České dráhy introduce ČD Night, add new route to Zurich
The carrier will use refurbished cars on all night trains.
České dráhy today introduced ČD Night, a night train service providing sleeper- and couchette car trains. New among them is the Canopus, connecting Prague and Zurich via Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. It will be introduced with the new timetable.
This route will complement the southern course via Linz serviced by a direct ČD sleeper. It will open up more seats as the southbound train is often sold out and its capacity cannot be upped due to infrastructure constraints in Austria.
The Canopus, the Slovakia (to Košice, Humenné, and Poland), and the Metropol (to Budapest) make up the three ČD night trains. The carrier has invested CZK 250 million into modernizing sleepers and couchette cars that are used on the trains now.
ČD owns 21 sleeper cars and nine couchette cars, which cover their needs. The sleeper upgrades are provided by Skoda Pars and are due this winter. The couchette car modernization is provided by DPOV and is due in the summer of 2023. ČD plans no further investments in night trains in the next five years. Onboard service is contracted to JLV.
ČD 2022-2023 international routes. Credit: ČD
The Canopus will depart from Prague at 6:25 p.m. via Dresden and Leipzig to Frankfurt am Main (arrival at 3:46 a.m.) and Basel SBB (7:20 a.m.), arriving in Zurich at 9:05 a.m. On the return journey, the train will leave Zurich at 19:59 p.m. and arrive in Prague at 9:35 a.m. the following day.
At major transfer hubs such as Karlsruhe, Basel SBB, or Zurich HB, connecting services are available to various destinations in Switzerland as well as to Milan, Italy. The connection can also be used to get to Frankfurt International Airport.
More pictures of interior available here.
Edited and translated by Lucie Trávníčková