Restored Orient Express could take to Europe’s railways again, but will Istanbul be its destination?
- Made famous by Agatha Christie’s 1930s novel Murder on the Orient Express, for a century the fabled train ran from western Europe to the Bosphorus in Turkey
- French rail operator bought the Orient Express brand and has restored original carriages used on the service; reviving the original route is a possibility
The Orient Express. Its name conjures up memories of rail travel from a bygone golden age, of steaming through Europe experiencing top-notch cuisine, the company of fellow passengers who could be writers or spies and, who knows, maybe a mysterious murder deep in the night …
The last true Orient Express travelled from Paris to Istanbul in 1977, drawing down the curtain on almost a century of travel on the fabled route from western Europe to the shores of the Bosphorus in Turkey.
The train entered popular culture, playing a central role in celebrated books and movies, not least Agatha Christie’s 1930s novel Murder on the Orient Express, which has inspired several films.
The Orient Express brand name was acquired by French rail operator SNCF, which has now, at huge expense, restored original Orient Express carriages and is mulling a relaunch of the service.
SNCF this week exhibited seven of the carriages at the Gare de l’Est station in Paris – returned to their original splendour after seven years of restoration.