The WORLD'S WORST First Class Train

Today we're taking the World's Worst First Class Train Journey across Tunisia.

We'll be travelling from the capital, Tunis, down to El Jem, home of a spectacular 2000+ year old Roman amphitheatre - this is a long, hot, sweaty and delayed journey, but I still had a whole load o fun, so join me and we'll go and check it all out together!

#Tunisia #Tunis #ElJem #SNCTF #ByTrain #DoorWindowViews

Date of Filming: 17/8/24
Camera: GoPro Hero 12 Black
Operator: SNCFT
Departure: Tunis, Tunisia
Arrival: El Jem, Tunisia
Cost: First Class - 14.75 Tunisian Dinar (£3.69, €4.44, $4.65)
Second Class - 10.75 Tunisian Dinar (£2.69, €3.24, $3.39)

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00:00 - Intro
01:25 - Arrival at Gare de Tunis
03:12 - Level8: My Favourite Luggage
03:54 - Train Arrival & Route Information
04:56 - Boarding, Seat Tour & Pricing
06:46 - Departing the Tunis Suburbs
08:06 - TOO HOT For Me!!!
09:18 - #TrainDoorViews
10:15 - Calling at Sousse & THRASH!
11:15 - Train Tour
11:50 - Door Hanging & Floor Sitting
13:18 - Trip Summary
14:10 - Arrival at El Jem & Amphitheatre
15:14 - Outro

[Cali--ica]

After seeing this video I’ll never complain about Amtrak ever again. You sir are quite a trooper.

[simonbaker]

Never have the words "quite dire" been so underused!!!!

[thelovertunisia]

Iam from Tunisia and I commuted a lot by train. It wasn't always that bad but over the last 10 years, railwaya have been completely left unfinanced.

[SureFireAirGun]

My partner and I love watching your videos at lunchtime, and it's nice being early to them! Glad you still enjoyed Tunisia despite the train experience living up to expectations 😊

[PJWestfield]

While the train wasn't "first class", I would still argue that you had THE best seat on that train in the doorway!

[jimhankinson]

I took that route as far as Sousse about 5 years ago, and my train was also late, dilapidated, crowded and slow but cheap. Sousse is well worth a visit if you like old buildings and fortifications.

[keizervanenerc]

I am just guessing here, no experience with Tunesia, but in other countries it has happened to me that when a train is very late and when finally arriving it turns out to be relatively old and dirty, then the originally planned train might have been out of order, and they just brought something else that DID at least work.

Could also explain why the seat reservations went out the window if the train setup is different than planned.

[JoseMoreira-vocu]

WAY UNLUCKY, those stored cars looked SO MUCH BETTER!

[meow_]

I travelled around Tunisia by train in late 2023 and your description is very accurate. Trains were old, run-down and downright filthy, on average the trains were +2 hours delayed! I was quite impressed by how calmly the locals took it, but I guess they are used to it! :I

[peterhonig]

Years ago I made a trip from Sousse to Tunis during a hot summerday. The passing of the train trough de city center of Sousse is spectacular and noisy because of the constant use of the horn. Train and toilet were very filthy but thank god all the windows could be open so it was somewhat bearable. An adventurous

[izzieb]

To be fair, that's exactly the kind of first class I'd expect for £3.69 for that long a journey 😅.

[stuartparks]

That does look grim, but I can understand that hanging out the doors made it a memorable experience. Pretty fast for a metre gauge train too

[ctownshend]

I did this journey, to Sousse, about 12 years ago. I travelled 2nd class on a train with only about 4 carriages. As it was february, heat was not a problem and there was plenty of seating available. The train was nowhere near as bad as the one in this video, although it could be the same one thats now got older ( and not been maintained since ). The ferry journey from Marseilles to Tunis was definitely more comfortable.
I stayed at the El Hana Beach hotel in Sousse for a short winter sun holiday, a hotel popular with tourists staying for longer winter holidays, many from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. It has to be said, it was not much warmer than Western Europe. A visit at the end of march or april would have been better. A week in Sousse is long enough.

[tjerkheringa]

I love this kind of old trains. It remembers me of the Akropolis Express from Munich, Germany to Thessaloniki, Greece 35 years ago, which took 3.5 days through communist Yugoslavia. Complete with armed soldiers around the train on stations in Yugoslavia. Although the conditions were way worse back then. Imagine people sleeping in the overhead luggage storage. People sleeping on the 'wet' floors of the toilets....

Casablanca to Marrakesh is also a very interesting train to try out, btw. Very 'colorful'

[SalmanMentos]

At least the seat looks comfy, my last train ride in my country (it was on a loco hauled commuter train which is wildly different even from the the commuter DMU's and EMU's) it still had vertical bench style seating, at least the price is less than a dollar and the railway does have railcars with wildly better seats

[andypandy]

Some years ago we were on holiday in Tunisia. We did a day return trip from Sousse to Sfax, First Class.
Frankly, the so called "First Class" carriages were like filthy sheds. Goodness knows what the other carriages were like! 🥴

[carlosrosas]

I think that trains are not the main priority of Tunisia after all they pass thru . Maybe in the next 10 years they update their railways and trains . Tunísia is a wonderful touristic destination and good,
comfortable and faster trains would help a lot . I must say that Second class looked better than First class . 😀 From Portugal 🇵🇹 European Union 🇪🇺

[BengtHansves]

Memories from the Inter-Rail trip in southern Yugoslavia in july 1988... ;-)

Those locos in the "graveyard" were made in Hungary. Similar constructions still run daily on MÁV network as class M44 or 418 in the new UIC numbering system.

[TrainsTunisieTunisianTrains]

I wish you enjoyed your visit to our country specially el jem and other sites. Railfan From Tunisia 🇹🇳