TheOrient Express was a long-distance passengerluxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian companyCompagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, with terminal stations inParis in the northwest andIstanbul in the southeast, and branches extending service toAthens,Brussels, andLondon.
TheOrient Express embarked on its initial journey on 5 June 1883, from Paris to Vienna, eventually extending to Istanbul, thus connecting the western and eastern extremities of Europe. The route saw alterations and expansions, including the introduction of theSimplon Orient Express following the opening of theSimplon Tunnel in 1919, enhancing the service's allure and importance. Several routes concurrently used theOrient Express name, or variations. Although the originalOrient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name became synonymous with intrigue andluxury rail travel. The city names most prominently served and associated with theOrient Express are Paris and Istanbul,[2][3] the original termini of the timetabled service.[4] Therolling stock of theOrient Express changed many times.
However, following World War II, the Orient Express struggled to maintain its preeminence amid changing geopolitical landscapes and the rise of air travel. The route stopped serving Istanbul in 1977, cut back to a through overnight service from Paris toBucharest, which was cut back further in 1991 toBudapest, then in 2001 to Vienna, before departing for the last time from Paris on 8 June 2007.[5][6] After this, the route, still called theOrient Express, was shortened to start fromStrasbourg,[7] leaving daily after the arrival of aTGV from Paris. On 14 December 2009, theOrient Express ceased to operate entirely and the route disappeared from European railway timetables, a "victim of high-speed trains and cut-rate airlines".[8][opinion]
In contemporary times, the legacy of theOrient Express has been revived through private ventures such as theVenice Simplon-Orient-Express,[9] initiated by James Sherwood in 1982, which offers nostalgic journeys through Europe in restored 1920s and 1930s CIWL carriages, including the original route from Paris to Istanbul.[10] Since December 2021, anÖBBNightjet runs three times per week on the Paris-Vienna route, although not branded asOrient Express.[11] In late 2022,Accor announced plans to launch its ownOrient Express in late 2026 with journeys from Paris to Istanbul.[12][13]
In 1882,Georges Nagelmackers, a Belgian banker's son, invited guests to a railway trip of 2,000 km (1,243 mi) on hisTrain Eclair de luxe ("lightning luxury train").[4][14][failed verification] The train left ParisGare de l'Est on Tuesday, 10 October 1882, just after 18:30 and arrived in Vienna the next day at 23:20. The return trip left Vienna on Friday, 13 October at 16:40 and, as planned, re-entered theGare de Strasbourg at 20:00 on Saturday 14 October.
Georges Nagelmackers was the founder ofCompagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL), which expanded its luxury trains, travel agencies and hotels all over Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Its most famous train remains theOrient Express.
The first menu on board (10 October 1882): oysters, soup with Italian pasta,turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with ‘château’ potatoes, ‘chaud-froid’ of game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, buffet of desserts.[15]
On 5 June 1883, the firstExpress d'Orient left Paris forVienna viaMunich. Vienna remained the terminus until 4 October 1883, when the route was extended toGiurgiu, Romania. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across theDanube toRuse, Bulgaria, to pick up another train toVarna. They then completed their journey toConstantinople, as the city was still commonly called in the west at the time, by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Constantinople via rail from Vienna toBelgrade andNiš, carriage toPlovdiv, and rail again to Istanbul.[16]
On 1 June 1889, the first direct train to Constantinople left Paris fromGare de l'Est. Istanbul, as it became known in English by the 1930s, remained its easternmost stop until 19 May 1977. The eastern terminus was theSirkeci Terminal by theGolden Horn. Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across theBosphorus toHaydarpaşa Terminal, the terminus of the Asian lines of theOttoman Railways.[16]
Poster advertising the winter 1888–1889 timetable
The train was officially renamed theOrient Express in 1891.[16]
The onset of theFirst World War in 1914 sawOrient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of theSimplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route viaMilan, Venice, andTrieste. The service on this route was known as theSimplon Orient Express, and it ran in addition to continuing services on the old route. TheTreaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. TheSimplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul.[16]
Badge of theCompagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits on a car of theOrient Express
The 1930s saw theOrient Express services at its most popular, with three parallel services running: theOrient Express, theSimplon Orient Express, and also theArlberg Orient Express, which ran via theArlberg railway betweenZürich andInnsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest andAthens. During this time, theOrient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine.Royalty,nobles, diplomats, business people, and thebourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of theOrient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run fromCalais to Paris, thus extending the service from one end of continental Europe to the other.[16]
The start of theSecond World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During the war, the GermanMitropa company had run some services on the route through theBalkans,[17] butYugoslav Partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service.[16]
Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services from running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of the Bulgarian–Turkish border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As theIron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, butthe Communist nations increasingly replaced theWagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services.
