„Orient Express“ is a luxury train that has been connecting Paris with Vienna and Istanbul since 1883. It is called the “train of kings” or “king of trains” because of the interior opulence and the many royals who rode it.
After several route changes, two wars and finally – downgrading its prestige in the Cold War era, the train's regular service to Istanbul and Athens was discontinued in 1977. On December 14, 2009, the “Orient Express” ceases its activity on the route and disappears from the European railway timetables, becoming a “victim“ of high-speed trains and of airplanes, with whose competition it fails to overcome.
The first train, called the “Orient Express”, opened on June 5, 1883. On this first trial trip, the passengers were only men (journalists, artists and politicians) and, on the recommendation of the authorities, they carried pistols.
The carriages are painted in blue and gold. The creator of “Orient Express“ is the Belgian Georges Nagelmakers.
The actual train journey began on October 4, 1883
At the station, a crowd sends off the 24 passengers, among whom only two women. It travels twice a week between Paris and Istanbul, passing through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest (later, instead of Strasbourg and Vienna, the train will pass through Zurich and Innsbruck). This train is not direct. It stops in Gyurgevo, crosses the Danube river by ferry to Ruse, and then another train covers the distance between Ruse and Varna. From there an Austrian steamer takes passengers to Istanbul.
In 1885, the service became daily from Paris to Vienna and back. The train starts traveling twice a week from Paris to Bucharest and Giurgiu and once a week – to Belgrade and Nis. In the same year, a new railway line was opened from Budapest to Istanbul via Belgrade and Sofia, but passengers had to catch a stagecoach between Nis and Plovdiv. In 1889, the line was completely built and the route became direct.
It is known that the Bulgarian king Ferdinand rode the legendary “Orient Express”. He rode in its carriages many times, but twice, though only for half an hour, he was the driver. The owners of the company did not agree with this and subsequently prohibited any amateur attempts in the driver's cab for safety reasons.
In “Orient Express“ many notable personalities of the 19th and 20th centuries have traveled such as: Honoré de Balzac, Charles de Gaulle, Gustave Flaubert, Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, Josephine Becker, Agatha Christie, Kemal Atatürk, Queen Elizabeth II, Mata Hari, Marlene Dietrich, Simon Signore, Grace Kelly, Yves Montand and others. There is a legend that it was on the train that the spy Mata Hari met her lover Victor Maslov and received from him valuable information about operations planned by Russian intelligence.
During the years of the Balkan Wars (1912 – 1913), the train did not go further than Budapest or Belgrade. In the years of the First World War (1914 – 1918), it was stopped from moving in order not to hit a mine. Germany confiscated many luxury carriages and launched its own identical train called the “Balkan zug“ (“Balkan train“). This train connects Berlin with Istanbul (Germany and Turkey are in a coalition through the PSV), but this route fails to establish itself.
After the First World War, the train started again on its old route, but the company expanded its activities and in 1921 launched a second train under the name “Simplon Orient Express”. This second train passes through the Simplon Alpine Tunnel connecting Switzerland and Italy (it was the largest tunnel in the world until 1988). It starts from Paris and passes through Lausanne, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Belgrade and Istanbul. The old route has been extended and the train departs from London. The new route is as follows: London – Kale – Paris - Dijon – Lausanne – Milan – Venice – Trieste – Zagreb – Belgrade – Sofia – Istanbul. The train takes another new destination – from Belgrade it turns southeast to Athens.
In 1929, the train got stuck in the snow in the village of Cherkezkoy, 130 km from the Turkish capital, and stayed there for 5 days. The temperature in the carriages reaches -10 °C, forcing a maharaja to buy at very high prices from the other passengers coats to cover his seven wives. The travelers were starving and went in search of a nearby village, where they managed to exchange jewelry for eggs, and on the way back they also caught a wolf.
This ordeal in the snow inspired Agatha Christie to write her novel “Murder on the Orient Express”, published in 1934, and she of course brought her own authorial elements to the incident.
On September 12, 1931, terrorists blew up a viaduct in Hungary as the Orient Express was passing. The locomotive and several wagons fall, twenty people die and hundreds are injured.
Ever since the opening of the station, for Bulgarians it has always been the place where interesting events took place. Usually on Sundays, in good weather, after the Sunday mass, the citizens would go to the station, to sit, to watch the coming and going of the trains. The curious thing is that most visitors to the station almost never boarded, but still participated in the excitement of the traveler. Visiting the station at least once a month was like an unwritten law, and drinking a bottle of lemonade – an ineradicable habit.
In the years of the Second World War (1939-1945), the “Orient Express“ are again suspended due to safety measures. The Germans are trying to resume military and diplomatic travel on the Berlin line – Istanbul – Berlin, but partisans attack German trains or try to blow them up.
After the war “Simplon Orient Express“ takes the Calais route again – Paris – Milan – Venice – Belgrade – Sofia – Istanbul. However, the Greek border is closed and the train stops moving to Athens. Voyages to Athens resumed in 1951.
With the Cold War, the Balkan countries distrusted this Western train crossing their borders. The control is tightened, causing the train's average speed to slow down greatly. The train became a haven for spies, diplomats and political refugees. Eastern European countries also launched their own trains: Baltic-Orient-Express in 1948, Balkan-Express in 1955 and others.
Today, 135 years after the first voyage of the “Orient Express”, the company that bought the carriages, conducts once a year a luxurious and expensive trip for lovers of this type of experience.
Source: bulgarianhistory.org