Carlson Wagonlit
Encyclopedia
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (English: International Sleeping-Car Company), also CIWL, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, or just Wagons-Lits, is an international hotel and travel logistics company, particularly known for its on-train catering and sleeping car
services, as well as being the historical operator of the Orient Express
.
Now part of the French Newrest group, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (et des Grands Express Européens) (English: The International Sleeping-Car (and European Great Expresses) Company) was founded by Georges Nagelmackers
during 1872, in Belgium
. CIWL quickly established itself as the premier provider and operator of European railway sleeper
s and dining car
s during the late 19th and the 20th century.
Georges Nagelmackers
was impressed by the Pullman
night trains. Upon his return home, he decided to establish a network of such trains in Europe. He envisioned that such trains should be luxurious and travel across borders.
In 1874 Nagelmacker founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and the et des Grands Express Européens addition became part of the name ten years later. By 1886 his company had become the main organiser for most European heads of state. The symbol "WL" held by two lions became a well-known trade mark.
The company ran either complete trains of Wagon-Lits cars or their individual sleeping and dining cars were coupled onto regularly scheduled trains operated by the state railways of the European countries through which the Wagon-Lits cars passed. These cars were always drawn by locomotives of the various state railways, as Wagon-Lits did not operate its own fleet of locomotives.
Prior to World War I
, CIWL held a monopoly being the only group catering to the needs of the international railroad traveller. The company introduced famous services, such as the Orient-Express, the Nord Express
, and the Sud Express
and expanded to markets outside Europe with involvement in the Transsibérien across Russia.
and Marseilles, the Hotel Pera Palace
in Istanbul
, the Hotel de la Plage in Ostend
, and the Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits in Beijing
(Peking).
CIWL's coaches were confiscated for military use. In Germany
and Austro-Hungary Mitropa
was founded to take over the property and services of CIWL. In 1918, the communists in Russia expropriated CIWL's local rolling stock and hotels. After the conclusion of WWI CIWL demanded to have its central European service routes restored. It regained these for Austria
, Poland
, and Czechoslovakia
; however, in Germany the Reichsbahn and Mitropa sabotaged this process. Eventually, CIWL and Mitropa came to an agreement about their spheres of influence that was signed on April 23, 1925. It stipulated that CIWL would handle transit through Germany and routes between Germany and one of these countries: Belgium
, France
, Italy
, Poland
, and Czechoslovakia
. In turn Mitropa took over the routes between Germany and the Netherlands
and Scandinavia
, as well as trains within Germany, and to Danzig. Trains between Germany and Austria were served by both companies.
In the interbellum period CIWL flourished again. The company's blue and gold livery
was introduced. In 1925 Wagon-Lits opened its first Travel Palace in Paris
. Services extended to the near east, Aleppo
, Baghdad
, Cairo
, and Tehran
. Metal coaches, replacing older wooden ones constructed of teak
, became available in 1926. In 1931 the fleet reached its maximum of 2268 vehicles. This period can be considered the zenith of luxury rail travel. CIWL's carriages were decorated by such renowned artists as Réné Prou, Réné Lalique
and Morrison. CIWL also commissioned renowned artists such as Adolphe Mouron Cassandre
to design posters advertising its services.
in 1938, the Austrian market was lost to Mitropa (it was recovered after 1945). Because of WWII and the subsequent communist expansion, CIWL lost more markets in central and eastern Europe.
After WWII CIWL started to focus more on the travel agency and management business. Accordingly it was renamed Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT) in 1967, and later just called Wagons-Lits.
By 1971 the rolling stock of CIWL had become aged and outdated, and the renovation and replacement needed was beyond the company. It sold or rented its coaches to the SNCF, FS
, SBB, DB
, ÖBB, NMBS/SNCB, NS
, DSB
and RENFE. An international sleeping car pool named TEN = Trans Euro Night was founded at that time and took over and managed (until 1995) many of the carriages of CIWL and of the Mitropa-successor DSG.
. Currently CIWL provides service on night trains in Austria
, Italy
, Spain
and Portugal
and meal and catering services in daytime trains of France
, Italy
, Spain, Portugal and on Eurostar
services to the United Kingdom
.
