Post by ronturner on Apr 18, 2023 8:12:15 GMT 1
This information I gleaned from the English language newspaper in France, The Connection
Discovered original carriages are being restored in France to their Art Deco splendour ready for passengers in 2025
The Orient Express was originally launched 140 years ago by Belgian rail company ‘Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’.
For a century, the Orient Express was the favoured transport for royalty, celebrities, aristocrats, heads of state, and wealthy travellers.
Towards the end of the 20th century, as low-cost flights ate into the travel market, the routes were cut back and back until in 2009 the vestigial remains of the service were finally axed altogether.
Today Austrian company ÖBB Nightjet runs modern trains from Paris to Vienna three times a week, and it is still possible to travel the same route from Paris to Istanbul via Munich, Budapest, and Bucharest, or alternatively via Zurich and Belgrade on modern trains. But they are not branded as the Orient Express.
The Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express is a privately-owned company running trains on various routes from March to November each year. The decor throughout the carriages is deluxe vintage.
Passengers are not expected to use the train as transport; the journeys are marketed as experiences in themselves.
Original Orient Express carriages discovered.
But this year, Accor Hotels in partnership with SNCF plan to re-launch the iconic train as the ‘Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express’.
Initial routes will run across Italy including Rome, Florence and Milan, followed by international routes to Paris, Split and Istanbul in 2025.
Seventeen of the carriages will be originals which were discovered in 2015 at the Małaszewicze station on the Polish border with Belarus.
They have now been transferred to France where they are being restored.
The new Orient Express interiors maintain the Art Deco style but incorporating modern conveniences, especially in the bathrooms.
There will be a variety of accommodation on offer from a presidential suite occupying a whole carriage to a modest double compartment.
As well as sleeping cars, there will be dining cars, bars and viewing lounges
Discovered original carriages are being restored in France to their Art Deco splendour ready for passengers in 2025
The Orient Express was originally launched 140 years ago by Belgian rail company ‘Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’.
For a century, the Orient Express was the favoured transport for royalty, celebrities, aristocrats, heads of state, and wealthy travellers.
Towards the end of the 20th century, as low-cost flights ate into the travel market, the routes were cut back and back until in 2009 the vestigial remains of the service were finally axed altogether.
Today Austrian company ÖBB Nightjet runs modern trains from Paris to Vienna three times a week, and it is still possible to travel the same route from Paris to Istanbul via Munich, Budapest, and Bucharest, or alternatively via Zurich and Belgrade on modern trains. But they are not branded as the Orient Express.
The Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express is a privately-owned company running trains on various routes from March to November each year. The decor throughout the carriages is deluxe vintage.
Passengers are not expected to use the train as transport; the journeys are marketed as experiences in themselves.
Original Orient Express carriages discovered.
But this year, Accor Hotels in partnership with SNCF plan to re-launch the iconic train as the ‘Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express’.
Initial routes will run across Italy including Rome, Florence and Milan, followed by international routes to Paris, Split and Istanbul in 2025.
Seventeen of the carriages will be originals which were discovered in 2015 at the Małaszewicze station on the Polish border with Belarus.
They have now been transferred to France where they are being restored.
The new Orient Express interiors maintain the Art Deco style but incorporating modern conveniences, especially in the bathrooms.
There will be a variety of accommodation on offer from a presidential suite occupying a whole carriage to a modest double compartment.
As well as sleeping cars, there will be dining cars, bars and viewing lounges