The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Its route has changed many times, and several routes have in the past concurrently used the name (or slight variants thereof). Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name has become synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel. The two city names most intimately associated with the Orient Express are Paris and Istanbul, the original endpoints of the service.
The current Orient Express does not serve Paris or Istanbul. Its immediate predecessor, a through overnight service from Paris to Vienna ran for the very last time from Paris on Friday, 8 June 2007. Since then, the route, still called the "Orient Express", has been shortened to start from Strasbourg instead, occasioned by the inauguration of the LGV Est which affords much faster travel times from Paris to Strasbourg. The new curtailed service leaves Strasbourg at 22.20 daily, shortly after the arrival of a TGV from Paris, and is attached at Karlsruhe to the overnight sleeper service from Amsterdam to Vienna.
Georges Nagelmackers invites guest to a railway trip of 2000 kilometres on his 'Train Eclair de luxe' (lightning luxury train). The train leaves Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) on Tuesday, October 10, 1882 just after 18:30 and arrives in Vienna the next day at 23:20. The return trip leaves Vienna on Friday, October 13, 1882 at 16:40 and as planned enters Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) at 20:00 on Saturday October 14, 1882.
The train is composed: 1. Baggage car, 2. Sleeping coach with 16 beds (with bogies), 3. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 4. Restaurant coach (nr. 107), 5. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 6. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 7. Baggage car (complete 101 ton). The first menu on board (October 10, 1882): oysters, soup with Italian pasta, turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with 'château' potatoes, 'chaud-froid' of Game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, buffet of desserts.
On June 5, 1883 the first 'Express d'Orient' leaves Paris for Vienna. Vienna stays the terminus until October 4 1883. The train was officially renamed Orient Express in 1891.
The original route, which first ran on October 4 1883, was from Paris, Gare de l'Est, to Giurgiu in Romania via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Rousse in Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna, from where they completed their journey to Istanbul by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Istanbul via rail from Vienna to Belgrade and Niš, carriage to Plovdiv and rail again to Istanbul.
In 1889, the train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost stop until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosporus Strait to Haydarpaşa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman railways.
The onset of World War I in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the Simplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via Milan, Venice and Trieste. The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. The Treaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.
The 1930s saw the zenith of Orient Express services, with three parallel services running: the Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express, and also the Arlberg Orient Express, which ran via Zurich and Innsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and Athens. During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from Calais to Paris, thus extending the service right from one edge of continental Europe to the other.
The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the German Mitropa company had run some services on the route through the Balkans, but partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the Bulgaria-Turkey border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.
By 1962, the Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only the Simplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.
In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris-Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris-Istanbul service running on 19 May of that year.
One interesting feature of the current Orient Express train is its heterogeneous assembly of rolling stock coming from France, Germany, Austria, and previously, Hungary and Romania, which allowed people to easily compare the choices of these countries and to choose the one that suited them best. Of course, the sleeping car and the restaurant car previously belonging to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits are sometimes there too.
Though the current service only runs from Strasbourg to Vienna, it is possible to retrace the entire original Orient Express route with four trains:Paris-Strasbourg, Strasbourg-Vienna, Vienna-Belgrade and Belgrade-Istanbul, each of which operate daily. Other routes from Paris to Istanbul also exist, such as Paris-Munich-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul, or Paris-Zurich-Belgrade-Istanbul, all of which have comparable travel times of approximately 60 hours without delays.
The American Orient Express operated across the United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. It was advertised as a sort of combination of a cruise ship and a five-star hotel. After several years of operation it was sold in 2007 to new owners and its name was changed to GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. In late August 2008, GrandLuxe Rail Journeys abruptly ceased operations. The entire set of luxury train cars was put up for sale in September 2008.
The glamour and rich history of the Orient Express has frequently lent itself to the plot of books and films and as the subject of television documentaries.
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Its route has changed many times, and several routes have in the past concurrently used the name (or slight variants thereof). Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name has become synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel. The two city names most intimately associated with the Orient Express are Paris and Istanbul, the original endpoints of the service.
