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73-544: The Orient Express embarked on its initial journey on June 5, 1883, from Paris to Vienna, eventually extending to Istanbul, thus connecting the western and eastern extremities of Europe. The route saw alterations and expansions, including the introduction of the Simplon Orient Express following the opening of the Simplon Tunnel in 1919, enhancing the service's allure and importance. Several routes concurrently used

146-471: A 20-minute train journey as an alternative to driving over the Simplon Pass. The service began on 1 December 1959. As roads over the Simplon Pass steadily improved throughout the 1970s and 1980s the tunnel's shuttle schedule was cut back, then ended altogether on 3 January 1993. Almost twelve years later, on 12 December 2004, the car shuttle service began again and now runs about every 90 minutes. In

219-587: A Belgian banker's son, invited guests to a railway trip of 2,000 km (1,243 mi) on his Train Eclair de luxe ("lightning luxury train"). The train left Paris Gare de l'Est on Tuesday, 10 October 1882, just after 18:30 and arrived in Vienna the next day at 23:20. The return trip left Vienna on Friday, 13 October at 16:40 and, as planned, re-entered the Gare de Strasbourg at 20:00 on Saturday 14 October. Georges Nagelmackers

292-479: A chain of Orient Express-branded luxury hotels, licensed from SNCF, owner of the Orient Express branding. The chain was renamed Belmond in 2014 when the branding license ended. In 2017, Accor purchased a 50% stake in the Orient Express brand from SNCF for the right to use the name. In 2018, Accor began renovation work on 17 CIWL carriages from the defunct Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express , which date back to

365-506: A connecting service from London to Folkestone on the British Pullman , using similarly restored vintage British Pullman cars, but it was announced in April 2023 that due to complications ensuing from Brexit this would cease, and travelers from London would have to take Eurostar to Paris in order to join the Orient Express. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express operates from March to December and

438-578: A convenient connection to the Strasbourg-Paris TGV , but due to the less flexible prices the route became less attractive. In the final years through coaches between Vienna and Karlsruhe (continuing first to Dortmund , then to Amsterdam , and finally to Frankfurt ) were attached. The last train with the name Orient-Express (now with a hyphen) departed from Vienna on 10 December 2009, and one day later from Strasbourg. On 13 December 2021, an ÖBB Nightjet train began running three times per week on

511-449: A day worked on the site. They were mostly Italians, who suffered under very poor working conditions: 67 workers were killed in accidents; many died later of diseases. During the work, there were strikes, which led to the intervention of vigilantes and the Swiss army . With up to 2,150 m (7,054 ft) of rock over the tunnel, temperatures of up to 42 °C (108 °F) were expected and

584-415: A new building method was developed. In addition to the single-line main tunnel, a parallel tunnel was built, with the tunnel centres separated by 17 m (56 ft), through which pipes supplied fresh air to the builders in the main tunnel. It was envisaged that the parallel tunnel could be upgraded to a second running tunnel when required. The first Simplon Tunnel (19,803 m (64,970 ft) in length)

657-528: A seasonal outdoor exhibit and event space attached to Haliç Park. Archaeological records show a significant urban presence on and around the Golden Horn dating back to at least the 7th century BC, with smaller settlements going as far back as 6700 BC as confirmed by recent discoveries of ancient ports, storage facilities, and fleets of trade ships unearthed during construction work for the Yenikapı subway station and

730-636: A three-phase power supply of 3,400 volts at 15.8 Hz using two overhead wires with the track acting as the third conductor. BBC had no electric locomotives and initially acquired three locomotives built for the Ferrovia della Valtellina —the owner of the lines from Colico to Chiavenna and Tirano , which had been electrified with this system in 1901 and 1902 —from their owner, the Rete Adriatica (Adriatic Network) railway company. These three locomotives (which became FS Class E.360 ) hauled all traffic through

