The ''Jean Monnet'' was an express train that linked Brussels Midi/Zuid in Brussels, Belgium, with Strasbourg-Ville in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, and later also with Bâle SNCF in Basel, Switzerland. Introduced in 1999, it was operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB), the Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL), and the French National Railway Corporation (

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

). The train was named after

Jean Monnet Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, administrator, and political visionary. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the ...

(1888–1979), a French political economist and diplomat. One of the founding fathers of the European Union, he is regarded by many as a chief architect of

European unity The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Route

The route of the ''Jean Monnet'' was as follows: * Brussels Midi/Zuid – Luxembourg – Strasbourg-Ville (– Bâle SNCF from 2004) It was particularly appropriate that a train running from Brussels to Strasbourg via Luxembourg be named ''Jean Monnet'', because those three cities are the venues of the main EU institutions.

History

The ''Jean Monnet'' first ran on 30 May 1999, as a replacement for the Brussels to Strasbourg section of the EC ''Edelweiss'', which had operated on the same schedule, and with the same train numbers, on that section, and had then continued to Switzerland."Summer services hanges tofrom May 30" (May 1–29, 1999). '' Thomas Cook European Timetable'', p. 3. Thomas Cook Publishing. Made up initially of only three coaches, the new train was not a great success until 2004, when it was extended to Basel. The train's categorisation as a

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

was controversial, because it failed to meet two of the criteria for such categorisation: it had no

restaurant car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do ...

, and also too many stops, particularly in Belgium. These issues meant that the ''Jean Monnet'' lacked not only the glamour of the earlier

Trans Europ Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...

es, but also the more modest charms of a EuroCity meeting all of the usual criteria. The ''Jean Monnet'' last ran on 10 December 2011.

References

External links

Rail.lu: Jean Monnet
– images of the train {{EuroCity trains EuroCity International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Belgium Named passenger trains of France Named passenger trains of Luxembourg Named passenger trains of Switzerland Railway services introduced in 1999 Railway services discontinued in 2011 Jean Monnet

Route

History

See also

References

External links