The ' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for ''The Comet'') was an international overnight

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes few or no stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, providing faster service than local trains that stop at many or all of the stations along their ...

service between Hamburg,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and cities in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, which was in operation from 1954 to 2016. Its name reflected the notion that the ''Comet'' train and an actual

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

can both be described as travelling through the night at high speed. It was introduced in 1954. It became a

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

(EC) service upon the launch of the EC network in 1987. It became categorised as

CityNightLine CityNightLine AG (timetable and platform sign abbreviation: CNL) was a Swiss night train service. CNL had right of passage grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. It served stations in Belgium, France, Italy and t ...

(CNL) service in the mid-1990s. With the decision by Deutsche Bahn to terminate all CNL services in December 2016, the ''Komet'' ran for the last time on 10–11 December 2016.

Preparation and first era

After the creation of the

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

(German Federal Railway) on 13 December 1951, the new railway company set up a long-distance network (

F-Zug A ''Schnellzug'' is an express train in German-speaking countries. The term is used both generically and also as a specific train type. In Germany and Austria it is also referred to colloquially as a ''D-Zug'', a short form of ''Durchgangszug'' ...

). Between

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and Switzerland two services were planned: the day service ''Senator'' and the night service ''Komet''. The new services needed rolling stock as well, and at that time experiments were carried out to develop new trainsets for the new services. Railway engineer

Franz Kruckenberg Franz Friedrich Kruckenberg (August 21st 1882 – June 19th 1965) was an engineer and pioneer of high speed railway systems. He designed several high speed trains. His most famous design was the Schienenzeppelin. Kruckenberg was born into an ol ...

, who already had experimented with new trains, e.g. the Railzeppelin, before the Second World War, designed a lightweight train, the VT 10.5. Two

diesel multiple-unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s (DMUs) were built. The day-service version, 10.501, was ordered by Deutsche Bundesbahn from manufacturer

Linke-Hofmann-Busch Alstom Transport Deutschland, formerly Linke-Hofmann-Busch, is a German manufacturing company originally established in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) to produce locomotives and rolling stock. Its origins lay in the wheelwright business of Gott ...

(LHB). The night-service version, 10.551, was ordered by the German Sleeper and Dining Car Company (DSG) from Wegmann & Co. DSG introduced the ''Komet'' on 15 May 1954, using their VT 10.5 DMU, operating between Hamburg and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

.'' Cook's Continental Timetable'' (May 23–June 17, 1954 edition), pp. 293, 301–302. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd. It operated three days a week and carried only first- and second-class

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sl ...

s and a

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a passenger railroad car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. These cars provide the highest level of service of any rai ...

. The Deutsche Bundesbahn took over the operation by 1 January 1955. The VT 10.5 was withdrawn from service on 20 December 1960 Das grosse TEE Buch, p. 34 and replaced by locomotive-hauled coaches. By at least the early 1960s, the ''Komet'' was operating seven days a week, and its route had been extended from Basel to

Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...

, Switzerland."Table 45: Komet". ''Cooks Continental Timetable'' (February 1963 edition), p. 67. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd.

EuroCity era

On 31 May 1987, the ''Komet'' was one of the eight initial night services in the then-new

(EC) network."Table 11 (Summer): EuroCity Night Services". ''

Thomas Cook Continental Timetable The ''European Rail Timetable'', more commonly known by its former names, the ''Thomas Cook European Timetable'', the ''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' or simply ''Cook's Timetable'', is an international Public transport timetable, timetab ...

'' (May 1–30, 1987 edition), p. 476; also pp. 472, 511. Peterborough, UK: Thomas Cook Publishing. Its route continued to be Hamburg – Chur, and it operated seven days a week on this route, carrying sleeping cars and

couchette car A couchette car is a railway carriage conveying non or semi-private sleeping accommodation. Overview The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 to 10) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configur ...

s only. One day a week, in summer and winter only, the EC ''Komet'' also carried

through coach In rail terminology, a through coach is a passenger car (coach) that is re-marshalled during the course of its journey. It begins the journey attached to one train, and arrives at its destination attached to another train. Through coaches save t ...

es (sleeping cars and couchettes) from Hamburg to

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

; these were carried southbound on Fridays and northbound on Saturdays. On the portion within Switzerland, the train was not designated as an EC. On 2 June 1991, the ''Komet'' lost its EuroCity status and was reclassified as a German

D-Zug A ''Schnellzug'' is an express train in German-speaking countries. The term is used both generically and also as a specific Train categories in Europe, train type. In Germany and Austria it is also referred to colloquially as a ''D-Zug'', a short ...

(ordinary express train). Its main, daily route was shortened, to Hamburg–

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, and both the Chur and Brig through cars ran only on Fridays (returning on Saturdays, northbound).''

Thomas Cook European Timetable The ''European Rail Timetable'', more commonly known by its former names, the ''Thomas Cook European Timetable'', the ''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' or simply ''Cook's Timetable'', is an international Public transport timetable, timetab ...

'' (April 1991 edition), pp. 91, 523–524. Peterborough, UK: Thomas Cook Publishing.

CityNightLine

In winter 1995/96, the ''Komet'' was reclassified as a

service, with train numbers EN 470/471. At that time, CityNightLine was a

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

name for

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category that denotes many mainline national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were brough ...

trains operated by DACH Hotelzug A.G.;"Travel Information: Hotel Trains". ''

'' (May 1996 edition), p. 10; also p. 348. Thomas Cook Publishing. that company later changed its name to CityNightLine AG. At the start of the summer 1998 timetable period, on 24 May, the ''Komet'' train number classification was changed from EN 470/471 to CNL 470/471, but its status as a ''CityNightLine'' category of train did not change.''

'' (May 1–23, 1998 edition), pp. 81, 83, 543, 545. The CityNightLine ''Komet'' was continuing to operate as of March 2013.''

Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable The ''European Rail Timetable'', more commonly known by its former names, the ''Thomas Cook European Timetable'', the ''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' or simply ''Cook's Timetable'', is an international timetable of selected passenger r ...

'' (March 2013 edition), pp. 85, 87. Deutsche Bahn discontinued all of its CityNightLine services effective 11 December 2016. The ''Komet'' operated for the last time on the night of 10–11 December 2016, and from 11 December it was replaced by an unnamed

Nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the ÖBB, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switze ...

service running from Hamburg to Zürich via

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

."What's new this month". ''

European Rail Timetable The ''European Rail Timetable'', more commonly known by its former names, the ''Thomas Cook European Timetable'', the ''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' or simply ''Cook's Timetable'', is an international Public transport timetable, timetab ...

'' (Winter 2016/2017 edition), p. 3. UK: European Rail Timetable Ltd.

References

Works cited

* * {{EuroCity trains EuroCity International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Germany Named passenger trains of Switzerland Railway services introduced in 1954 Railway services discontinued in 2016