A number of sleeping-cars on the European continent are owned by CIWL. The cars are maintained by the sister company Rail Service International (RSI) in the Netherlands
and leased to train operating companies.
was sold to CIWL after poor financial results, although CIWL took a back-role in the running of the subsidiary.
Hotel and Leisure Group.
At the time, CIWL included the hotel brands Altea, Arcade, Etap
, PLM and Pullman. Catering organisation Eurest
and in the automobile world, Wagons-Lits included Europcar
rental and motorway break specialists Relais Autoroute.
Following the 1992 purchase, The Pullman hotels were gradually rebranded to Sofitel
, allowing the Pullman name to be reused in 2007 for a new class of conference hotel. Sixty-eight existing Accor hotels will be transferred over , including some Sofitel that had formerly been Pullman hotels originally.
In May 2011, Accor announced plans to auction residual historic assets of Wagons-Lits, including posters and tableware.
The Carlson side of the merger had grown from a travel agency founded by Ward Forster in the United States in 1888. Originally called "Ask Mr. Foster", the chain was renamed to "Carlson Travel Network" following an earlier purchase by the Carlson Group.
Accor sold its 50% of Carlson Wagonlit Travel
in 2006 for €500m to Carlson Companies
and One Equity Partners
. However, Accor maintains its interest in the railway service sector of Wagon Lits.
and made it available for tourist events. After 2007, the night sleeper service retaining this the famous Orient Express name now only operates between Strasbourg in France and Vienna in Austria. Made obsolete by Europe's high-speed rail network, the Orient Express made its last run on 14 December 2009.
from Paris as far as Hamburg, although previously it has served Copenhagen in Denmark.
–Lisbon
starting in 1887, to provide the second-half of the through connection from St. Petersburg (Finland
/Russia
) via Paris
to the west coast of Portugal
. In Lisbon, travellers could transfer to steam-ships crossing across the Atlantic.
/Calais
–Southern France
overnight was operating using Wagons-Lits cars up until 1938. It was actually operated by French company called Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée
.
up until 1917 during World War I
. The service ran from Moscow
to Vladivostok
and Peking, taking over one week in each direction.
to Paris
overnight sleeper train. Wagons-Lits provided twelve cars specially-constructed for the service and designed to fit the smaller British loading gauge
. The service lasted from 1936 to 1980, using the same rolling-stock throughout its history. Before the introduction of high-speed Eurostar
services, this was the only through service, the cross-channel
segment being transported on a series of train-ferries
between Dover
and Dunkirk.
and Vichy
in France
primarily to serve passengers wishing to visit the thermal baths for which Vichy was famous. It was established by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits on 14 May 1927 until the service ended on 19 September 1930.
was signed in CIWL #2419 (). The same wagon was also used for the 1940 Armistice with France
between France and Nazi Germany. The carriage itself was taken to Berlin as a trophy of war, along with pieces of a large stone tablet which bore the inscription (in French):
The railway carriage itself was taken to Crawinkel
in Thuringia
, Germany in 1945, where it was destroyed by SS troops
and the remains buried.
, Fleischmann
, Trix
, Jouef, Bachmann, France Trains and Tri-ang.
Rivarossi also produced very detailed models, discontinued in the late nineties, production restarted lately with the new society affiliated to Hornby.
In 1991, David Copperfield
performed a televised illusion which caused a recently-restored "Orient Express dining car" (in fact an American dining car decorated in Wagon-Lits colours) to seemingly vanish into thin air.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot had a mystery to solve on the Orient Express in Murder on the Orient Express
.
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
services, as well as being the historical operator of the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
.
Now part of the French Newrest group, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (et des Grands Express Européens) (English: The International Sleeping-Car (and European Great Expresses) Company) was founded by Georges Nagelmackers
Georges Nagelmackers
Georges Nagelmackers was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express trains....
during 1872, in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. CIWL quickly established itself as the premier provider and operator of European railway sleeper
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
s and dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s during the late 19th and the 20th century.
