Venice-Simplon Orient Express

Venice-Simplon Orient Express

Infobox Rail companies
bgcolor=
image_filename=Pullman 284 'Vera' at London Victoria.jpg
widthpx=300px
franchise=Railtour Operator
logo_filename=VSOE.jpg
nameforarea=service
regions=Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
British Pullman
Northern Belle
Royal Scotsman
Eastern & Oriental Express
Perurail
secregions=Orient-Express Hotels
Afloat in France
Road to Mandalay
fleet=17 rail carriages (restaurant, Pullman)
stations=
parent_company=Orient-Express Hotels Ltd
website=www.orient-express.com
websitename=www.orient-express.com
The Venice Simplon-Orient Express is a private luxury train service traveling from London to Venice that is popularly referred to as the Orient Express.

The original company was founded by James Sherwood in 1982; five years earlier, in 1977, he purchased two of the original carriages at the auction when the Compagnie International des Wagons-Lits withdrew from the Orient Express service, passing on the service to the national railways of France, Germany, and Austria. Over the next few years, he spent a total of $16 million purchasing 35 sleeper, restaurant and Pullman carriages. On 25 May 1982, the first London-Venice run was made.

It is currently owned by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.

Orient Express Today

VSOE runs services today to eight major destinations in Europe between March and November:
*London
*Paris
*Rome
*Venice
*Vienna
*Prague
*Budapest
*Bucharest
*Istanbul

The VSOE has separate carriages for use in the UK and for continental Europe, but all of the same vintage (mostly dating from the 1920s and 1930s). Passengers are conveyed across the English Channel by coach on the Eurotunnel shuttle through the Channel Tunnel. Whereas restored Pullman carriages are used in the UK, in continental Europe restored dark blue painted former Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits carriages are used.

These VSOE services are not to be confused with a regular scheduled train called the Orient Express, which currently runs nightly between Strasbourg and Vienna. This latter is a normal EuroNight sleeper train and is the lineal descendant of the regular Orient Express daily departure from Paris to Vienna and the Balkans. Until 8 June 2007, this train originated in Paris, but thereafter was curtailed at its western extremity to Strasbourg after a TGV line was opened between Paris and Strasbourg. While this descendant train is still primarily used for transportation to Vienna and costs only the standard train fare between the two cities, the VSOE train is rather aimed at tourists looking to take a luxury train ride.

Other VSOE Services

There are also services run to supplementary destinations. Trading on the traditions of the name, fares on the Orient Express are high: the service is not intended as an ordinary rail service, but as a leisure event. The company also operates services in South-East Asia (the Eastern and Oriental Express) and Peru (PeruRail). Between 1998 and 2003 they also ran a service on the East Coast of Australia named the Great South Pacific Express.

Orient Express in Britain

VSOE operates two services within Great Britain separate from its main continental services as an open access operator. The British Pullman (which also runs the London-Folkestone leg of the Orient Express) consists mainly of former Brighton Belle Pullman coaches. It operates services mainly in the South of England and the Midlands, with York as its most northerly terminus. Usually operating from Victoria Station in London, specials are often run from London to Southampton to meet cruise ships. On 9 October 2007, the Westfield Group rented the whole train to open its new mall in Derby, departing from the former LNER London Kings Cross station.

The Northern Belle is a more extensive service operating throughout the country, as far north as Inverness and south to Plymouth. It is composed of more modern British Rail Mark 2 coaches, with British Rail Mark 1 kitchen cars, liveried and named to resemble the older Pullman coaches. Both services have their own dedicated sets of carriages, and are hauled by EWS locomotives - the trains have often been hauled by a Class 67 locomotive. Selected services are also hauled by preserved steam locomotives.

Routes

London-Paris-Rome

* London Victoria
* Folkestone Harbour
* Channel tunnel
* Calais-Ville
* Paris Gare de l'Est
* Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
* Venice Santa Lucia
* Florence Santa Maria Novella
* Rome Ostiense

External links

* [http://www.orient-expresstrains.com Official site of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express]
* [http://www.royalscotsman.com Official site of the Royal Scotsman]
* [http://www.orient-express.com/web/uktr/uk_day_trains.jsp Official site of Orient-Express Journeys in the United Kingdom]
* [http://www.tourbrochure.com/travel/Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express-Game.shtml Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express CD-ROM Game]


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