803-462: A through sleeping car from Paris to Bucharest was only operated until 1982, and also a through seating car was only operated seasonally. This meant that, as Paris–Budapest and Vienna–Bucharest coaches were running overlapped, a journey was only possible with changing carriages – despite the unchanged name and numbering of the train. In 1991 the Budapest-Bucharest leg of the train was discontinued,

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876-583: A world record at the time. Temperatures up to 56 °C (133 °F) have been measured inside the tunnel. Work on the first tube of the Simplon Tunnel commenced in 1898. The Italian king Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the president of the Swiss Confederation (presiding the Federal Council of Switzerland for that year) Ludwig Forrer opened the tunnel at Brig on 19 May 1906. The builders of

949-451: Is 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) long, and 750 meters (2,460 feet) across at its widest. Its maximum depth, where it flows into the Bosphorus , is about 35 meters (115 feet). While the reference to a "horn" is understood to refer to the inlet's aerial silhouette, the significance of the designation "golden" remains more obscure, with historians believing it to refer to either the riches brought into

1022-574: Is a railway tunnel on the Simplon railway that connects Brig , Switzerland and Domodossola , Italy, through the Alps , providing a shortcut under the Simplon Pass route. It is straight except for short curves at either end. It consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 15 years apart. The first to be opened is 19,803 m (64,970 ft) long; the second is 19,824 m (65,039 ft) long, making it

1095-622: Is aimed at leisure travellers. Tickets start at US$ 3,262 per person and it operates on multiple different routes most notably Paris - Istanbul via Vienna and Budapest . Despite its name, the train runs via the Brenner Pass instead of the Simplon tunnel. Belmond also offers a similarly themed luxury train in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, called the Eastern and Oriental Express . Sherwood also operated

1168-601: Is also located along the shore, as are several Muslim , Jewish and Christian cemeteries. Other institutions along the Horn's banks include museums, congress and cultural halls, supporting facilities of the Turkish Navy , and campuses of various universities. Today, the Horn's history and natural environment make it a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul, visited by 10 million international vacationers annually. Sometimes claimed as

1241-619: The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express , initiated by James Sherwood in 1982, which offers nostalgic journeys through Europe in restored 1920s and 1930s CIWL carriages, including the original route from Paris to Istanbul. Since December 2021, an ÖBB Nightjet runs three times per week on the Paris-Vienna route, although not branded as Orient Express. Beginning in 2025, Accor will launch its own Orient Express with journeys from Paris to Istanbul. In 1882, Georges Nagelmackers ,

1314-668: The Fourth Crusade in 1204. In 1348, the Genoese built a new tower nearby which they called Christea Turris (Tower of Christ), now called Galata Tower . There were three notable times when the chain across the Horn was either broken or circumvented. In the 10th century the Kievan Rus' dragged their longships out of the Bosphorus , around Galata , and relaunched them in the Horn; the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire . In 1204, during

1387-497: The Fourth Crusade , Venetian ships were able to break the chain with a ram . In 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II , having failed in his attempt to break the chain with brute force, instead used the same tactic as the Rus' ; towing his ships across Galata over greased logs and into the estuary. After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II resettled ethnic Greeks along

1460-721: The Gotthard Pass and Western Switzerland supported the Simplon route. In 1871, the first line was completed through the Alps, connecting Italy and France with the Fréjus Rail Tunnel . The Compagnie de la Ligne d'Italie was founded in 1856 to build a connection between Romandy and Italy through the Canton of Valais and the Simplon . On 1 June 1874, it was taken over by the Simplon Company ( French : Compagnie du Simplon , S), which

1533-580: The Marmaray tunnel project. Indeed, the deep natural harbor provided by the Golden Horn has always been a major economic attraction and strategic military advantage for inhabitants of the area. Emperor Constantine I established Nova Roma (later Constantinople ) on top of the existing city of Byzantium to capitalize on the same benefits, as did the founders of the previous settlement and its modern successor, Istanbul . The Eastern Roman Empire had its naval headquarters there, and walls were built along

