I've watched several of these reviews when the service was first premiered and they were mostly positive. It does seem like a good option for young cheap travelers.
This chap has a slightly different view and seems to have some valid points. Not the train's fault that some lager louts got onboard though.
I just watched the video. Thanks for sharing it. Wow, what a confining minimal space! As phred says those pods may be an option for young travelers but as an older traveler I am no longer nimble enough to wiggle in and out of those pods. Not on the upper or the lower level! They also look claustrophobic to me and the lack of a proper seat is unappealing. The young man had to sit with his back against the wall of the train with his head inclined forward due to the curvature of the ceiling. Not for me!
Thanks for posting.
Watching this video was informative and revealing, in spite of the guy's incessant editorializing and his annoying attitude, not interested in what bothered him regarding the train's features. The main drawback for me is the price if it is worth this piece of luxury. I would have no problems taking this viable option . I pay only for the seat reservation using the Eurail Senior Pass to board.
In 2017 I did this route, took the NJ train from Hamburg Hbf to Wien Hbf, sharing the six seat compartment with 3 other Austrian adults (not 20 somethings), a married retired couple (good to see local seniors choose this option) and a woman in her 40s speaking that Upper Austrian dialect.....very pleasant with 4 of us. Yes, this train too was indeed late leaving from Hamburg Altona, 75 mins. People on the platform were getting annoyed, kept asking the DB personnel.
It's good to have options, and good to make sure that they sync up with what you need/want. Perhaps after a while some of these pods will be replaced with older seating options if they don't catch on.
Those new trains are actually trainsets, fixed consists of 7 cars, with the intention that the locomotive stays coupled permanently too (like the Railjets). So they cannot easily change the compostion.
i think the pods are a great idea. They have still a few bugs to iron out, and I wonder if the maker of that video knows the secret of getting some sleep on a night train: ear plugs.
I travel by night train semi-regularly. I have a customer in Vienna, and will often take a day train there on monday, to spend a few days with them on site, and take the night train back on thursday. Recently I took the night train both ways, as I managed to get a deluxe single outbound.
The thing that bothers me a bit is the changes in the prices. The new sleeping cars are nice, with all compartments now having en en-suite, but the pricing is now so that as a single traveller I have only the pods as a reasonable option.