Luggage tag
By 1962, the originalOrient Express andArlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only theSimplon Orient Express. This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called theDirect Orient Express, which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice-weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens.
Orient Express poster
In 1971, theWagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for the carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris–Athens direct service, and in 1977, theDirect Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris–Istanbul service running on 19 May of that year.[5][6]
The withdrawal of theDirect Orient Express was thought by many to signal the end of theOrient Express as a whole, but in fact a service under this name continued to run from Paris toBucharest as before (via Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest). However, a through sleeping car from Paris to Bucharest was only operated until 1982, and was only operated seasonally. This meant that, as Paris–Budapest and Vienna–Bucharest coaches were running overlapped, a journey was only possible with changing carriages – despite the unchanged name and numbering of the train. In 1991 the Budapest-Bucharest leg of the train was discontinued, the new final station now becoming Budapest. In the summer seasons of 1999 and 2000 a sleeping car from Bucharest to Paris reappeared running twice a week, now operated byCFR. This continued until 2001, when the service was cut back to just Paris–Vienna, as aEuroNight train, though the coaches were actually attached to a regular Paris–Strasbourg express for that leg of the journey. This service continued daily, listed in the timetables under the nameOrient Express, until 8 June 2007.[5]
With the opening of theLGV Est Paris–Strasbourg high speed rail line on 10 June 2007, theOrient Express service was further cut back to Strasbourg–Vienna, departing nightly at 22:20 from Strasbourg, and still bearing the name,[6][16] but lost the train numbers 262/263 which it had borne for decades.
The remains of the original train had a convenient connection to the Strasbourg-ParisTGV, but due to the less flexible prices the route became less attractive. In the final years through coaches between Vienna andKarlsruhe (continuing first toDortmund, then toAmsterdam, and finally toFrankfurt) were attached. The last train with the nameOrient-Express (now with a hyphen) departed from Vienna on 10 December 2009, and one day later from Strasbourg.
On 13 December 2021, anÖBB Nightjet train began running three times per week on the Paris-Vienna route, although it is not branded asOrient Express.[11]
One of the last known CIWL teak sleeping cars from the period before the First World War can be seen at the formerAmfikleia station site in Greece.[18]
In 1976, the Swiss travel companyIntraflug AG first rented, then later bought several CIWL-carriages. They were operated as theNostalgic Istanbul Orient Express by Seattle-based Society Expeditions.[19] The route went first from Zürich toIstanbul, following the route of theArlberg Orient Express. In 1983, the 100th anniversary of theOrient Express was celebrated by extending the route to run from Paris to Istanbul.[20] The train ceased operations in 2007.
In 1982, theVenice Simplon-Orient-Express was established by businessmanJames Sherwood as a private venture and is currently owned and operated byBelmond. It operates restored 1920s and 1930s carriages on routes around Europe. It also offered a connecting service from London to Folkestone on theBritish Pullman, using similarly restored vintage British Pullman cars, but it was announced in April 2023 that due to complications ensuing fromBrexit this would cease, and travelers from London would have to takeEurostar to Paris in order to join the Orient Express.[21] The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express operates from March to December and is aimed at leisure travellers.[22][23] Tickets start at US$3,262 per person and it operates on multiple different routes most notablyParis-Istanbul viaVienna andBudapest. Despite its name, the train runs via theBrenner Pass instead of the Simplon tunnel. Belmond also offers a similarly themed luxury train in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, called theEastern and Oriental Express.[24] Sherwood also operated a chain of Orient Express-branded luxury hotels, licensed from SNCF, owner of the Orient Express branding. The chain was renamedBelmond in 2014 when the branding license ended.[25]
In 2017,Accor purchased a 50% stake in the Orient Express brand fromSNCF for the right to use the name.[26] In 2018, Accor began renovation work on 17 CIWL carriages from the defunctNostalgie Istanbul Orient Express, which date back to the 1920s and 1930s.[27][28] It will carry passengers betweenParis andIstanbul beginning in late 2026.[12][13]
The glamour and rich history of theOrient Express has frequently lent itself to the plot of books and films and as the subject of television documentaries.