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1606-500: The Orient Express name, or variations. Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name became synonymous with intrigue and luxury rail travel . The city names most prominently served and associated with the Orient Express are Paris and Istanbul, the original termini of the timetabled service. The rolling stock of the Orient Express changed many times. However, post-World War II,

1679-520: The Orient Express , the Simplon Orient Express , and also the Arlberg Orient Express , which ran via the Arlberg railway between Zürich and Innsbruck to Budapest, with sleeper cars running onwards from there to Bucharest and Athens . During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for

1752-409: The Orient Express , was shortened to start from Strasbourg , leaving daily after the arrival of a TGV from Paris. On 14 December 2009, the Orient Express ceased to operate entirely and the route disappeared from European railway timetables, a "victim of high-speed trains and cut-rate airlines". In contemporary times, the legacy of the Orient Express has been revived through private ventures like

1825-570: The Simplon Orient Express . This was replaced in 1962 by a slower service called the Direct Orient Express , which ran daily cars from Paris to Belgrade, and twice weekly services from Paris to Istanbul and Athens. In 1971, the Wagon-Lits company stopped running carriages itself and making revenues from a ticket supplement. Instead, it sold or leased all its carriages to the various national railway companies, but continued to provide staff for

1898-559: The longest railway tunnel in the world for most of the twentieth century, from 1906 until 1982, when the Daishimizu Tunnel opened. Culminating at a height of only 705 m (2,313 ft) above sea level, the Simplon Tunnel was also the lowest direct Alpine crossing for 110 years, until the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016. The tunnel has a maximum rock overlay of approximately 2,150 m (7,050 ft), also

1971-589: The tensioned cable normally used for overhead electrification so that the required 4.90-metre (16 ft 7 ⁄ 8  in) height clearance could be achieved. In the late 1980s, a one kilometre (0.62 mi) long overhead electric rail had been tested at 160 km/h (99 mph). Before this experiment, trains running under overhead electric rails in Switzerland had been limited to 110 km/h (68 mph) and internationally to 80 km/h (50 mph). Restricted rail operations were maintained during

2044-494: The 1920s and 1930s. It will carry passengers between Paris and Istanbul beginning in 2025. They will also offer journeys around Italy on Orient Express La Dolce Vita beginning in April 2025. The glamour and rich history of the Orient Express has frequently lent itself to the plot of books and films and as the subject of television documentaries. Sources: Simplon Tunnel The Simplon Tunnel ( Simplontunnel , Traforo del Sempione or Galleria del Sempione )

2117-527: The 1980s, the Horn was polluted with industrial waste from the factories, warehouses, and shipyards along its shores. It has since been cleaned, and the local fish, wildlife, and flora have been largely restored. The clean-up happened in two main phases under Mayor Bedrettin Dalan in the 1980s and under Mayor Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 1990s. Nowadays, the Golden Horn is settled on both sides, and there are parks along each shore. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce

2190-620: The Bulgarian–Turkish border from 1951 to 1952 prevented services running to Istanbul during that time. As the Iron Curtain fell across Europe, the service continued to run, but the Communist nations increasingly replaced the Wagon-Lits cars with carriages run by their own railway services. By 1962, the original Orient Express and Arlberg Orient Express had stopped running, leaving only

2263-573: The Day by Thomas Pynchon , Reef Traverse, one of the novel's characters, works on the construction of the Simplon Tunnel. In the novel "The Couloir" by Richard Manichello, the Canton Valais is a major geographical setting for action and scenes. especially the Val de Bagnes. Brig and the Simplon Pass & Tunnel play an important role in the main plot, moving characters in and out of Western Swiss locations or over

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2336-599: The Golden Horn as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Bayezid II . Leonardo's drawings and notes regarding this bridge are currently displayed at the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia in Milan , Italy . While the original design was never executed, the vision of Leonardo's Golden Horn Bridge was resurrected in 2001, when a small footbridge based on Leonardo's design was constructed near Ås in Norway by Vebjørn Sand . Until

