Couchette cars temporarily unavailable on Prague – Zurich night trains
The overnight train from Prague to Zurich via Germany will run without a couchette car until February.
The newly introduced Canopus night train, which connects Prague and Zurich via Germany, is having problems. The couchette cars provided by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) are currently unavailable.
Leaving Prague, the train consists of two parts. One is provided exclusively by České dráhy and includes a first-class car, a restaurant car, and three second-class cars. It operates on the Prague – Leipzig – Prague section.
The other part of the train operates on the entire Prague – Zurich – Prague route and usually consists of three cars. Two of them, a sleeper and a second-class car, are operated by ČD. The third, a couchette car, is provided by SBB and owned by the German company RDC, which is currently carrying out repairs to its couchette cars. When the couchette car is not available, SBB dispatches a replacement car, currently a first-class car.
In Leipzig, the cars from Prague connect with the night train from Berlin (NJ408/409) and continue to Zurich. České dráhy expects the couchette car to be available again at the turn of January and February. Prague has two overnight connections with Zurich since the new timetable, the other route runs via Austria.
Edited and translated by Lucie Trávníčková