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Sud Express (also called Surexpreso[3] Spanish: [suɾeksˈpɾeso] and Sud Expresso[4] Portuguese: [su.dɨʃ.pɾe.su]) is an overnight passenger train connecting Lisbon with Hendaye, a French commune on the Franco-Spanish border. The original service, operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, ran to Calais via Madrid and Paris.

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Sud Express

Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Suspended
First service	21 October 1887
Last service	16 March 2020
Current operator(s)	Comboios de Portugal[1] [2]
Route
Distance travelled	1066 km
Average journey time	12 hours, 11 minutes
Service frequency	Daily
On-board services
Catering facilities	Cafe-bar
Technical
Track gauge	1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in)
Track owner(s)	Adif Infraestruturas de Portugal
Route map Legend London Victoria London Charing Cross Dover Harbour  United Kingdom  France Calais-Maritime Calais-Ville Boulogne-sur-Mer Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Paris-Orléans Paris-Nord Paris-Orsay Aubrais-Orléans Orléans Tours (Saint-Pierre-des-Corps) Poitiers Angoulême Bordeaux-Saint-Jean Lamothe Morcenx Bayonne Biarritz-la-Négresse Saint-Jean-de-Luz - Ciboure 0 km Hendaye 0.5 km  France  Spain 2 km Irun 2 km San Sebastián 75 km Zumarraga 148 km Vitoria-Gasteiz 181 km Miranda de Ebro 265 km Burgos-Rosa de Lima 353 km Venta de Baños 390 km Valladolid-Campo Grande 432 km Medina del Campo El Escorial Lusitania to Madrid-Chamartín Madrid-Norte Madrid-Delicias 509 km Salamanca 601 km Ciudad Rodrigo 632 km Fuentes de Oñoro Valencia de Alcántara 633 km  Spain  Portugal 633.5 km Vilar Formoso 679 km Guarda 703 km Vila Franca das Naves 717 km Celorico da Beira 757 km Mangualde Torre das Vargens 768 km Nelas 799 km Santa Comba Dão 826 km Luso-Buçaco 834 km Pampilhosa 848 km Coimbra-B 896 km Pombal 927 km Caxarias 960 km Entroncamento 1059 km Lisbon-Oriente 1066 km Lisbon-Santa Apolónia Lisbon-Rossio Estoril Campolide This diagram: view talk edit

History

The inaugural trip of the Sud Express took place on 21 October 1887 connecting Lisbon via Madrid to Paris in 45 hours[5] and services were extended on 4 November 1887 to Calais. Initially the service was weekly, but in 1888 was run twice weekly and from London Charing Cross. Also in 1888 the British Royal Mail launched connecting package services from Lisbon to Rio de la Plata and Brazil.[6] The service frequency increased further and on 1 January 1907 started to run daily.

It was suspended between 11 December 1937[7] and 1 August 1939 due to the Spanish Civil War. It was again suspended on 1 November 1940 due to World War II. It restarted between Paris and Lisbon in March 1945.[8]

Events

A 1939 crash near Tolosa, Spain on 29 March killed, amongst others, the artist Romilly Fedden and his novelist wife Katharine Waldo Douglas.[9]

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.^{[citation needed]}

The service today

With the 1989 opening of the LGV Atlantique, 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 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 at the French/Spanish border to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Hendaye. 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.[10]

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 and Vilar Formoso 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.[11] 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 operating on the LGV SEA.

Interruption during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the service was suspended on 17 March 2020.[12] 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.[13]

See also

• Lists of named passenger trains
• Nord Express

References

External links

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