2409-481: The Golden Horn from south to north: Cibali, Fener , Balat , Ayvansaray , Eyüp , Silahtarağa, Sakarya and Alibeyköy. The following districts line the eastern shore of the Golden Horn from south to north: Kasımpaşa , Hasköy , and Sütlüce . At present, the Golden Horn is spanned by four bridges. Moving from upstream to downstream (i.e. northwest to southeast), these are as follows: The Eski Galata Bridge (literally, Old Galata Bridge ), now-defunct, used to connect

2482-595: The Horn in the Phanar (today's Fener). Balat continued to be inhabited by Jews, as during the Byzantine age, though many Jews decided to leave following the takeover of the city. This area was repopulated when Bayezid II invited the Jews who were expelled from Spain to resettle in Balat . In 1502, Leonardo da Vinci produced a drawing of a single-span 240-metre (790 ft) bridge over

2555-405: The Orient Express struggled to maintain its preeminence amid changing geopolitical landscapes and the rise of air travel. The route stopped serving Istanbul in 1977, cut back to a through overnight service from Paris to Bucharest , which was cut back further in 1991 to Budapest , then in 2001 to Vienna, before departing for the last time from Paris on 8 June 2007. After this, the route, still called

2628-785: The Paris-Vienna route, although it is not branded as Orient Express. One of the last known CIWL teak sleeping cars from the period before the First World War has been rotting away for decades on the Amfikleia station site in Greece. In 1976, the Swiss travel company Intraflug AG first rented, then later bought several CIWL-carriages. They were operated as the Nostalgic Istanbul Orient Express by Seattle-based Society Expeditions. The route went first from Zürich to Istanbul , following

2701-478: The Pennine Alps for various intrigues and subplots involving action that traverses Swiss and Italian story settings. 46°19′25″N 8°00′11″E  /  46.32361°N 8.00306°E  / 46.32361; 8.00306 Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( Turkish : Altın Boynuz or Haliç ; Ancient Greek : Χρυσόκερας , Chrysókeras ; Latin : Sinus Ceratinus ) is a major urban waterway and

2774-534: The Rhone valley lines will be increased from 160 to 200 km/h (99 to 124 mph). On 9 June 2011, a 300 m (984 ft) section of the Simplon II tunnel's roof was seriously damaged when a northbound BLS freight train caught fire and stopped 3 km (1.9 mi) into the tunnel. The temperature exceeded 800 °C (1,470 °F) and took more than two weeks to cool back to normal. By agreement all repairs to

2847-677: The SOS joined with the Jura–Bern–Luzern Railway to create the Jura–Simplon Railway (French: Compagnie du Jura–Simplon , SOS). The participation of the Swiss government led to the signing of a treaty with Italy on 25 November 1895 concerning the construction and operation of a railway through the Simplon from Brig to Domodossola by the Jura–Simplon Railway. The route of the tunnel was determined by military considerations so that

2920-535: The carriages. 1976 saw the withdrawal of the Paris–Athens direct service, and in 1977, the Direct Orient Express was withdrawn completely, with the last Paris–Istanbul service running on 19 May of that year. The withdrawal of the Direct Orient Express was thought by many to signal the end of the Orient Express as a whole, but in fact a service under this name continued to run from Paris to Bucharest as before (via Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, and Budapest). However,

2993-466: The city through the bustling historic harbor located along its shores, or to romantic artistic interpretations of the rich yellow light blazing upon the estuary's waters as the sun sets over the city. Its Greek and English names mean the same, while its Turkish name, Haliç , simply means "estuary", and derives from the Arabic word khaleej , meaning "gulf" . The following districts line the western shore of

