European Sleeper route

[Thebaz]

Evenin' all,

I'm off tomorrow with the family on our second Interrail adventure (the previous incarnation being the year before COVID). After reaching Brussels from STP, we will be catching the 1922 Brussels-Prague sleeper and being a nerd I wanted to gain some intel on the route it takes. After Bad Bentheim we apparently run non-stop to Berlin and I suppose we will pass Osnabruck, Minden, Hannover and Wolfsburg before reaching the German capital and then on down to Dresden before winding along the Elbe Valley. Am I to presume we will run on main routes including high speed lines? Or does the sleeper avoid the high speed sections as it doesn't need to travel that fast? Is there a RTT for Europe so I can follow my own progress?

 

[30907]

You are pretty much right, but the only high-speed (250km/h) section is between Wolfsburg and Berlin, but there is a parallel third 120km/h track.
I would expect the train use the high-speed track, depending on what the engineers are up to overnight, but it could also if necessary divert via Braunschweig and Magdeburg which is about an hour longer.
There is also a regularly-used diversion beyond Berlin via Jüterbog instead of Elsterwerda.

For train running, try https://www.zugfinder.net/en/livemap-europa-989-703

 

[DanielB]

For route information, have a look at https://en.treinposities.nl/ritinfo/20240805/453 and then especially click on the button "skipped stations" below the route as that will give some indication how the train exactly runs.

Edit: whoops, actually there is a route map below that as well which gives an even better indication how it runs

 

[doc7austin]

Two weeks ago the European Sleeper train - in the Netherlands - skipped The Hague and Amsterdam Centraal, but ran instead via Gouda, Amsterdam Bijlmer and Zwolle.

The 120 km/h line next to the Wolfsburg-Berlin HSL is mostly non-electrified, so the European Sleeper Train cannot physically ride on that line.

South of Berlin there are plenty of option to reach Dresden - either via Senftenberg, Zossen or Jüterbog.

Various construction sites usually lead to some interesting diversions.

 

[DanielB]

Two weeks ago the European Sleeper train - in the Netherlands - skipped The Hague and Amsterdam Centraal, but ran instead via Gouda, Amsterdam Bijlmer and Zwolle.

That will have been a diversion due to the extensive works at Amersfoort going on at the moment. Almost for the entirity of July trains from Amsterdam couldn't reach Amersfoort and there were also works ongoing at Delft (connecting the second tunnel to the network), so routing via Gouda, Amsterdam Bijlmer and Zwolle was actually the only way to get from the border crossing at Roosendaal to the border crossing at Bad Bentheim without skipping almost all stops in the Netherlands.
Not relevant for the OP however as the works at Delft are now finally finished (though they took a week longer than planned, a new record) and passing Amersfoort from Amsterdam towards Deventer is currently possible (though only via platform 1, so as long as nothing breaks down there...) So AFAIK the standard route is available.

 

[StephenHunter]

Two weeks ago the European Sleeper train - in the Netherlands - skipped The Hague and Amsterdam Centraal, but ran instead via Gouda, Amsterdam Bijlmer and Zwolle.

The 120 km/h line next to the Wolfsburg-Berlin HSL is mostly non-electrified, so the European Sleeper Train cannot physically ride on that line.

Various construction sites usually lead to some interesting diversions.

This Reddit map might help.

Some statistics:

• The federally-owned railway network is 61% electrified (EU average: 54%)
• 74% of total travel distance is covered via overhead electrification
• This increases to 97.5% for long-distance, 89.3% for freight and is reduced to 63.5% for local trains
• 90% of passenger and freight kilometres are conducted electrically

One possible diversion is via Braunschweig-Magdeburg-Brandenburg, which was the route used by "Transitzug" services from West Germany to West Berlin.

 

[HST43257]

I took a divert on 21st July, travelling between Berlin Hbf and Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA (should’ve been Centraal). I seem to remember we reversed at Hamm before heading north through Munster, all the way around to Zwolle (I think?).

 

[DanielB]

I took a divert on 21st July, travelling between Berlin Hbf and Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA (should’ve been Centraal). I seem to remember we reversed at Hamm before heading north through Munster, all the way around to Zwolle (I think?).

The route via Amersfoort was closed on the 21st, so yes you went via Zwolle. The reversal at Hamm had nothing to do with that however.

 

[Thebaz]

Good info - thanks all

 

[doc7austin]

The European Sleeper Train is often diverted at night due to construction sites.
However, in 100% of the cases the train needs to run via Roosendaal(Gr) and Schöna(Gr) border segments, because they are virtually no alternative border crossings available.
When it comes to Bad Bentheim (Gr), yes, the train may ride via Emmerich(Gr) or Venlo(Gr), however, there is a staff change at Bad Bentheim, so shifting the border crossing between the Netherlands and Germany is not easy at all.

 

[DanielB]

When it comes to Bad Bentheim (Gr), yes, the train may ride via Emmerich(Gr) or Venlo(Gr), however, there is a staff change at Bad Bentheim, so shifting the border crossing between the Netherlands and Germany is not easy at all.

Emmerich would also not be easy as the Traxx hauling the European Sleeper also falls under the axle load restriction many routes in the Netherlands have. There's a once a day exemption used by the Wien/Innsbruck Nightjet (for Utrecht - Arnhem - Emmerich), but any other heavy locomotive will have to run at reduced speed and that makes pathing complicated: the Zürich Nightjet is put at Maarn Goederen sidings to be overtaken, but not sure the long European Sleeper fits there (though it probably does).

The route to Bad Bentheim was modified and equipped with monitoring equipment for the Berlin ICs, so there normal track speed is allowed regardless of axle load.
Venlo is complex due to the single tracks in Germany towards Mönchengladbach.