Europe's LONGEST and most UNIQUE sleeper train

Merhaba!
Welcome to this new trip report, that's a trip I wanted to do since a long long long time. The Optima Express, probably the most unique auto train in Europe, it's not a adventure it's a whole odyssey!
Enjoy :)

- TRIP INFORMATION -
RECORDED IN JULY 2022
Railroad company: Optima Tours GmbH
Train type : UIC-X, AB30 and various engines
From : Edirne to Villach Hbf
Time : Around 35 hours
Price : 205€

Massive thanks to my following Patreon for their help :

00:00 : Intro
01:29 : Check in at Edirne station
02:40 : Loading the car
03:10 : Boarding in the last two coaches ?
04:20 : Waiting for the departure
05:40 : The weird auto carriers
06:55 : We're getting ready
07:50 : Departure from Edirne
08:35 : Goodbye Turkey 🇹🇷
08:58 : The short ride in Turkey
09:27 : Changing our engine
10:50 : Compartment review
11:57 : Some delay in Kapikule
12:17 : Why the Optima is so slow ?
12:52 : Welcome to Bulgaria 🇧🇬
13:30 : Passport control
13:59 : Time to sleep
15:17 : Good morning from Serbia 🇷🇸
16:32 : Engine swap in Nîs
17:16 : Mid roll ads
17:39 : A chill morning by the window
18:54 : Tunnel vision
19:14 : Seeing Serbian MUs
19:56 : Europe's most unique train
20:22 : Walkthrough of the train
21:30 : Lunch at the dining car
22:12 : Smoking is allowed !
22:34 : Serbian countryside
23:12 : Approaching Belgrade
24:06 : Belgrade central
24:39 : The brand new line to Novi Sad
25:36 : The WORST moment
26:09 : Šid, last station in Serbia
26:42 : Hi freight train
27:11 : Sunset at the border
27:29 : An annoying control
28:03 : Are we on time ?
28:43 : Nighty night n°2
29:01 : Dobova, border with Slovenia
29:18 : Waking up in Slovenia
29:42 : Toilets Time
30:14 : Sneaking up in the sleeping car
31:38 : Last engine switch
32:11 : Off to Austria
32:54 : Karawanks tunnel
33:17 : Welcome to Austria
33:42 : Arrival in Villach
34:11 : Unloading the cars and conclusion
35:09 : Outro

[tenkloosterherman]

The big attraction of railway travel is that you can simply sit down and watch the landscape pass by. It can be surprisingly different every hour. I took the Trans-Siberia Express in 1985 from Moscow to Khabarovsk. Khabarovks is not the real end of the Trans-Siberia Express, but in 1985 traveling on to Nakhodka meant you were obliged to travel on to Japan. I did not want that, so I took the reverse journey to Moscow in three stages: I still have fond memories of the trip.

[christianoliver]

I was in these countries in the summer of 1990 when it was still Yugoslavia and honestly it doesn't look like it's changed much.
That area was my favorite in a two month trip to the Balkans and it made me sad when everything really went bad for them.
Their war was a true human tragedy

[andyish]

I can remember travelling by train from Munich to Istanbul in the late 1980s. A daily train, with both couchette and sleeper carriages and, exotically, a carriage with a Bulgarian duty free shop added between Sofia and Edirne. Everything was clean and comfortable, if modest. Travel time was night-day-night. We got to know nearly all people in our carriage (mostly Turks, Yugoslavians, Bulgarians) and were invited to eat and drink with them. Finally at dawn of day two punctually and stately rolling around the Golden Horn at the foot of the medieval Byzantine sea walls was a goosebumpish way to enter magnificent Istanbul - Constantinople.
After some days in Istanbul we took the train to Erzurum, a city close to the Turkish-Iranian border. Again a most pleasant experience. The distance and travel time was nearly the same as from Munich to Istanbul. Which made us aware how large Turkey is.
Unfortunately our original plan to take the train to Baghdad failed, as that historic line (part of the Berlin-Baghdad railway) was not operated any more.

