The ''Erasmus'' was an

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...

that linked

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, the Dutch seat of Government, with

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The train was named after the Dutch

Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

Trans Europ Express

The ''Erasmus'' was launched on 3 June 1973 on request of the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

in order to provide a direct TEE-service between

and

. The

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...

wanted to have an extra TEE service linking

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and

using the same intinary as the former '' TEE Rheinpfeil''. Although the ''Rheinpfeil'' was relabeled from TEE to IC already in 1971 a time-consuming exchange of coaches, including vista-domes, with the '' TEE Rheingold'' in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...

was upheld until May 1973. The new ''TEE Erasmus'' was scheduled to have timed connections with the TEE Prinz Eugen in both directions in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

. From 1973 on there were no exchanges of coaches in Duisburg any more between ''Rheingold'' and ''Rheinpfeil'' (the ''Rheinpfeil'' even was rerouted to Basel instead of Munich in 1979). However the maintenance of the ADm vista-dome cars had to take place in the DB-works in Münich, which was not on the Rheingold's route at that time. In order to include the regular maintenance in the normal operation the ''Erasmus'' got vista-dome cars as well. The formations of ''TEE Rheingold'' and ''TEE Erasmus'' changed places,

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...

and

, during the night so every vista-dome car could be serviced in Münich every 5 days. Initially the service started in The Hague HS (Holland Station) on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam railway, using a connection track to the Hague - Utrecht - Germany railway to go eastbound. After the completing of The Hague Central Station, the Western terminus of the Hague-Utrecht-Germany railway, on 30 May 1976 the Western terminus changed to Central station instead of Holland Station, thus abandoning the connection track. In Germany the train was running via

Mainz Hbf Mainz Hauptbahnhof ("Mainz main station", formerly known as ''Centralbahnhof Mainz''von Meyer, Arthur (1891). ''Geschichte und Geographie der deutschen Eisenbahnen von ihrer Entstehung bis auf die Gegenwart'', W. Baensch, p. 1131) is a railway st ...

, Frankfurt Hbf and Wurzburg Hbf to Munich. Between 1976 and 1979 the route on its In 1976 the Vista-dome cars were withdrawn from service in all trains and replaced by class ARD (bar/business) coaches. Also the route of the ''Erasmus'' was changed on its southern part between Mainz and Munich to

Mannheim Hbf Mannheim Hauptbahnhof ( German for ''Mannheim central station'') is a railway station in Mannheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is the second largest traffic hub in southwestern Germany after Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, with 658 trai ...

Stuttgart Hbf Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (; en, Stuttgart central station) is the primary railway station in the city of Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany. It is the largest regional and long-distance railway station in ...

- Augsburg Hbf. But from 1979 until the train's final journey in 1980, the route was changed back to be running via Frankfurt and Wurzburg.

Second Class

In September 1980 the Dutch terminus was altered to Amsterdam and the southern terminus to Innsbruck in Austria. The ''Erasmus'' continued as

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

service until 30 May 1987. On 31 May 1987 the ''Erasmus'' was part of the initial EuroCity services. On 2 June 1991 the route was shortened to Amsterdam -

and eventually replaced by ICE services on 3 November 2000. La Légende des TEE p. 337.

References

Works cited

* * * {{EuroCity trains International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Austria Named passenger trains of Germany Named passenger trains of the Netherlands Trans Europ Express EuroCity Railway services introduced in 1973 Railway services discontinued in 2000