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3066-500: The construction of a tunnel from Glis to Gondo, which would have been fully in Switzerland. From Gondo it would have continued on a ramp through the Divedro valley down to Domodossola . At a Swiss-Italian conference held in July 1889, it was agreed, however, to build a nearly 20-kilometre long (12 mi) base tunnel through the territory of both states. In order to secure credit for the tunnel,

3139-518: The context of a nationwide rail upgrading project, Rail 2000 , between 1985 and 2004. Further adjustments are proposed. In November 2004, the 7-kilometre long (4.3 mi) new line between Salgesch and Leuk in the Rhone Valley was completed to replace the last single-track bottleneck on the route. Under the ZEB ("Future rail development projects") package, the maximum speed on the long straight sections of

3212-411: The downstream neighborhoods of Karaköy and Eminönü , but was disassembled and relocated upstream between Ayvansaray and Keçeci Piri following extensive damage in 1992 caused by a fire originating in the kitchen of one of the restaurants located on the bridge's lower level. Originally dating back to 1912, the now-retired structure is no longer used for vehicular or pedestrian traffic, but functions as

3285-509: The early 1990s, a project to implement the rolling highway system of piggyback operations for transalpine freight on the Lötschberg –Simplon axis was implemented. Such operations were possible under the previous profile of the Simplon Tunnel, but capacity would have been heavily restricted because its height was too low to carry trucks at the permitted maximum corner height of four metres (13 ft 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in). The clearance in

3358-497: The entire construction period. In order to expand the Lötschberg-Simplon axis into a powerful transit axis, various extensions to the access lines (from Bern and Lausanne in the north and from Novara and Milan in the south) have been made in recent years and decades. The largest projects have dealt with the northern access from Basel-Bern via Lötschberg. Between 1976 and 2007 there were three major transformations. First,

3431-648: The first Express d'Orient left Paris for Vienna via Munich . Vienna remained the terminus until 4 October 1883, when the route was extended to Giurgiu , Romania. At Giurgiu, passengers were ferried across the Danube to Ruse, Bulgaria , to pick up another train to Varna . They then completed their journey to Constantinople , as the city was still commonly called in the west at the time, by ferry. In 1885, another route began operations, this time reaching Constantinople via rail from Vienna to Belgrade and Niš , carriage to Plovdiv , and rail again to Istanbul. On 1 June 1889,

3504-701: The first direct train to Constantinople left Paris from Gare de l'Est . Istanbul, as it became known in English by the 1930s, remained its easternmost stop until 19 May 1977. The eastern terminus was the Sirkeci Terminal by the Golden Horn . Ferry service from piers next to the terminal would take passengers across the Bosphorus to Haydarpaşa Terminal , the terminus of the Asian lines of the Ottoman Railways . The train

3577-468: The historic center of Istanbul from the rest of the city, and forms a horn shape , sheltered harbor that in the course of history has protected Greek , Roman , Byzantine , Ottoman and other maritime trade ships for thousands of years. Throughout its history, the Golden Horn has witnessed many tumultuous historical incidents, and has been depicted in numerous works of art. An hourly Golden Horn ferry service connects Üsküdar and Karaköy with most of

3650-431: The new final station now becoming Budapest. In the summer season of 1999 and 2000 a sleeping car from Bucharest to Paris reappeared running twice a week, now operated by CFR . This continued until 2001, when the service was cut back to just Paris–Vienna, as a EuroNight train, though the coaches were actually attached to a regular Paris– Strasbourg express for that leg of the journey. This service continued daily, listed in

3723-457: The old route. The Treaty of Saint-Germain contained a clause requiring Austria to accept this train: formerly, Austria allowed international services to pass through Austrian territory (which included Trieste at the time) only if they ran via Vienna. The Simplon Orient Express soon became the most important rail route between Paris and Istanbul. The 1930s saw the Orient Express services at its most popular, with three parallel services running:

