''Sud Express'' (also called ''Surexpreso'' and ''Sud Expresso'' ) is an overnight passenger train connecting

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

with

Hendaye Hendaye (Basque language, Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
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, a French commune on the Franco-Spanish border. The original service, operated by the

Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits Newrest Wagons-Lits, formerly (lit. ''International Sleeping-Car Company''), also CIWL, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, or just Wagons-Lits, is a division of particularly known for its on-train catering and sleeping car services, as well as being ...

, ran to

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

via

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The service was suspended in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic and has not been resumed since.

History

Carruagem restaurante do Sul Express em 1887 - Via Libre 177 1978

The inaugural trip of the Sud Express took place on 21 October 1887 connecting

via

in 45 hours and services were extended on 4 November 1887 to

. Initially the service was weekly, but in 1888 was run twice weekly and from London Charing Cross. Also in 1888 the British

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

launched connecting package services from Lisbon to Rio de la Plata and Brazil. The service frequency increased further and on 1 January 1907 started to run daily. It was suspended between 11 December 1937 and 1 August 1939 due to the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. It was again suspended on 1 November 1940 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It restarted between Paris and Lisbon in March 1945.

Events

A 1939 crash near

Tolosa, Spain Tolosa (Spanish and Basque: ) is a town and municipality in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, in northern Spain. It is located in the valley of the river Oria, next by Uzturre, a local mountain topped by a white cross. Its economy relies primaril ...

on 29 March killed, amongst others, the artist

Romilly Fedden Arthur Romilly Fedden (1875–1939) was an English artist and watercolourist. The son of businessman Henry Fedden, his younger brother was the engineer Roy Fedden. Romilly studied under Hubert von Herkomer at Bushey, at the Académie Julian in ...

and his novelist wife Katharine Waldo Douglas. On 11 September 1985, a ''Sud Express'' train collided head-on with another train near Moimenta-Alcafache station. The locomotives exploded and the train, carrying about 400 passengers, immediately caught fire. Forty-nine deaths were officially confirmed, most caused by the fire, although unofficial estimates put the number of deaths between 100 and 150. A memorial was erected on site.

The service today

With the 1989 opening of the

LGV Atlantique The LGV Atlantique (French: ''Ligne à Grande Vitesse''; English: Atlantic high-speed line) is a high-speed rail line running from Paris (Gare Montparnasse) to Western France. It opened in 1989–1990 and comprises two stations: Massy TGV statio ...

, the direct service was discontinued in favour of a (faster) combination of two different trains. The original connection from and to Paris is now made with one

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

to Irun and from Hendaye (the twin border towns on opposite sides of the French/Spanish border). The continuing ''Sud Express'' runs as a night train from

Irun Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...

at the French/Spanish border to Lisbon and from Lisbon to

Hendaye Hendaye (Basque language, Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
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. Until April 2010, facilities existed for 2nd class seated accommodation, 2nd class couchette cars (6-bunk compartments), and 1st class private sleeping compartments for 1, 2 or 3 passengers. Previously, first class passengers found a bar of chocolate and a small bottle of port in their compartments upon boarding the train, with dinner served in a well-appointed dining and bar car, and a continental breakfast the following morning. However, by 2019 the restaurant facility is no more and catering has been reduced to very basic meals in the bar car. The train consists of a Talgo IV set hired from Renfe hauled by a RENFE Class 252 between the Irún/Hendaye and Medina del Campo, a RENFE Class 334 between

Medina del Campo Medina del Campo is a town and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Part of the Province of Valladolid, it is the centre of a farming area. History Medina del Campo grew in importance thanks to its fairs ...

and

Vilar Formoso Vilar Formoso is a town and civil parish in the municipality of Almeida, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 2,219, in an area of 15.14 km2. One of the most important crossings on the Portugal–Spain border is located just next to the to ...

and a CP Class 5600 between Vilar Formoso and Lisbon. The Portuguese Government's strategic plan for transport, published in October 2011, envisaged the withdrawal of the ''Sud Express''. The service (as of January 2019) has so far survived. In October 2012, CP started an Intercity (later downgraded to InterRegional) service between Porto and Coimbra in order to improve the connection between the Sud Express and northern Portugal. Also from October on this train in only operated by CP-Comboios de Portugal. Since 25 April 2018, the southbound Sud Express starts at Hendaye (instead of Irún), due to the lack of proper certification from the new fleet of

TGV 2N2 The Alstom Avelia Euroduplex, more commonly known as just Euroduplex, is a high-speed double-decker train manufactured by Alstom. It is primarily operated by the French national railway company SNCF, and also in operation with the Moroccan nat ...

operating on the

LGV SEA The LGV Sud Europe Atlantique (LGV SEA), also known as the LGV Sud-Ouest or LGV L'Océane, is a high-speed railway line between Tours and Bordeaux, in France. It is used by TGV trains operated by SNCF. It is an extension of the LGV Atlantique. T ...

Interruption during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the service was suspended on 17 March 2020 and (as of December 2022) has not yet resumed. In March 2021, a representative of the Spanish transport ministry said that the country may stop having night trains even after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

References

External links