[hbruins]

Here in Japan it’s impossible to even think of traveling by train for 2n3d with no air conditioning! Thanks for taking me through a completely different - and beautiful - part of the world.

[gris]

The reason for the cigarette check on the border is the rampant smuggling big and small of cigarettes into the EU/Croatia. They're much cheap in the Balkans, so people buy them there in absurd quantities and bring them up.

[Reens-Rails]

"40 km/h Amtrak style" - made my day! 🤣🤣Great video! I did not know that Optima is a german based company. Hope i hop on this one next year.

[snoosification]

I am from villach and didn't know we had a train to Turkey and back! How awesome!

[OnkelPHMagee]

28:00 The train will arrive exactly at 4 :00. They just fail to tell you which day.

[edmturk]

I used to live in Edirne in early 90's and took the train from TR to BG and GR. I love trains.

[nikose]

i travelled a lot by train during the 90s. the best bed to get some sleep is the upper one. cold air comes inside through the window yet the lights don't wake you up during the night. we had the same compartments in the greek railways during the 90s...i met a lot of foreigners travelling then. i remember an american couple from ohio who were 19 at that time and were travelling all over europe. i cant remember their names but i remember having the best time.

[justinmorgan]

I went Glasgow (Scotland) - Istanbul back in '87, 6 changes and one over night stop.

[emco]

Many thanks for this epic video! My whole childhood and youth I was travelling at least 20 times with Optima Express to Turkey and back again, pure nostalgia😊 best travelling experience, loved it!

[ironfoxzone]

Some info on the Serbian section
1) Dimitrovgrad (Bulgarian border) - Niš is getting modernised and electrified (120 km/h, ETCS) and a new Niš bypass will be built.
2) Belgrade-Niš will be modernized and double tracked all the way for speeds between 160 and 200 km/h (2 hrs journey time). After these two are completed the ride from Sofia to Belgrade will be 4 hrs.
3) Belgrade Center is still not finished, station building is missing but a investor is building it with a office complex (starting next month). Also new development will be built in the area
4) Belgrade Center to Batajnica section will be 4-track in the future (2 for the S-Bahn and 2 for RE/IC/EC trains)
5) Stara Pazova - Šid is also planned to be modernized for 160 km/h with ETCS and denivelation of railroad crossings. Stations will also be modernized on all mentioned projects with platforms and underpasses.
5) Elektrickas are RVR class 412 trains (bought during Yugoslavia) and currently in operation in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. In Serbia they are all used on the S-Bahn system (BGvoz) but will soon be replaced with new trains (plan was for new russian trains (russan desiros) but the cureent war delayed it)

[martinmargerrison]

Greetings from Slovenija. It's the KarawankEN tunnel btw and there is also a road tunnel of the same name that carries the motorway from Slovenija into Austria.
I saw this train (running late again) at Jesenice the other week and wondered what the hell it was so thanks for solving the mystery.
I'm fairly sure that they put one of Tito's blue train coaches on the daily service from Beograd to Bar (supplements payable etc) which is another epic journey. Lep pozdrav. 🇸🇮👍

[NerdX]

These couchettes are quite unique. They are ex-Touropa coaches, recognisable by the special window arrangement and extra big family compartments. Their original classification was Bctüm, and I believe they are the oldest german couchettes still in service.

[Pilski]

Next summer I will take the Amtrak Autotrain from Virginia to Florida...57 miles and NINETEEN hours shorter than this one and...total AC!!

[Tch]

This train allows Turks to see a good part of what was once the ottoman empire and Austrians to see a decent part of what was once the Habsburg empire.

[mohdibrahim]

I can remember travelling from Istanbul to Sofia then Sofia to Athens long times ago 1973 that time my journey was very beautiful. Once I travel from Istanbul to Budapest by train.

[satyasudhakar]

Just loved this journey. I do not even know if I can save up enough money to ride on trains across the world, but this was quite splendid. Love from India.

[eddeph]

Damn I love the sound of old tracks. Childhood moment right there.