athens service at Belgrade

Thanks for that info, we must have missed them when we were in Athens/Thessaloniki. (same trip, out through Italy and ferry to Patras, back through Yugoslavia!)

rvdborgt said:
Also Moscow to Madrid.

Ouch! Two gauge changes? o_O

Austriantrain · 26 Jan 2024

43096 said:
Is it? Does it not come through from Zürich on EC163 and swap over on to the stock for EC106 to Przemysl at Graz.

It does. In reality rented by ÖBB, AFAIK, but serviced in Switzerland, so permanently rotated back.

rvdborgt · 26 Jan 2024

dazzler said:
Ouch! Two gauge changes?

Yep. IIRC, it sat in Irún for half a day or so waiting for a suitable train to be attached to.

StephenHunter · 26 Jan 2024

Whistler40145 said:
What's the distance of the European Orient Express?

That does Istanbul to Paris, but only once a year, I believe.

The Optima Express goes from Edirne in Turkey to Villach in Austria.

JonasB · 26 Jan 2024

SeanG said:
Just a bit of trivia really. In Europe, which service would take a piece of passenger rolling stock furthest from its host country? It's probably easier to go "as the crow flies" to the nearest border given the multitude of rail routes.

Beat I can think of is SBB coaches to Przemysl on EC106 which is 963km as the crow flies from the nearest part of Switzerland.

Snälltåget runs trains from Sweden to the Alps in the winter. That is also around 900+ km.

AlbertBeale · 27 Jan 2024

Years back, there were through coaches to places as far as Moscow starting from Channel ports (Ostend, Hook of Holland). I think they were mostly rolling stock based at the eastern end of their journeys going all that way west rather than vice versa.

Cheshire Scot · 27 Jan 2024

Cheshire Scot said:
Also Moscow to Athens, attached to a Venice to Athens service at Belgrade

dazzler said:
Thanks for that info, we must have missed them when we were in Athens/Thessaloniki. (same trip, out through Italy and ferry to Patras, back through Yugoslavia!)

The Moscow to Athens car ran once per week in winter and twice per week in summer.
I did the same circuit but in reverse - Venice / Athens / Patras / ferry to Ancona and by good fortune on my trip the Moscow car was added to the train at Belgrade. I took a walk through that car out of curiosity and the sour faced female Russian sleeping car attendant look at me with great suspicion.
The train departed Thessaloniki where further coaches were attached well after 23.00 so that timing plus the 'occasional' nature of the Moscow working might have contributed to you 'missing' it. Not sure on northbound timing but quite possibly the reverse i.e. very early morning.

30907 · 27 Jan 2024

Redonian said:
There are two Ukrainian sleeping cars which runs from Kyiv to Vienna via Budapest Keleti which is where I saw them in September last.

Again, a lot of the distance is in Ukraine, and I am confident that no Austrian stock gets far over the border

rg177 · 27 Jan 2024

30907 said:
Again, a lot of the distance is in Ukraine, and I am confident that no Austrian stock gets far over the border

The furthest that any ÖBB stock gets is Chop - some MÁV carriages stray a little further and get to Mukachevo...

It won't win the award of this thread by any means - but the MÁV 470 locos working Česke Veleníce-Wien REX services always struck me as an odd one.

Austriantrain · 27 Jan 2024

rg177 said:
It won't win the award of this thread by any means - but the MÁV 470 locos working Česke Veleníce-Wien REX services always struck me as an odd one.

MAV needs to balance workings with ÖBB (or rather, accounts) and the 470 don’t have ETCS, so are not suitable for many workings.

30907 · 27 Jan 2024

rg177 said:
It won't win the award of this thread by any means - but the MÁV 470 locos working Česke Veleníce-Wien REX services always struck me as an odd one.

Indeed - AIUI balancing the OeBB's substantial distances on Wien Budapest.

43096 · 27 Jan 2024

rg177 said:
It won't win the award of this thread by any means - but the MÁV 470 locos working Česke Veleníce-Wien REX services always struck me as an odd one.

That’s nothing! They used to have a diagram on the Innsbruck-Salzburg REX circuits, as well as a Klagenfurt-Wien IC turn.

43096 · 27 Jan 2024

Austriantrain said:
MAV needs to balance workings with ÖBB (or rather, accounts) and the 470 don’t have ETCS, so are not suitable for many workings.

Which reminds me… All the talk pre-December was that any MÁV locos going to Wien from December had to be ETCS fitted and were to be the leased Akiem locos. But the 470s are still running through. So what’s the real position?

rg177 · 27 Jan 2024

43096 said:
That’s nothing! They used to have a diagram on the Innsbruck-Salzburg REX circuits, as well as a Klagenfurt-Wien IC turn.

I remember that some MÁV stock does/did a Wien-Lienz turn - that was a bit more of a trek!

43096 · 27 Jan 2024

rg177 said:
I remember that some MÁV stock does/did a Wien-Lienz turn - that was a bit more of a trek!

That Lienz service can drop almost anything. I have a feeling it was booked for a GySEV Taurus in the not too distant past.

DanNCL · 28 Jan 2024

On the traction side of things I think the winner is the NS Vectrons booked to work to Wien on the Nightjet. (I know NS lease them from an Austrian firm but to all intents and purposes they’re NS locos)

Coaching stock wise I think it’s the SBB stock to Przemysl that wins. Others worthy of a mention are:
SZ Restaurant car to Edirne on the Optima Express
MAV stock to Hamburg
Snalltaget stock to Innsbruck(?)

European passenger rolling stock furthest from its host country

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