A monopoly
During his trip to the USA in 1867–1868 the 23-year-old BelgianBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Georges Nagelmackers
Georges Nagelmackers
Georges Nagelmackers was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express trains....
was impressed by the Pullman
Pullman (car or coach)
In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company from 1867 to December 31, 1968....
night trains. Upon his return home, he decided to establish a network of such trains in Europe. He envisioned that such trains should be luxurious and travel across borders.
In 1874 Nagelmacker founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and the et des Grands Express Européens addition became part of the name ten years later. By 1886 his company had become the main organiser for most European heads of state. The symbol "WL" held by two lions became a well-known trade mark.
Prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, CIWL held a monopoly being the only group catering to the needs of the international railroad traveller. The company introduced famous services, such as the Orient-Express, the Nord Express
Nord Express
The "Nord Express" was a train service introduced in 1896 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, a Belgian night train company...
, and the Sud Express
Sud Express
Sud Express is the name of a famous night train connection originally between Paris and Lisbon, but now covering only the southern part of the traditional route...
and expanded to markets outside Europe with involvement in the Transsibérien across Russia.
Hotels
In 1894 Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels was founded as a subsidiary. They began offering a chain of luxury hotels at major cities. Among these were Hotel Terminus in BordeauxBordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
and Marseilles, the Hotel Pera Palace
Hotel Pera Palace
Pera Palace Hotel is an historic special category hotel and museum hotel located in the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 1892 for the purpose of hosting the passengers of the Orient Express and was named after the place where it is located...
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, the Hotel de la Plage in Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
, and the Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
(Peking).
Competition with Mitropa
With the start of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
CIWL's coaches were confiscated for military use. In Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Austro-Hungary Mitropa
Mitropa
Mitropa is a catering company best known for having managed sleeping and dining cars of different German railways for most of the 20th century. Since its reorganization in 2002, the company only provides stationary food services for rail and road customers. The name Mitropa is a derivative of ""...
was founded to take over the property and services of CIWL. In 1918, the communists in Russia expropriated CIWL's local rolling stock and hotels. After the conclusion of WWI CIWL demanded to have its central European service routes restored. It regained these for Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
; however, in Germany the Reichsbahn and Mitropa sabotaged this process. Eventually, CIWL and Mitropa came to an agreement about their spheres of influence that was signed on April 23, 1925. It stipulated that CIWL would handle transit through Germany and routes between Germany and one of these countries: Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. In turn Mitropa took over the routes between Germany and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, as well as trains within Germany, and to Danzig. Trains between Germany and Austria were served by both companies.
In the interbellum period CIWL flourished again. The company's blue and gold livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
was introduced. In 1925 Wagon-Lits opened its first Travel Palace in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Services extended to the near east, Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, and Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
. Metal coaches, replacing older wooden ones constructed of teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
, became available in 1926. In 1931 the fleet reached its maximum of 2268 vehicles. This period can be considered the zenith of luxury rail travel. CIWL's carriages were decorated by such renowned artists as Réné Prou, Réné Lalique
René Lalique
René Jules Lalique was a French glass designer known for his creations of perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks and automobile hood ornaments. He was born in the French village of Ay on 6 April 1860 and died 5 May 1945...
and Morrison. CIWL also commissioned renowned artists such as Adolphe Mouron Cassandre
Adolphe Mouron Cassandre
Adolphe Mouron Cassandre was a Ukrainian-French painter, commercial poster artist, and typeface designer.-Early Life and Career:...
to design posters advertising its services.
Decline
With anschlussAnschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
in 1938, the Austrian market was lost to Mitropa (it was recovered after 1945). Because of WWII and the subsequent communist expansion, CIWL lost more markets in central and eastern Europe.
After WWII CIWL started to focus more on the travel agency and management business. Accordingly it was renamed Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et du Tourisme (CIWLT) in 1967, and later just called Wagons-Lits.
By 1971 the rolling stock of CIWL had become aged and outdated, and the renovation and replacement needed was beyond the company. It sold or rented its coaches to the SNCF, FS
Ferrovie dello Stato
Ferrovie dello Stato is a government-owned holding which manage infrastructure and service on the Italian rail network. The subsidiary Trenitalia is the main rail operator in Italy.-Organization:Ferrovie dello Stato subsidiaries are:...