Dracula (1897) byBram Stoker: whileCount Dracula escapes from England toVarna by sea, the group sworn to destroy him travels to Paris and takes the Orient Express, arriving in Varna ahead of him.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925) by Anita Loos, wherein Lorelei and her friend Dorothy take a journey on theOriental Express from Paris to Central Europe.
The Orient Express (1992) a novel byGregor von Rezzori follows a European American who, having ridden the originalOrient Express in his youth, returns late in life to ride the refurbished version.
TheOrient Express appeared in the 2004 novelLionboy and its sequelLionboy: The Case by Zizou Corder. Charlie Ashanti was stowing away on the train on his way to Venice when he met King Boris of Bulgaria.
The short story "On the Orient, North" byRay Bradbury
TheOrient Express appeared as a technologically advanced (for its time) train in the bookBehemoth, byScott Westerfeld.
Thea Stilton and the Mystery on the Orient Express byElisabetta Dami
Madness on the Orient Express is an anthology of horror stories, all connected to theOrient Express, edited byJames Lowder.
One of the criminal mysteries solved byRandall Garrett'salternative history detectiveLord Darcy takes place on a luxurious cross-Europe train manifestly modeled on the Orient Express, though in this setting its final destination isNaples rather than Istanbul.
Orient Express (1944), German film about a murder on the train.
Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), film by theRank Organisation, story by Clifford Grey. A stolen diplomatic document is the quest of various groups on the Orient Express from Paris to Trieste. Copyright by Two Cities Films Ltd.
Orient Express (1954), whose plot revolves around a two-day stop at a village in theAlps by passengers on theOrient Express.
From Russia with Love (1963):James Bond, along withBond girl Tatiana Romanova and ally Ali Kerim Bey, tries to travel on theOrient Express fromIstanbul toTrieste, but complications involvingSPECTRE assassin Red Grant force Bond and Tatiana to jump off the train in YugoslavIstria.
Travels with My Aunt (1972): Henry Pulling accompanies his aunt, Augusta Bertram, on a trip from London to Turkey. The two board theOrient Express in Paris; the train takes them to Turkey (though they disembark briefly at the Milan stop).
The Agatha Christie novel has been adapted into films in1974,2001, and2017
Murder Mystery (2019): In the final scene Nick and Audrey Spitz are travelling on theOrient Express.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023): The third act of the film primarily takes place on theOrient Express bound from Venice to Innsbruck (but filmed in Norway)
In "The Orient Express" (episode number 48 ofThe World of Commander McBragg cartoon series), the Commander tells the story of how he once rode on that fabled train, dodging several assassination attempts on his life en route.
In the Pink Panther cartoon "Pinkfinger" the Pink Panther tries to be a secret agent and is almost blown up by a bomb on the Orient Express.
Mystery on the Orient Express: a television special featuring illusionistDavid Copperfield. During the special, Copperfield rode aboard the train and, at its conclusion, made the dining car seemingly disappear.
"The Istambul Train", "Il treno d'Istanbul" (1980) Hungarian–Italian television series "Stamboul Train" original title byGraham Greene (1932).[29]
Whicker's World – Aboard The Orient Express: Travel journalistAlan Whicker joined the inaugural service of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to Venice in 1982, interviewing invited guests and celebrities along the way.
Gavin Stamp's Orient Express: in 2007 UK'sFive broadcast an arts/travel series which saw the historian journey from Paris to Istanbul along the oldOrient Express route.
The 1987 cartoonTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had an episode titled "Turtles on the Orient Express". As the title suggests it is primarily based on the train.[30]
A 1993 advert forBisto Fuller Flavour Gravy Granules featured in it with a young couple.
The 1995 cartoonMadeline had an episode titledMadeline on the Orient Express, in which a chef stole a snake.
On the 15 May 2007 broadcast ofJeopardy!, the shows theme music "Think" was played by a person on the train’s piano, since the Final Jeopardy clue was about theOrient Express.
"Aboard the Orient Express"Get Smart series 1, episode 13 is set on theOrient Express.
In one episode of the British cartoon seriesDanger Mouse, called "Danger Mouse on the Orient Express" (a parody ofMurder on the Orient Express), Danger Mouse and Penfold travel on the train on their way back to London from Venice. Danger Mouse's arch enemy Greenback is also on the train.
In an episode of the television seriesChuck, Chuck and Sarah decide to goAWOL and take a trip on theOrient Express.
