Japan’s last sleeper train!

About time! Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina discuss reopening of Zagreb-Sarajevo: www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructu...

It's finally happened! The Sofia to Istanbul (or Dimitrovgrad to Istanbul, if coming from Bucharest) sleeper train is finally bookable online, at the Turkish Railways website! 🥳

I've just released a short video showing the journey to Orkney, by Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness, the scenic Far North Line to Thurso (Britain's most northerly station) and Northlink Ferries from Scrabster to Stromness on the excellent m/v Hamnavoe. Take a peek! youtu.be/8TpQJS-a4EM?...

World’s fastest sleeper train? Chinese, of course!

In the news this week: It's reported Ljubljana's historic station has been entirely demolished and is now a hole in the ground. Surely not? Maybe they just mislaid it...

A thread on India’s newest sleeper train:

Facepalm... On Facebook where so many AI images are used to illustrate clickbait stories, I now click the 'X' then 'I don't like the creator' *every time*.

Came across this in Stromness last week, I expect there’s a story here (obviously, decided to carry on up it…)

'Tis done! First draft of the Seat 61 guide to taking train & ferry to visit Orkney now published, www.seat61.com/places-of-in.... Comments welcome - I'll review/revise it tomorrow when I've had a break from it!

JELLICOE EXPRESS! Orkney to London in under 24h: My morning ferry cancelled, a retimed afternoon ferry to Scrabster is due to sail at 14:00. Slightly iffy plans in place to reach Inverness just in time for tonight’s @CalSleeper, arriving London tomorrow morning. Will I make it?

Having made it to Orkney Tuesday night, yesterday I had an excellent tour with @JP_Orkney. Though I could have picked a day with better weather! Below: Scapa Flow. 70-odd warships of the WW1 German high seas fleet lie underwater in this part of the anchorage, scuttled in 1919…

Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast! Kirkwall Hotel, Orkney.

OPERATION SCAPA FLOW: Boarding the @CalSleeper at Birmingham International (only its fourth departure from this new calling point), heading for Inverness, Thurso, Stromness & Scapa Flow. The Far North in January - am I crazy..?

On my way to Birmingham International to pick up tonight’s Birmingham to Inverness Caledonian Sleeper (the full-size one) 👇🏻

As it happens, I'm booked from Birmingham to the Highlands on Monday night. But where am I going? Somewhere special! Somewhere I've always wanted to go. Where braver men than me sleep deep within their regal tree. Any guesses? 🤷‍♂️

From tonight, Caledonian Sleeper's London-Inverness/Aberdeen/Ft William sleeper will pick up at Birmingham International at 22:42 northbound, and set down southbound at 06:20. A useful link for the West Midlands! www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...

Politicians: don't use AI to make your maps.

Bratislava & Vienna to Split summer sleeper: Trying to clear up a discrepancy as to whether this train would start running 29 April or 29 May, I was amazed to be told by ZSSK that it won't run this year. Has anyone told ÖBB?

Car 16, seat 41? Surely any golden ticket would be for 61? 😍

Public demand for night-trains in Europe is not a problem. So what is stalling the expansion of sleeper trains throughout the bloc. @jonworth.eu @seatsixtyone.bsky.social @europeansleeper.eu share their thoughts in my report on @theworld.org Listen here: theworld.org/segments/202...

Our new #sharefunding round starts today. Become a co-owner of #EuropeanSleeper from €160. We are raising €1 million in two tranches of €500,000 to support our 2026 plans: bringing the Paris–Berlin night trains back on track and launching the new route to Milan. 👉 www.europeansleeper.eu/invest

For the record, this is also now fixed! 🥳

For the record, this problem has now been fixed - you can now book sleepers with an Interrail or Eurail pass on the Dacia, Vienna-Bucharest. Good to see!

Any Czech/CD experts out there? Why, when I book Prague-Bratislava do I only see couchettes, but if I book Prague-Budapest on same train, couchettes & sleepers appear? I've already added a tip to book to Budapest and get off in Bratislava, but that won't work northbound.

