jamesontheroad
Established Member
- Joined
- 24 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 2,046
About twenty years ago, I caught the daily Citadella train from Murska Sobota to Ljubljana.
While doing some pandemic-times-armchair-Interrailing with the European Rail Timetable I was reminded of the train. After some YouTube and VagonWeb.cz searches I see that it still exists (in normal, non-COVID times) as a daily pair of trains from Ljubljana (09:25) to Budapest Déli (16:59) and return (09:00 - 16:37).
However, despite high standards of EuroCity trains that cross Slovenia between Germany, Austria and Croatia, this apparently major international intercity route is treated as a kind of declassified IC train in both Slovenia and Hungary. It has no catering or first class.
Did this train ever amount to a higher status EuroCity route? Is there a lack of commercial interest in offering a restaurant car or first class? There are no direct flights or (as far as I can tell) direct buses between the two cities.
Any thoughts, experiences or insights of the train are appreciated.
While doing some pandemic-times-armchair-Interrailing with the European Rail Timetable I was reminded of the train. After some YouTube and VagonWeb.cz searches I see that it still exists (in normal, non-COVID times) as a daily pair of trains from Ljubljana (09:25) to Budapest Déli (16:59) and return (09:00 - 16:37).
However, despite high standards of EuroCity trains that cross Slovenia between Germany, Austria and Croatia, this apparently major international intercity route is treated as a kind of declassified IC train in both Slovenia and Hungary. It has no catering or first class.
Did this train ever amount to a higher status EuroCity route? Is there a lack of commercial interest in offering a restaurant car or first class? There are no direct flights or (as far as I can tell) direct buses between the two cities.
Any thoughts, experiences or insights of the train are appreciated.