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3796-549: The oldest shipyard in the world, the Haliç Shipyard ( Haliç Tersanesi in Turkish) was founded by Sultan Mehmed II in 1455. It remained in operation both for shipbuilding and repairs into the 1960s but then fell into disrepair. The site is now being redeveloped as the giant Tersane Istanbul project which will bring hotels, museums, art galleries, shops and restaurants to a very rundown area. In February 2019 President Erdoğan announced

3869-614: The primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul , Turkey . As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara , the waters of the Golden Horn help define the northern boundary of the peninsula constituting "Old Istanbul" (ancient Byzantium and Constantinople ), the tip of which is the promontory of Sarayburnu , or Seraglio Point. This estuarial inlet geographically separates

3942-485: The quality of their cuisine. Royalty , nobles , diplomats, business people, and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it. Each of the Orient Express services also incorporated sleeping cars which had run from Calais to Paris, thus extending the service from one end of continental Europe to the other. The start of the Second World War in 1939 again interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945. During

4015-502: The remaining single-track line between Spiez and Brig was dualled. Later, adjustments were made to the tunnel profile for piggyback traffic; in places only widening one track was possible. Finally, the Lötschberg Base Tunnel partially opened in 2007, although the new tunnel still has a 21-kilometre (13 mile) single-track section; this was done in order to save costs for the construction of the longer Gotthard Base Tunnel , which

4088-459: The route of the Arlberg Orient Express . In 1983, the 100th anniversary of the Orient Express was celebrated by extending the route to run from Paris to Istanbul. The train ceased operations in 2007. In 1982, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express was established by businessman James Sherwood as a private venture and is currently owned and operated by Belmond . It operates restored 1920s and 1930s carriages on routes around Europe. It also offered

4161-401: The shoreline to protect the city of Constantinople from naval attacks. At the entrance to the Horn on the northern side, a large chain was pulled across from Constantinople to the old Tower of Galata to prevent unwanted ships from entering. Known among the Byzantines as the Megàlos Pyrgos (meaning "Great Tower" in Greek ), this tower was largely destroyed by the Latin Crusaders during

4234-474: The southern section from the passing loop to the south portal. During the Second World War, on both sides of the border, there were preparations for the possible detonation of the tunnels. In Italy, the German army planned, as part of its 1945 withdrawal, to blow up the tunnel, but was thwarted by Italian partisans with the help of two Swiss officials and Austrian deserters. There is a car-carrying shuttle between Brig and Iselle di Trasquera , which provides

4307-458: The start of the project and in October 2021 it started to open when the Contemporary Istanbul art fair was staged there. It is intended that the Sadberk Hanım Museum will relocate to Tersane Istanbul from Sarıyer as part of the project. The Golden Horn is featured in many works of literature dealing with classical themes. For example, G. K. Chesterton 's poem Lepanto contains the memorable couplet "From evening isles fantastical rings faint

4380-508: The state border between the two countries was in the middle of the tunnel, allowing either country to block the tunnel in the event of war. On 1 May 1903, the Jura-Simplon Railway was nationalized and integrated into the network of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), which completed the construction of the tunnel. The construction of the tunnel was carried out by the Hamburg engineering company Brandt & Brandau, of Karl Brandau and Alfred Brandt  [ de ] . On average, 3,000 people

4453-411: The suburbs along the estuary. In 2021 the T5 tramline opened on the western shore of the Golden Horn. It runs from the Alibeyköy bus station as far as Cibali, beside the Atatürk Bridge , and an extension already in the making will continue it to Eminönü where it will intersect with the T1 tramline and several ferry services. The Golden Horn is the estuary of the Alibey and Kağıthane Rivers. It

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4526-408: The timetables under the name Orient Express , until 8 June 2007. With the opening of the LGV Est Paris–Strasbourg high speed rail line on 10 June 2007, the Orient Express service was further cut back to Strasbourg–Vienna, departing nightly at 22:20 from Strasbourg, and still bearing the name, but lost the train numbers 262/263 which it had borne for decades. The remains of the original train had