, SBB, DB
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
, ÖBB, NMBS/SNCB, NS
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
, DSB
Danske Statsbaner
DSB, an abbreviation of Danske Statsbaner , is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, goods transport and railway maintenance are outside its scope...
and RENFE. An international sleeping car pool named TEN = Trans Euro Night was founded at that time and took over and managed (until 1995) many of the carriages of CIWL and of the Mitropa-successor DSG.
Today
Wagons-Lits is headquartered in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Currently CIWL provides service on night trains in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and meal and catering services in daytime trains of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain, Portugal and on Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
services to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
A number of sleeping-cars on the European continent are owned by CIWL. The cars are maintained by the sister company Rail Service International (RSI) in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and leased to train operating companies.
Corporate history
The company currently operates in Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. The specifics of the services provided have varied based mergers and splits within the company and to the surrounding business climate.Thomas Cook
In 1927, Thomas CookThomas Cook AG
This article contains historical information about Thomas Cook AG until its merger with My Travel - for the new company see - Thomas Cook Group...
was sold to CIWL after poor financial results, although CIWL took a back-role in the running of the subsidiary.
Accor
In 1991 Wagons-Lits became part of the French multi-national AccorAccor
Accor is Europe's leading hotel group , part of the CAC 40 index , and operates in over 90 countries. Headquartered in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry, France, the group owns, operates and franchises 4,229 hotels ranging from economy to luxury on five continents .Previously, the group...
Hotel and Leisure Group.
At the time, CIWL included the hotel brands Altea, Arcade, Etap
Etap Hotel
Etap is a European chain of basic-service budget hotels owned by the Accor Group. There are several branches in major cities and close to transport hubs like the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles. The chain competes with chains like Holiday Inn Express and Travelodge in Europe and the UK.-Rooms:The...
, PLM and Pullman. Catering organisation Eurest
Eurest
Eurest is a catering company owned by the Compass Group. They operate within 80 countries, providing staff restaurants and supplying vending machines for businesses....
and in the automobile world, Wagons-Lits included Europcar
Europcar
Europcar is a Paris based car rental company owned by the French investment company Eurazeo, after its sale by the Volkswagen group. The company was founded in Paris in 1949...
rental and motorway break specialists Relais Autoroute.
Following the 1992 purchase, The Pullman hotels were gradually rebranded to Sofitel
Sofitel
Sofitel is a luxury hotel chain managed by Accor, which opened its first property in Strasbourg in 1964. Its first overseas opening in Minneapolis, USA was in 1974. In 1995 Sofitel had 100 hotels in 40 countries and employed 12500 people....
, allowing the Pullman name to be reused in 2007 for a new class of conference hotel. Sixty-eight existing Accor hotels will be transferred over , including some Sofitel that had formerly been Pullman hotels originally.
In May 2011, Accor announced plans to auction residual historic assets of Wagons-Lits, including posters and tableware.
Newrest
In July 2010 the rail catering operations of Wagons-Lits were transferred from Accor to the catering company Newrest, since then operating under the name newrest wagons-lits.Carlson Wagonlit Travel
In 1997, the Europe business travel and leisure retail arm of Wagons-Lits (Wagonlit Travel) was merged on an equal basis with that of Carlson Travel Network (operating in the United States). The result was a new company called "Carlson Wagonlit Travel" jointly owned by Accor and Carlson Holdings Inc., the former parent companies of the merged entities.The Carlson side of the merger had grown from a travel agency founded by Ward Forster in the United States in 1888. Originally called "Ask Mr. Foster", the chain was renamed to "Carlson Travel Network" following an earlier purchase by the Carlson Group.
Accor sold its 50% of Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel is a large travel agency, handling both business and leisure clients.It operates in 157 countries and territories, with 22,000 employees. According to Business Travel News Online.com, in 2007, CWT surpassed American Express Business Travel and became the world's largest...
in 2006 for €500m to Carlson Companies
Carlson Companies
Carlson is a privately held international corporation in the hotel, restaurant, and travel industries. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, near Minneapolis, Carlson brands and services, including franchised operations, employ more than 170,000 people in more than 150 countries and territories...
and One Equity Partners
One Equity Partners
One Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies across a range of industries....
