By Boris Groendahl and Catherine Bosley, Bloomberg News, Financial Post; December 3, 2019
(Bloomberg) — Romanticized by movies like “Murder on the Orient Express” and “From Russia With Love,” sleeper trains had all but disappeared in Europe. Now, some of their magic is being revived — with a modern twist.
In the last century, nocturnal trains with their wood-paneled cabins and plush lounges were the stuff of adventure, chugging along through the night from Paris to Istanbul or London to Venice. But as high-speed rail connections shrank distances, low-budget airlines emerged and European Union regulations made night trains economically untenable, sleepers lost their allure. One by one, Europe’s great rail lines terminated or dramatically cut international night-train services.