The current Orient Express does not serve Paris or Istanbul. Its immediate predecessor, a through overnight service from Paris to Vienna ran for the very last time from Paris on Friday, 8 June 2007. Since then, the route, still called the "Orient Express", has been shortened to start from Strasbourg instead, occasioned by the inauguration of the LGV Est which affords much faster travel times from Paris to Strasbourg. The new curtailed service leaves Strasbourg at 22.20 daily, shortly after the arrival of a TGV from Paris, and is attached at Karlsruhe to the overnight sleeper service from Amsterdam to Vienna.
Georges Nagelmackers invites guest to a railway trip of 2000 kilometres on his 'Train Eclair de luxe' (lightning luxury train). The train leaves Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) on Tuesday, October 10, 1882 just after 18:30 and arrives in Vienna the next day at 23:20. The return trip leaves Vienna on Friday, October 13, 1882 at 16:40 and as planned enters Paris (Gare de Strasbourg) at 20:00 on Saturday October 14, 1882.
The train is composed: 1. Baggage car, 2. Sleeping coach with 16 beds (with bogies), 3. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 4. Restaurant coach (nr. 107), 5. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 6. Sleeping coach with 14 beds (3 axes), 7. Baggage car (complete 101 ton). The first menu on board (October 10, 1882): oysters, soup with Italian pasta, turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with 'château' potatoes, 'chaud-froid' of Game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, buffet of desserts.
On June 5, 1883 the first 'Express d'Orient' leaves Paris for Vienna. Vienna stays the terminus until October 4 1883. The train was officially renamed Orient Express in 1891.
The original route, which first ran on October 4 1883, was from Paris, Gare de l'Est, to Giurgiu in Romania via Munich and Vienna. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Rousse in Bulgaria to pick up another train to Varna, from where they completed their journey to Istanbul by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Istanbul via rail from Vienna to Belgrade and Niš, carriage to Plovdiv and rail again to Istanbul.
In 1889, the train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Istanbul. On June 1, 1889, the first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). Istanbul remained its easternmost stop until May 19, 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosporus Strait to Haydarpaşa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman railways.
The onset of World War I in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the Simplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via Milan, Venice and Trieste. The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. The Treaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.
The 1930s saw the zenith of Orient Express services, with three parallel services running: the Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express, and also the Arlberg Orient Express, which ran via Zurich and Innsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and Athens. During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from Calais to Paris, thus extending the service right from one edge of continental Europe to the other.
The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the German Mitropa company had run some services on the route through the Balkans, but partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the Bulgaria-Turkey border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.
By 1962, the Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only the Simplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.
In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris-Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris-Istanbul service running on 19 May of that year.
One interesting feature of the current Orient Express train is its heterogeneous assembly of rolling stock coming from France, Germany, Austria, and previously, Hungary and Romania, which allowed people to easily compare the choices of these countries and to choose the one that suited them best. Of course, the sleeping car and the restaurant car previously belonging to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits are sometimes there too.
Though the current service only runs from Strasbourg to Vienna, it is possible to retrace the entire original Orient Express route with four trains:Paris-Strasbourg, Strasbourg-Vienna, Vienna-Belgrade and Belgrade-Istanbul, each of which operate daily. Other routes from Paris to Istanbul also exist, such as Paris-Munich-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul, or Paris-Zurich-Belgrade-Istanbul, all of which have comparable travel times of approximately 60 hours without delays.
The American Orient Express operated across the United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. It was advertised as a sort of combination of a cruise ship and a five-star hotel. After several years of operation it was sold in 2007 to new owners and its name was changed to GrandLuxe Rail Journeys. In late August 2008, GrandLuxe Rail Journeys abruptly ceased operations. The entire set of luxury train cars was put up for sale in September 2008.
The glamour and rich history of the Orient Express has frequently lent itself to the plot of books and films and as the subject of television documentaries.
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