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Couchette Cars |
Number series:
- 51 84 05-70 001 - 002, 004/005/007/008, 010 - 012, 014, 017, 018, 021 (C6)
- 61 84 05-90 103/104, 107 - 110 (C4)
- 61 84 05-70 111/115/117/118, 120 - 127, 129 (C4)
Number in service: 13 C6 and 19 C4 (January 2009)
Originally built: 1981 (C4) and 1963-1968 (C6)
In service for EETC: 2004
Length: 26.400m
Weight: 39(C6)/53(C4) tonnes
Maximum speed: 200km/h (C4 101-110), 160km/h
Number of seats/berths: 44(C4)/60(C6)
Before the TEN pool ceased to exist the NS only rented couchette cars (German
name: Liegewagen). After this period the NS bought 29 coaches from the German
Touristik Union International (TUI), that immediately entered service in TUI
livery (white with red window bands) but with NS logo. The old numbers of the
coaches were 61 80 05-90 101 - 130, the non-rebuilt members just had the 80
(DBAG) replaced by 84 (NS). These coaches have compartments with 4 beds.
Later all coaches were renovated. They were used for several years by
NS Internationaal before this company started operating international night
trains. In 2004 all coaches were taken over by EETC.
The other type of couchette cars was taken over from the DBAG. Their old
numbers were 51 80 50-30 012 - 084 (not all numbers), of the type Bcm, with 6
beds per compartment. These coaches did not have air conditioning. 16
coaches have been modernised and rebuilt for 160km/h. For this the bogies got a
revision at the DBAG workshop in Krefeld. They are used in the same trains as the C4
type, although the additional fare for the C6 is lower. Coaches 006/015/019 and
020 of this last type have not been rebuilt, and were rented to DBAG during the
summer of 1998. In May 2002 these were sold to Hupac in Switzerland.
In March 2000 two coaches were destroyed in an accident in the German station
of Brühl, operating the "Schweiz Express" between Amsterdam and
Basel/Zürich. These coaches were 61 84 50-90 101 and 51 84 50-70 003. As a
replacement for the latter, DBAG couchette coach 51 80 50-30 062 has been
obtained, rebuilt and now renumbered in 51 84 50-30 021.
Two (009 and 013) were sold to ÖBB. The rest was sold to EETC in 2004, that
uses them for holiday trains to Austria, France and Italy. In July 2006 10
couchette cars were sold to Regentalbahn in Germany. In November nr. 016 was
destroyed in a fire.
