Railway experiences in Europe

‘How will high speed rail links affect the experience of backpackers in Europe?’

In the summer of 2006, my two cousins and I backpacked around Europe. We did it in the time honoured fashion of train hopping. That is we bought travel passes for the duration of our six week trip, which allowed us to freely use rail services in select countries.

This was our first backpacking experience, and seemed like the ideal place to start for three would-be intrepid travellers. The details of our route are fairly arbitrary, and though we had a general idea of where we wanted to go, the only condition was that we started and ended in Paris.

Naturally, our funds was miniscule, a problem exacerbated by the upfront cost of the rail passes. In a bid to cut down costs we made sandwiches the cornerstone of our diet, and camped whenever possible, partially as a result of the costs of Youth Hostels, which were fairly reasonable, but would bleed us dry in the long run.

We found a solution to our accommodation issue (but sadly not the sandwich issue – that stayed with us right to the end). It was in the form of the humble sleeper train, which we used at every available opportunity.

And fortunately the opportunities were many. There has to be sufficient reasons to run a sleeper train on a particular route, and these were mainly of demand and distance. But by travelling as far south as Rome, as far east as Ljubljana, and as far north as Copenhagen, this ensured plenty of miles for the night train to cover. But since each leg of the journey had to be of certain duration, this meant taking a potty route around Europe, where we’d vastly overshoot somewhere we were planning to go to, only to double back to see it when it was sufficiently far away. Yes, quite strange, but it meant that we got to see a lot more over a larger area than we otherwise would have.

But there was a threat to our nightly trail blazing shenanigans. The fast trains, such as the French TGV and the German ICE, born of continued investment in railway infrastructure, are at the vanguard of an increasingly speedy fleet. And whilst these trains are naturally faster than those used on the sleeper service, the difference in duration is more profound because the sleeper’s go slowly in order to stretch the journey over night. Routes which would’ve been the sole premise of the sleeper train were now easily achievable by the fast trains in a pilfering handful of hours. As a result the sleeper’s have retreated off many time tables, in the face of reduced popularity. That is except among us travellers – we love them*.

The sleeper train is quite a romantic notion, seeming as they have long been absent from service in the UK. The feeling of bouncing along in the night becomes soothing, suspended in mid air in bunk beds, rocked to sleep after exchanging stories with fellow travellers.

My romanticised notion remained indefatigable through eight repeat rounds with trains of varying degrees of shakiness and comfort. They experience never lost its magic. The indescribable feeling of stretching in the early morning sun, on the platform of a foreign place, ripe for exploring. It’s unbeatable.

We did cross over to the dark side on one occasion, taking a fast train when it was unavoidable. I see the appeal, especially if day tripping or on business. And the new chairs and the air-con could be considered a perk. But looking at the back of a fellow traveller’s head, as they face away, towards they’re final destination. There’s no room for stories, or shared experience. It’s too efficient by far.

I’ll revel in the languidness of travel while I still can; for travel’s sake. I don’t want it to pass in a blur.

I felt compelled to write this after hearing a Radio 4 podcast about a coming ‘Railway Revolution’, where we will see an influx of new, faster trains. They’ll probably only serve a few arterial routes across Europe and the UK, and indeed will be a positive force for cementing solidarity across borders, and offering an alternative to air travel.

But for a backpacker, the sense of discovery in travel, in travelling, could soon be lost, as it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the ‘fast lane’.

* Ok, I’m assuming we’ve all got the same opinion, but come on a bit of solidarity! I’m willing to bet that most travellers love night trains at least as much as I do.