At the end of theDoctor Who episode "The Big Bang", theDoctor receives a call for help from the "Orient Express — in space". This setting is used in the episode "Mummy on the Orient Express", including a reference to the ending of "The Big Bang", four years later. TheOrient Express also briefly appears in the beginning of the 2024 Christmas special, "Joy to the World".
In episode 15 of television seriesForever (U.S. TV series), Dr Henry Morgan travelled fromBudapest toIstanbul with his wife Abigail Morgan on his honeymoon in 1955. He performed an appendectomy on a member of the fictional Urkesh royalty.
The Backyardigans episode "Le Master of Disguise" features the Orient Express, showing Uniqua, Pablo, Austin, Tasha and Tyrone going to Istanbul from Paris.
The seriesAgatha Christie's Poirot, which adapted the entirety of Christie's works featuringHercule Poirot as played byDavid Suchet, included an adaptation ofMurder on the Orient Express as part of its 2010 episodes.
Michael Palin's Around The World in Eighty Days (1988).Michael Palin travelled on theOrient Express in episode 1 from London Victoria to Innsbruck, using a ferry across the English Channel from Folkestone. The train did not continue on to Venice because of a strike on the Italian railways.
One of the episodes of the animated seriesThe Adventures of Paddington Bear titled “Paddington on the Orient Express” features the titular bear and Mr. Gruber on the train. They end up being part of a mystery when a bracelet goes missing.
Alex Otterlei’s "Horror on the Orient Express" is inspired by theCall of CthulhuRPG. The integral symphonic version was released on CD in 2002, a 26-minuteSuite forConcert Band was published in 2012.
Orient Expressions, a musical group from Turkey who combine traditional Turkish music with elements of electronica, take their name from the train service.
TheJean Michel Jarre albumThe Concerts in China has a track entitled "Orient Express" as track 1 of disc 2, though the relation to the train is unknown.
Heart of China (1991 computer game) has a final sequence in theOrient Express. An action scene takes place on the roof.
In 1994's season 1 episode ofWhere on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? called, "The Gold Old Bad Days",Carmen Sandiego and her V.I.L.E. gang are given a challenge to do something low tech by The Player robbery. Carmen's goal is the train.
TheOrient Express plays host to an adventure game byJordan Mechner.The Last Express (1997 computer game) is a murder mystery game set around the last ride of theOrient Express before it suspended operations at the start of World War I. Robert Cath, an American doctor wanted by French police as he is suspected of the murder of an Irish police officer, becomes involved in a maelstrom of treachery, lies, political conspiracies, personal interests, romance and murder. The game has 30 characters representing a cross-section of European forces at the time.
In the gameCrash Bandicoot 3: Warped (1998) for PS1, the third level (which is Asian-themed) is namedOrient Express.
TheOrient Express was featured in two scenarios in theRailroad Tycoon series:
InRailroad Tycoon II (1998), players get to connect Paris to Constantinople in a territory buying challenge.
TheOrient Express cars were made available for download to use inAuran'sTrainz Railroad Simulator 2004 or later versions by the content creation group FMA.
The video game adaptation ofFrom Russia with Love includes scenes aboard theOrient Express
The first scenes ofThe Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief, a 2013 game for PC, involve a mystery set amongst train carriages inspired by theOrient Express.
The entireOrient Express set was used in the Facebook game,TrainStation (2010).
TheOrient Express is a usable engine and caboose in the mobile gameTiny Rails (2016).
InEuro Truck Simulator 2 (2012) there is an achievement calledOrient Express requiring players to complete deliveries between the following cities: Paris-Strasbourg, Strasbourg-Munich, Munich-Vienna, Vienna-Budapest, Budapest-Bucharest, Bucharest-Istanbul.
InTrain Simulator, it features several routes of the Arlberg-Orient Express from London to Faversham, Bludenz to Innsbruck, a few lines around Salzburg, and a small section of the Simplon-Orient Express in Ljubljana. It also features a part of the ÖBB EN Orient Express and the original Orient Express line between Strasbourg and Munich.
Gerhard Rekel,Monsieur Orient-Express. How Georges Nagelmackers managed to connect worlds, Brussels 2024, Lynn Dursin,ISBN978-9464982862 (also in German, French and Dutch).
Orient Express: The Life and Times of the World's Most Famous Train by E H Cookridge. Detail from a copy of the first publication of the book with black and white plates by Allen Lane London in 1979 (ISBN978-0-7139-1271-5)
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