Degerfors to Hamburg

Today is the start of my New Year trip to Barcelona. I will take the train from Degerfors and head south all the way to Rome before Barcelona. First day I'm planning to cover the route to Hamburg, from where I will take a night train to Zurich. My trip will be partially covered with Interrail ticket.

 Monday after Christmas in Degerfors. Today (26th of December) many passengers are returning home after Christmas celebration. Tågab company which operates here have two train one after another, first 8:35 to Falun (arriving from Karlstad), then 5 min later 8:40 to Göteborg (arriving from Kristinehamn).

 The cold weather has not arrived yet to Sweden, instead it's a storm on the way over Scandinavia (named Urd) which made me a little bit worried if I would make my journey according to schedule.

 A cat is risking its life at Degerfors station

 Rc3 from Tågab for Karlstad-Falun service

 Next is my train to Göteborg

 Another Rc3 from Tågab

 A2 first class coach from 1964, considered still one of the most comfortable coaches by many.

First the train is taking Värmlandsbanan railway, I can spot Stor-Björken lake.

Shortly before Laxå, the train is turning west towards Västra Stambanan railway.

Laxå

Now we are on track at Västra Stambanan all the way to Göteborg.

This train has a restaurant coach R2 from 1968.

It's a very nice when trains have restaurant coaches, today it's a rare view.

Passing by Göta Kanal at Töreboda.

I'm near Skövde, and I can already see Billingen mesa plateau, the largest one in Västra Götaland.

X2 in Skövde

Falköping

Rantens hotel next to the train station built in 1865

A2 coach

Alingsås station

Sävelången lake

Aspen lake

Final stop for this train - Göteborg

Another train set with coaches from the 60's is the Blå tåget for Stockholm. The train has also A2 coach.

Tågab train with different coaches, A2 and R2.

B5 and B7

B7 and BC2

I have 40 min before my next train, a walk outside the station

Göteborg Central station

My next train is a modern one, X55 to Malmö.

The weather is changing rapidly this day due to storm Urd.

The train is almost full booked

Time for lunch, SJ is serving cold food in 1st class

Västkustbanan is perfect for X55 which can reach 200km/h on most part of the route.

The railway next to the sea in Varberg. It's windy and stormy, and I'm getting worried whether Öresundsbridge will be closed or not. At the end I'm deciding to take HH route instead of the bridge.

The storm is not an obstacle for wind surfers.

Beach nearby Ängelholm

Beach in Helsingborg

I can already spot from the train window that the HH ferries are operating so I'm deciding to take this route.

Helsingborg station

The ferry terminal is in same building as the train station, which is very practical

Warnings for travellers from Sweden, that it's not possible to get back to Sweden without an ID.

Ferries are sailing each 15 min and the trip takes 20 min.

Öresund strait

Birds in Helsingborg harbour

It's windy

Helsingör castle

I can spot Copenhagen area

The ferry is not very crowded.

Train station in Helsingör

LINT 41 for Lokalbanen

Entrance to the station

The station was inaugurated 1891

Öresundståg is taking me further to Copenhagen

X31 train is a bit empty on this route.

I'm taking Coast line

Espergaerde station

ICE-TD train nearby Oesterport station. The amount of services with this type of train has been reduced from 5 to 1 per day from December 2016, the rest are operated with IC3 train, which by the way I'm going to take.

I'm taking Eurocity service Copenhagen-Hamburg.

Storm Urd is now approaching Copenhagen, it is thunder and hail - which I guess must be rare in December.

My train arrives.

After 2 hours journey in Denmark, it is time to enter the ferry to Puttgarden.

The ferry is made exactly to fit 2 sets of IC3 train, but today it is only 1 set.

Another 2 hours, and I'm in Hamburg.

Since Deutsche Bahn has decided to suspend all night trains, Austrian ÖBB has decided to take over some of them, including this route. The name has been changed from CityNightLine to Euronight Nightjet. The route (EN471) has become 1 hour longer due to longer route through Berlin.

Surveillance in Hamburg

Siemens ES 64 U2 is the locomotive for my train.

I'm travelling in Deluxe coach WLABmz 61 81 76-94 which is a double deck sleeper coach, manufactured in 1995 by SGP Graz / Talbot, and modernised in 2009.

The coach has 1st class compartments each with own WC and shower. The price for this compartment Hamburg-Zurich was 199EUR. A small bottle of champagne and breakfast is included.

These sleepers were included too.

My night kit

The train is moving fast towards Belin

Berlin-Spandau

Berlin, it was even possible to see the TV tower for a short moment.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof