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Sweden: Hector Rail will drive for Flixtrain, pull Talbot-refurbished carriages

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jamesontheroad

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As per an article on Järnvägar (in Swedish) this week, Flixtrain has announced an agreement with the Swedish operator Hector Rail to drive and staff their new services in Sweden.

Having applied for train paths on both the Stockholm-Malmö and Stockholm-Gothenburg corridors, Flixtrain will now only start with the latter, with three round trips on weekdays. Flixtrain are shown in Trafikverket's "T21" schedule as starting from 3 May 2021, but this could change subject to COVID.

Most interestingly, even though Hector Rail has previously acquired a fleet of second-hand carriages for passenger services, it is now confirmed that they will use examples of carriages from the same fleet that has recently been refurbished by Talbot in Aachen for Flixtrain services in Germany.

If I've got their heritage right, they were built as BM234 and BM235 from the late nineteen-sixties until the late seventies, and then later reconfigured for DB InterRegio as mixed compartment/open carriages. Snälltåget have a fleet of similar carriages that were sold by DB to NS for before then being sold again and being refurbished in Romania for service in Sweden.

The Talbot refurbishment has squeezed as many as 100 seats into the carriages, so it will probably be the densest intercity seating in Sweden. Unusually for Sweden, however, each train will have bookable spaces for bicycles, something that SJ does not offer on intercity and long distance trains.

Flixtrain will compete against SJ and MTRX on the Stockholm-Gothenburg route.
 
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The Flix refurbs in use on Hamburg/Berlin-Koln are horrendous. Crap seats in a ridiculously high density layout where can’t even chose if facing forward when paying for a res, then luggage dumped everywhere on the day. Won’t be doing it again.
 

Bletchleyite

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You are indeed correct, it's not, the headrests just look similar. (I should have known better as a connoisseur of that fine seat design! :) )

The Flix refurbs in use on Hamburg/Berlin-Koln are horrendous. Crap seats in a ridiculously high density layout where can’t even chose if facing forward when paying for a res, then luggage dumped everywhere on the day. Won’t be doing it again.

To be fair, with European LHCS it's usual that you can't choose the direction of travel, because there's no guarantee which way round a given vehicle will be, and unlike BR they didn't do the "trick" to avoid that of numbering opposite pairs of seats the same.
 

Jamesrob637

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The Flix refurbs in use on Hamburg/Berlin-Koln are horrendous. Crap seats in a ridiculously high density layout where can’t even chose if facing forward when paying for a res, then luggage dumped everywhere on the day. Won’t be doing it again.

Mine was half compartments and half open plan back in 2018. Seemed to work well with the locals.
 

Bletchleyite

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That supplier is no longer used, it's now entirely the Talbot stock, with in-and-out in the Flixtrain colours.

Isn't it the same stock with the partitions removed and refurbished? You can tell it's the ex-IR half compartment stock because of the odd shape of the ceiling and the lighting pattern.

Not surprised they did it, though, as the ex-IR stock was very low density indeed, with some odd layouts e.g. 2+0 in places, and the compartments only being for 5 (plus a child seat) rather than the usual 6.
 

superalbs

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Isn't it the same stock with the partitions removed and refurbished? You can tell it's the ex-IR half compartment stock because of the odd shape of the ceiling and the lighting pattern.

Not surprised they did it, though, as the ex-IR stock was very low density indeed, with some odd layouts e.g. 2+0 in places, and the compartments only being for 5 (plus a child seat) rather than the usual 6.
Maybe some stock is reused, but I know they are no longer using the BTEX couchette stock, as that was used on the Alpen-Sylt Nachtexpress train. They had a few suppliers before, including Leo Express.
 

cakefiend

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Do FlixTrain employ any on-train staff, or do they contact it out? I'd be curious to know who does it for Germany.
 

JonathanP

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As far as I know they are provided by the operator, e.g. BahnTouristikExpress. However, they themselves may be subcontracting out to other service providers.

