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Comment by negidius | Hacker News Reader

I love night trains. It's really convenient to be able to go to sleep in one place and wake up at my destination in the morning. Train stations tend to be in much more central locations compared to airports, and it's nice to not have to go through security.

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Night train is very popular around the world, and it's a hit with tourists because they can save extra day on hotel expense and travelling time. It's a kind of travelling hack.

Japan Sunrise Night Train is extremely popular and tourist need to book them several weeks in advance to get a ticket [1]. You can use Japan Rail Pass card for the nobi-nobi economy seats but need to pay extra for the private compartments.

[1] Night Trains:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2356.html

Night trains with amtrak are really expensive in USA. Can anyone point me in to some cheaper options? Either Canada or europe?

As an American sleeper train enthusiast, my recs are:

- If you find yourself in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, the Nightjet is IMHO the best sleeper train in the world on balance. Between very reasonable fares, high hotel rates in the cities it serves, and mostly new rolling stock, it's a bargain.

- If you live on the East Coast or Midwestern US, there are several Amtrak services that are reasonably priced when booked well in advance (3-6 months). The City of New Orleans (from Chicago) or the silver services (two different NYC - Florida trains, but they take different routes through NC, SC, and GA) have much more reasonable fares than the Western routes.

- You can often get a good deal on Via Rail in Canada; they still allow you to book a single berth, and they regularly release promo fares for specific dates. The deals are available at https://www.viarail.ca/en/offers/sleeper-plus-class-deals/ and you can scroll down to see the dates and routes that there are savings on. The best deals are from the major cities in Canada (especially Montreal) to points East on the Ocean - you can get a discount private cabin from e.g. Montreal to Halifax, but you're SOL if you want to go to Vancouver in anything other than a berth. Book a Corridor to get to Montreal. These are best booked close-in, unlike Amtrak.

However, if you have the means, book a room(ette) on the Empire Builder in winter. It's simply incredible.

I think it depends how you look at it, but night trains in Japan are actually not that popular -- so much so they had to reduce routes so the Sunrise Seto became the only surviving night train (as pointed out in your linked article), which why it's hard to book.

I actually wanted to book it from Osaka to Tokyo, but there were a number of hoops to jump through to book it from abroad with a JR Rail Pass that hadn't yet been exchanged, that I ended up just book another hotel night and then hopped on an morning Shinkansen to Tokyo.

Barely anyone takes the Sunrise Seto. I managed to easily book it while I was there. I really want to take it again when I am back, 100% quintessential Japanese bliss. I hope they never get rid of it.

I used to take the night train between Shanghai and Beijing. It was ok, but train stations in China are not generally as central as they are in Europe/Japan (although usually better positioned than the states). The HSR stations are even less convenient in their locations (eg Beijing South vs Beijing main station), however, so now it’s a bit less convenient. The new HSR trains have replaced the night trains (no need for a bed on a four hour ride).

They should be available everywhere. Where they exist in Australia, it's pretty much only for luxury, hosted travel.

The Adelaide-Melbourne service is seated and runs during the day. I think they're competing with freight which gets priority though.

It’s practically teleportation.

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