With Deutsche Bahn's plans to run trains from London -> Amsterdam/Frankfurt what would the practical limitations be to the start of City Night Line (or other sleeper) services from London to Europe?
This website gives a (slightly outdated) view of the majority of sleeper services across Europe and shows a gap from Germany / further East and Brussels / London.
http://sleeper.demozoo.org/map
The nearest European sleeper railheads to London are Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne. Here's a summary of services running on Monday:
PARIS (~2:15 from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
18:53 (Austerlitz-)Madrid
20:23 (Austerlitz-)Barcelona
19:45 (Lyon-)Venice
20:05 (Est-)Berlin/Munich/Hamburg
AMSTERDAM (~4:00 estimated direct service from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
19:01 (Centraal-)Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow
20:31 (Centraal-)Munich/Zurich
COLOGNE (~4:00 estimated direct service from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
20:05 (Hbf-)Vienna
22:28 (Hbf-)Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow (from Amsterdam)
23:46 (Hbf-)Munich/Basel/Zurich (from Amsterdam)
If a section of the Munich/Basel/Zurich train were to start in London instead of Amsterdam (joining at Cologne), it would need to leave at around 18:30 to keep to existing timings. Presumably this could work quite well for passengers - it's after working hours and could be convenient for people working in London. Likewise to join the Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow service at Cologne on existing times, a portion would need to leave London at around 17:15.
How fast do City Night Line services travel compared to high speed trains? I presume they're much slower. How difficult would it be to find a path for these services amongst the busy evening peak Eurostar services? A similar problem would exist for returning services in the morning. If paths couldn't be for the slower sleeper services, trains would need to depart after the last high speed trains (currently 20:00 for Eurostar, although later for domestic services to Kent) and arrive before the first high speed trains from Europe (currently 08:30 for Eurostar).
Given HS1 and the Channel Tunnel are built to UIC loading gauge, I assume clearance shouldn't be so much of a problem? Trains would also need to be stored / maintained during the day in London. If Deutsche Bahn currently perform this in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Prague, etc - hopefully it wouldn't be too big a problem to find a way to do this in London.
If anyone has a more informed idea about the issues that starting an kind of European sleeper service would face I'd be interested to understand them.
John
PS I've crossed posted on uk.railway.
This website gives a (slightly outdated) view of the majority of sleeper services across Europe and shows a gap from Germany / further East and Brussels / London.
http://sleeper.demozoo.org/map
The nearest European sleeper railheads to London are Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne. Here's a summary of services running on Monday:
PARIS (~2:15 from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
18:53 (Austerlitz-)Madrid
20:23 (Austerlitz-)Barcelona
19:45 (Lyon-)Venice
20:05 (Est-)Berlin/Munich/Hamburg
AMSTERDAM (~4:00 estimated direct service from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
19:01 (Centraal-)Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow
20:31 (Centraal-)Munich/Zurich
COLOGNE (~4:00 estimated direct service from London + 1 hour timezone difference)
20:05 (Hbf-)Vienna
22:28 (Hbf-)Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow (from Amsterdam)
23:46 (Hbf-)Munich/Basel/Zurich (from Amsterdam)
If a section of the Munich/Basel/Zurich train were to start in London instead of Amsterdam (joining at Cologne), it would need to leave at around 18:30 to keep to existing timings. Presumably this could work quite well for passengers - it's after working hours and could be convenient for people working in London. Likewise to join the Copenhagen/Warsaw/Prague/Moscow service at Cologne on existing times, a portion would need to leave London at around 17:15.
How fast do City Night Line services travel compared to high speed trains? I presume they're much slower. How difficult would it be to find a path for these services amongst the busy evening peak Eurostar services? A similar problem would exist for returning services in the morning. If paths couldn't be for the slower sleeper services, trains would need to depart after the last high speed trains (currently 20:00 for Eurostar, although later for domestic services to Kent) and arrive before the first high speed trains from Europe (currently 08:30 for Eurostar).
Given HS1 and the Channel Tunnel are built to UIC loading gauge, I assume clearance shouldn't be so much of a problem? Trains would also need to be stored / maintained during the day in London. If Deutsche Bahn currently perform this in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Prague, etc - hopefully it wouldn't be too big a problem to find a way to do this in London.
If anyone has a more informed idea about the issues that starting an kind of European sleeper service would face I'd be interested to understand them.
John
PS I've crossed posted on uk.railway.