. However, Accor maintains its interest in the railway service sector of Wagon Lits.
Orient Express
From 1883, the Orient Express operated between Paris and Istanbul in three nights and three times per week in each direction. The Orient Express deployed the first sleeping and dining cars for long-distance train travel in Europe. In 2003, the company restored seven cars of the famous Pullman Orient ExpressOrient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
and made it available for tourist events. After 2007, the night sleeper service retaining this the famous Orient Express name now only operates between Strasbourg in France and Vienna in Austria. Made obsolete by Europe's high-speed rail network, the Orient Express made its last run on 14 December 2009.
Nord Express
The Northern Express connected Paris with St. Petersburg (later Riga), via Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe. Originally begun in 1884, the service is now run by DB NachtZugDB NachtZug
City Night Line is a category of night trains in Europe. They were originally operated by the former railway company CityNightLine AG...
from Paris as far as Hamburg, although previously it has served Copenhagen in Denmark.
Sud Express
The Southern Express connected ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
–Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
starting in 1887, to provide the second-half of the through connection from St. Petersburg (Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
/Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) via Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to the west coast of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. In Lisbon, travellers could transfer to steam-ships crossing across the Atlantic.
Train Bleu
The Blue Train linked ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
/Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
–Southern France
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
overnight was operating using Wagons-Lits cars up until 1938. It was actually operated by French company called Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée
Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée was a French railway company ....
.
Transsibérien
The Trans-Siberian Express was run under contract to Russian TsarRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
up until 1917 during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The service ran from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
and Peking, taking over one week in each direction.
Night Ferry
The Night Ferry provided a through LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
overnight sleeper train. Wagons-Lits provided twelve cars specially-constructed for the service and designed to fit the smaller British loading gauge
Loading gauge
A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures...
. The service lasted from 1936 to 1980, using the same rolling-stock throughout its history. Before the introduction of high-speed Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
services, this was the only through service, the cross-channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
segment being transported on a series of train-ferries
Train ferry
A train ferry is a ship designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as...
between Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
and Dunkirk.
London Vichy Pullman Express
The Londres-Vichy Pullman Express ran between LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Vichy
Vichy
Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It belongs to the historic province of Bourbonnais.It is known as a spa and resort town and was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944.The town's inhabitants...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
primarily to serve passengers wishing to visit the thermal baths for which Vichy was famous. It was established by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits on 14 May 1927 until the service ended on 19 September 1930.
1918 Armistice coach
The 1918 Armistice with GermanyArmistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
was signed in CIWL #2419 (). The same wagon was also used for the 1940 Armistice with France
Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)
The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
between France and Nazi Germany. The carriage itself was taken to Berlin as a trophy of war, along with pieces of a large stone tablet which bore the inscription (in French):
- Here on the Eleventh of November 1918 Succumbed the Criminal Pride of the German Reich. Vanquished by the Free Peoples Which it Tried to Enslave..
The railway carriage itself was taken to Crawinkel
Crawinkel
Crawinkel is a municipality in the eastern part of Germany in the district of Gotha, Thuringia. Crawinkel was first mentioned in 1088.After the Armistice with France in 1940, during World War II, German forces took numerous memorials from the forest of Compiègne, where the Armistice with Germany...
in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany in 1945, where it was destroyed by SS troops
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
and the remains buried.
In popular culture
CIWL model railway cars have been manufactured by many companies including MärklinMärklin
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Wurttemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys...
, Fleischmann
Fleischmann (model railroads)
Fleischmann is a German manufacturer of model railway products.Fleischmann was founded in Nuremberg in 1887 by Jean Fleischmann, as a toy company. Their first model train, in O scale, was produced in 1938...
, Trix
Trix (company)
Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. In 1935 it began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label...
, Jouef, Bachmann, France Trains and Tri-ang.
Rivarossi also produced very detailed models, discontinued in the late nineties, production restarted lately with the new society affiliated to Hornby.
In 1991, David Copperfield
David Copperfield (illusionist)
David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys...
performed a televised illusion which caused a recently-restored "Orient Express dining car" (in fact an American dining car decorated in Wagon-Lits colours) to seemingly vanish into thin air.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot had a mystery to solve on the Orient Express in Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of...
.