4599-431: The tunnel on 19 May 1906. Because of its length among other things, it has operated with electric traction rather than steam from the beginning. The official decision to use electricity was made only half a year before its opening by the then-still-new SBB. Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) were commissioned to carry out the electrification. They decided in 1904 to use the three-phase system being introduced in Italy, with

4672-422: The tunnel until 1908. On 2 March 1930, the Simplon tunnel was converted to 15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC (single-phase). Between 1912 and 1921, the 19,823-metre long (65,036 ft) second tube, known as Simplon II, was built. On 7 January 1922 the northern section from the north portal to the 500-metre long (1,640 ft) passing loop in the middle of the tunnel was brought into operation, followed on 16 October 1922 by

4745-414: The tunnel was therefore increased by lowering the rail trackbed. This work began in 1995 and lasted eight years. At the same time, the tunnel vault was rehabilitated, while the drainage tunnel was rebuilt. A total of 200,000 m (260,000 cu yd) of rock was removed with pneumatic breakers. In addition, a new railway electrification system was installed using overhead electric rail instead of

4818-421: The tunnel were Hermann Häustler and Hugo von Kager . Work on the second tube of the tunnel started in 1912 and it was opened in 1921. Shortly after the opening of the first railway in Switzerland, each region began to favour a separate north–south link through the Alps towards Italy. Eastern Switzerland supported a line through the Splügen Pass or the Lukmanier Pass , Central Switzerland and Zürich favoured

4891-432: The tunnels are the responsibility of the SBB , which expected to reopen the tunnel in December 2011. The other tunnel remained in service. Repair work was completed in November 2011. In the 1957 novel From Russia, with Love by Ian Fleming , protagonist James Bond fights his enemy, SMERSH agent Donovan Grant, eventually killing him, while passing through the Simplon Tunnel on the Orient Express . In Against

4964-411: The war, the German Mitropa company had run some services on the route through the Balkans , but Yugoslav Partisans frequently sabotaged the track, forcing a stop to this service. Following the end of the war, normal services resumed except on the Athens leg, where the closure of the border between Yugoslavia and Greece prevented services from running. That border re-opened in 1951, but the closure of

5037-430: Was built almost straight, with only short curves at the two tunnel portals. On 24 February 1905, the two halves of the tunnel came together. They were out of alignment by only 202 mm (8 in) horizontally and 87 mm (3.4 in) vertically. Construction time was 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 years, rather than 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 years, due to problems such as water inflows and strikes. Operations commenced through

5110-457: Was completed in 2016. Clearances were also raised for the piggyback traffic on the Italian side as well on the Simplon southern approach. Here, too, for financial reasons, at times only one line was cleared for the rolling highway. South of Domodossola, the single line to Novara via Lake Orta was electrified and modernized. The classic approach to the Simplon from Paris and Lausanne —less important for today's transit traffic—was upgraded in

5183-424: Was created to promote the project. This merged in 1881 with the company Western Swiss Railways (French: Chemins de Fer de la Suisse Occidentale , SO) to create the Western Switzerland–Simplon Company (French: Compagnie de la Suisse Occidentale et du Simplon , SOS). The French financiers of the SOS were able to secure finance for the tunnel in 1886. The company considered 31 proposals and selected one that involved

5256-496: Was officially renamed the Orient Express in 1891. The onset of the First World War in 1914 saw Orient Express services suspended. They resumed at the end of hostilities in 1918, and in 1919 the opening of the Simplon Tunnel allowed the introduction of a more southerly route via Milan , Venice, and Trieste . The service on this route was known as the Simplon Orient Express , and it ran in addition to continuing services on

5329-522: Was the founder of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL), which expanded its luxury trains, travel agencies and hotels all over Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Its most famous train remains the Orient Express . The train was composed of: The first menu on board (10 October 1882): oysters, soup with Italian pasta, turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with ‘château’ potatoes, ‘chaud-froid’ of game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, buffet of desserts. On 5 June 1883,

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