Flixbus/train is basically a tech company which prefers to avoid any investment in/committment to personnel or equipment.
 

jamesontheroad

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Flixtrain are now selling tickets between Stockholm and Gothenburg, starting 6 May. There are up to three departures in each direction each day. The seat map on a couple of randomly picked dates suggests the trains will launch with rakes of four carriages. Prices start at 129kr one way (about €12 / £10) for the 3.5hr journey.

Competitors are SJ and MTRX.
 

Jamesrob637

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Flixtrain are now selling tickets between Stockholm and Gothenburg, starting 6 May. There are up to three departures in each direction each day. The seat map on a couple of randomly picked dates suggests the trains will launch with rakes of four carriages. Prices start at 129kr one way (about €12 / £10) for the 3.5hr journey.

Competitors are SJ and MTRX.

Ain't half bad for Sweden!
 

jamesontheroad

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Flixtrain's first trains are now rolling between Stockholm and Gothenburg. No word yet on passenger numbers, but photos and videos will no doubt emerge in the coming days.

Flixtrain has now catering for now, but promises a trolley in the future. Perhaps this prompted SJ to put out a press release and a video today teasing the new bistro that will start to appear in refurbished X2000 trains on the same route in autumn 2021.
 

scarby

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I took this service last week, Stockholm-Gothenburg-Stockholm.

I've wanted to visit Gothenburg for a while, rather than just pass through, so here was the perfect excuse!

Seats are allocated on a budget airline principle - you get what you are given unless you pay to choose a place. Prices for these are SEK 40-60 (EUR 4-6). I went for a "comfort seat" at SEK 60, which gives you more leg room (what I would define as normal leg room). But I instantly regretted it as the seat wasn't lined up to the window!

I asked the ticket inspector if I could move (to a cheaper seat!) and she said that was fine. The train was very lightly loaded - I don't think they've done much, if any, publicity for them yet, and you need to go to Flix's dedicated site to find the tickets (i.e. they don't show up on SJ's site).

The overall experience was fine, but of course it's hard to have a bad experience when a train is so lightly loaded. The carriages have been refurbished to a very high standard - one would never guess they were as old as suggested upthread. They still have manual doors, which are not yet obsolete in Sweden, though I did see one panicky passenger running through the carriage at a station - I wonder if he understood that you needed to open the doors with a handle (I'm pretty sure he disembarked). But also as mentioned in previous posts, the seats are quite hard, and leg room is very squeezed. There is no refreshment service of any kind - nothing.

Also on the subject of luggage, on the return leg, a passenger came up to the end of the carriage where I was sitting, looking for a place for her heavy case. There was none, and although there is overhead space, I wouldn't really fancy being on one of these trains when it is full in the holiday season or at any other time with passengers with all sorts of heavy luggage.

Overall I was satisfied with my trip, but as said it was difficult not to be. From an enthusiast point of view, you get the loco-hauled experience and refurbished old stock to sit in, which I like. Externally the trains are striking in all-green, especially with a green loco as well.

I have booked again to go in mid-July, as the prices substantially undercut SJ and MTR, and although the X2000 are much more comfortable, I do like the old-school loco-hauled experience.
 

Bletchleyite

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Seats are allocated on a budget airline principle - you get what you are given unless you pay to choose a place. Prices for these are SEK 40-60 (EUR 4-6). I went for a "comfort seat" at SEK 60, which gives you more leg room (what I would define as normal leg room). But I instantly regretted it as the seat wasn't lined up to the window!

I really don't get why showing window positions on seating plans is hard, be that on a train or an aircraft. For many it's a reason for their choice.
 

jamesontheroad

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Thank you for the report @scarby. I guess Flix have no expectation of turning a profit this summer, so they are just establishing themselves and bedding in before expanding increasing service or expanding to Malmö. At some point in the future, there will be a mobile catering offer, but I hope Flix take seriously the Swedish need for hot, strong coffee. A couple large thermos jugs will not compete with the industrial sized filter coffee machines one finds on SJ.
 

scarby

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I’m on this again, Gothenburg to Stockholm. It’s much busier, though not full.

What I do notice this time is that the overhead luggage space is “proper” and easily able to accommodate some very big and heavy cases.

Many of the windows are open this time, so the retro experience in that sense is great!

Leg room is exceptionally tight, though.
 
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