BER-ZRH Nightjet – Deluxe Sleeper

Operator: Nightjet

Headcode: NJ408

Route:    BER-ZRH

Class:    Sleeper with Shower & WC

Seat:     C310 B52

Date:     Saturday 7^th January 2024

Following a day exploring the German capital (read about that here), I was back at Berlin Hauptbahnhof in plenty of time to catch the second sleeper train of my trip. This would be with Nightjet, a division of Austrian national rail operator OBB, a would take me from Berlin, down through Germany, to Zurich in Switzerland.

Ahead of my trip, I’d has some concern and confusion regarding this leg, as I received frequent emails from Nightjet advising me that my ‘connection’ had changed. Clicking on the link in these took me to OBB’s journey planner and on some occasions the change was just an amendment of a couple of minutes to the arrival or departure time. However, in late December, this service disappeared from the journey planner, only showing if I searched for journeys to Basel instead of Zurich.

Thankfully just after Christmas the train reappeared in the journey planner with the destination of Zurich, although I was still nervous until I arrived back at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and saw the train displayed on the departure boards. Heading down to the advertised platform 4 with plenty of time to spare, I settled to wait and the platform gradually became busier.

As the departure time for the previous RE service came and went without any sign of that train or the boards changing, the nerves reappeared, especially as our departure time came without the train having arrived. At 2048 (four minutes after our departure time), an announcement was made changing our platform to platform 1 and adding a 10-minute delay, bringing with it a stampede as everyone tried to get up and over to platform 1 with their luggage.

The train itself arrived shortly after we’d all changed platforms and unfortunately boarding caused even more chaos as it turned out the train was in the reverse formation to what had been advertised, resulting in people having to run the length of the train in some cases to find their carriage. I also was delayed getting onboard as passengers were boarded from both ends of the carriages, and tried to pass each other in the narrow corridor. Eventually getting onboard, I got to my room to find someone else standing in it to get away from the corridor of chaos!

Whereas my room onboard the European Sleeper from Brussel to Berlin (read about that here) had required the sleeper attendant to lower the bed, my room onboard Nightjet was already made up ready for me to settle down for the night. We departed Berlin Hauptbahnhof 13 minutes late at 2057, with our first stop of the night being just a few minutes later at Berlin Südkruez.

In addition to the bed (all rooms can sleep up to three people with the upper two bunks folding away into the wall), my room had a plug socket by the bed and one in the ensuite, along with the usual collection of light switches and temperature controls. Being a room with an ensuite, I had a WC, washbasin and shower, with the washbasin cleverly moving to allow the best use of the space. The room also had plenty of storage and there was a little welcome kit included on the bed, containing various things including slippers!

After our first stop, there was 30 seconds or so of darkness as all the lights went out for some reason, however whatever had caused this was quickly resolved. As we continued towards our second stop of the night, the sleeper attendant came round to check my ticket, take my breakfast order and offer me a welcome glass of prosecco!

With the attendant coming back with my drink, I left the door to my room open until they got back, something I came to regret as other passengers kept standing in my doorway to use the light from my room or move out of the way of people heading in the other direction. I don’t know what the etiquette is here, but I certainly wouldn’t stop inside another room’s doorway if moving around the train!

After the attendant had returned, I closed my door and got ready for another night of sleeping onboard a moving train. The bed was firm but comfortable, although unfortunately the pillows were very flimsy and I managed to grab the two spares from above the door and used all three. As we paused briefly at Bitterfeld and Halle to pick up other passengers, we were running around 25 minutes late, but by the time we reached Leipzig I was asleep.

With engineering works, this Nightjet services sometimes misses stations or calls at alternative ones within a city, so it’s a bit hard to write precisely where the train will call on any given night. During my journey we were due to stop at nine intermediate stations, with Berlin Südkruez, Bitterfeld, Halle (Salle) Hbf and Leipzig Hbf all being for pick up only, whilst Frankfurt Süd, Karlsruhe Hbf, Baden-Baden, Offenburg and Basel were all for set down only.

I woke up briefly at Baden-Baden and we were running only three minutes late, although I did notice that at some point in the night (possibly at Leipzig) we had changed direction which did confuse me for a moment. Drifting back off, I woke up again as we crossed the border into Switzerland, with Basel Bad station passing by the window. Basel SBB was our first stop in Switzerland, with 28 minutes scheduled at the station to allow the DB locomotive to be detached and an SBB locomotive to be attached.

Around an hour before our arrival in Zurich breakfast was delivered and with the attendant having forgotten my orange juice, I left my room for the first time to go and fetch it. Unfortunately, I’d misunderstood the instructions the previous evening in regards to the room locking and managed to get myself locked out. Thankfully with the attendants help this was quickly resolved and I was able to enjoy my breakfast as the Swiss countryside passed by. Unfortunately when I had ordered breakfast the night before, the hot drink options were crossed out meaning a distinct lack of coffee to enjoy with the scenery.

As we arrived into Zurich just over an hour late, we passed the large depot just outside of the station and the grand signal box at the end of the platforms. Pulling into platform 11 my journey with Nightjet had come to and end and after alighting I was able to see our mainline locomotive being detached before the carriages were taken to the depot by a shunt locomotive.

Nightjet is the market leader when it comes to sleeper train travel in Europe with a network reaching across a large part of the continent. Whether it was this reputation that made me expect more I don’t know, but I left the train having had a journey that I’d describe as ‘ok’. There was nothing particularly wrong (apart from the boarding mess and the constant changes prior to my trip), but the journey didn’t seem to stand out. With their network, I’ll inevitably travel with Nightjet again in the future, so I’ll have to wait and see whether they WOW me then.

Lounge              0*

Seat/Facilities     4*

Food                2*

Service             3*

Punctuality         5*

Overall Rating      15/25 (read about my rating system here!)