Sud Express

Sud Express
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusSuspended
First service21 October 1887
Last service16 March 2020
Former operator(s)Comboios de Portugal[1] [2]
Route
Distance travelled1,066 km
Average journey time12 hours, 11 minutes
Service frequencyDaily
On-board services
Catering facilitiesCafe-bar
Technical
Track gauge1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)
Track owner(s)Adif
Infraestruturas de Portugal

The Sud Express (also called Surexpreso[3] Spanish: [suɾeɣsˈpɾeso] and Sud Expresso[4] Portuguese: [suðɨʃˈpɾesu]) was an overnight passenger train connecting Paris with Lisbon and Madrid, and which originally was operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and ran north of Paris to Calais. After 1994, the Sud Express connected Lisboa with Hendaye, a French commune on the Franco-Spanish border. In 1957, Reuters called it "one of Europe's fastest and most famous trains".[5]

For most of the train's history, it was operated in two sections, with passengers needing to change between trainsets at the French–Spanish border because a break of gauge there prevented through operation, but from June 1973 to May 1994 the Sud Express carried through couchette cars between Paris and Lisbon (the Madrid section having been dropped in 1973), thanks to the introduction of cars with bogies (wheelsets) that could be adjusted at the border for the change of gauge.[6] Passengers in sitting cars still had to change trains at the border.

The Sud Express carried Pullman (luxury class) cars exclusively until 1933, when first-class cars were added.[5] It ran without any stops on its Paris–Bordeaux section, which in 1964 was the world's longest non-stop train journey, covering 579.0 km (359.8 mi).[7]

The service was suspended in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not resumed operation.

  1. ^ Carlos Cipriano (2012-09-28). "Sud Expresso e Lusitânia Expresso passam a comboio único a partir de 3 de Outubro". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. ^ Diogo Ferreira Nunes (2020-09-10). "Regresso do comboio-hotel cada vez mais longe: CP devolve material". Dinheiro Vivo (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  3. ^ "Trenhotel Surexpreso". Renfe. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Sud Expresso - Lisboa >> Hendaye". CP - Comboios de Portugal. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b "The Sud Express Marks 70th Year: Famed European Train Has Carried a Host of Notables Southward From Paris". The New York Times. Reuters. 9 June 1957. p. S13. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference cooks1973sep was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Steffee, Donald M. (June 1965). "Japan Takes the Blue Ribbon at 86.7 mph!". Trains. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 20–31.