So the new comfortjets deployed on Prague-Budapest turn out to be railjets redeployed from Prague-Vienna, whilst 3 Prague—Viennas remain railjets, 1 Prague-Budapest *is* a comfortjet and several are still EuroCity, which turn out to be Slovakian not Czech. Phew! Cue major text 'n photo update. 😳

The best thing Lego ever created? I’ve coveted this since it came out in 2021. Master 61 thinks it’s his present. But Mrs 61 asked me what I wanted for Xmas and I said I just wanted this, so we got it for him. Seeing him so enjoy building it has been the bestest present! 🥰

It’s been there a while. But Sofia-Istanbul sleepers may yet become bookable online, we live in hope…

A spin-off of Austria's new Koralm Railway opened just days ago is a direct railjet from Vienna to Salzburg via the scenic Semmering, Koralm & Tauern railways at 11:24, 13:24 & 15:24, see www.seat61.com/trains-and-r.... A scenic tour for as little as €5 more than the direct route!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! So it seems CFR in Romania haven't given ÖBB any sleeper inventory for the Dacia, so ÖBB can't sell it, only CFR can. And CFR's website doesn't do reservation-only bookings for passholders. Anyone know who to give a gentle nudge to at CFR?

From future night train operator Nox (what could that big surprise for 2026 be? 🤔)

High-speed rail passengers in Spain shoot up 77% and prices drop 40% thanks to competition.

Paris-Berlin sleeper on sale now! www.seat61.com/trains-and-r...

Less than 48h left to buy an Interrail pass with 25% discount (I already have!). Buy now, activate any date in next 11 months. About Interrail and how to buy: www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a...

Tomorrow, Austria’s new Koralm Railway opens. Graz>Klagenfurt cut from over 2h to as little as 41 minutes. Vienna-Klagenfurt cut from 3h55 to 3h10. Also cuts 45 minutes off Vienna-Venice. www.travelmole.com/news/koralmb...

Singapore-Bangkok just got easier! Johor Bahru-Gemas electrification completed. From today, 2 daily ETS electric trains will run from JB (north of Singapore) direct to Kuala Lumpur. No need to change, no need to buy two tickets! See www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm. Photo courtesy of @travelexx.

BREAKING: European Sleeper to launch Brussels/Amsterdam-Bern-Brig-Milan sleeper train from June 2026 (after launching Paris-Berlin in March). Press release: mcusercontent.com/5ffbd133c9ab...

Electro-diesel Stadler Flirts selected to replace Dublin – Belfast Enterprise trains www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and....

New startup operator GoVolta has opened ticket sales from March 2026 for its 3-times-a-week services Amsterdam-Hamburg & Amsterdam-Berlin. govolta.nl

Heading home from Utrecht via Amsterdam. After the sad closure of Amsterdam Centraal’s Grand Cafe 1e Klas, I find myself of necessity in the 2nd class waiting room…. All very Xmassy here…

Headed south to one of Europe’s most beautiful stations, Antwerp Central. They basically wrote the text book on how to convert a historic terminus into a multi level through station.

Setting off today for the #RailTourismAwards at Utrecht in the Netherlands. But being me, I’m starting with a 250 mile train ride in entirely the wrong direction… (any guesses?)

The only trouble with the Tring-Euston route is passing the Ovaltine factory & having to sing the Ovaltinies song* I have a similar problem driving through Marsh Gibbon (if you know which song, you must be as old as me) * For the wellbeing of other passengers, only in my head

Yay! Finally found how to eliminate annoying Westbahn trains on Bahn.de, as they prevent the sale of a through ticket. Click 'Mode of transport' and toggle off 'Interregio- and Fast trains' and it'll find an all ICE/IC/RE/RB connection which it can sell. Result!

This morning was a classic railway 'real time' case study: If it says "4 minutes late" you KNOW it's running ✅ If it says "On time" you have no idea if it'll even run ❌ Only drove to Bicester once I saw the 10:12 to Oxford was +4 late so knew it was actually running! 🤷‍♂️

Well I never. Not RPI+1%, not RPI, not even CPI, just 0%...

Become a co-owner of #EuropeanSleeper and get a free ticket for our first night train from Paris to Berlin! Buy 7 or more shares (min. €980) and receive an invitation for a free return ticket on the very first festive departure. More info 👉️ www.europeansleeper.eu/invest

BREAKING: European Sleeper will start a Paris-Berlin sleeper train from 26 March 2026, after Nightjet pulls out in December. It'll run via Brussels (with Eurostar connection from London) 3 times a week. This + existing train = Brussels-Berlin 6 times a week. www.europeansleeper.eu/paris

1/3: Now SNCF is sabotaging its own service. The 12:11 Paris-Hendaye has been Ouigoisée, no catering, no 1st class, baggage fees. As a result, I've had to delete the 08:32 London-San Sebastian. Now just 1 London-San Sebastian daytime service.😢

Today’s fun tax tip… (It’s a similarly daft situation that railways pay tax on fuel/energy but airlines don’t pay any tax on their aviation fuel, a huge hidden subsidy) youtu.be/dr9MH0NuUtg?...