Una notte nella cuccetta di sopra (A night in the top bunk)
QCER B2360 parole
I'm writing this from the top bunk of a train somewhere between Vienna and Milan, which is my way of admitting that I've become one of those people. You know the ones. We corner you at parties and explain, unprompted, that flying is fine but that a plane has no corridor you can stand in at three in the morning with a cup of tea.
For a decade it looked as if night trains in Europe were finished. Deutsche Bahn dropped its City Night Line service in December 2016 and everybody wrote its obituary. Then the Austrians did something unexpected: ÖBB picked up several of the routes, painted the carriages blue, called the whole idea Nightjet and carried on. Others followed: a cooperative called European Sleeper ran its first train between Brussels and Berlin in May 2023. Not everything has survived, mind you. The Nightjet trains to Paris were withdrawn in December 2025, after the French government stopped funding them.
I should be honest, though, because the photographs lie. A couchette is roughly the width of an ironing board. The person below you will turn over at four and you'll feel every millimetre of it. There's a ladder designed by somebody who has clearly never owned knees. And at some point the train stops, for reasons nobody ever explains, in a siding where the only sound is someone walking along outside, tapping the wheels.
And yet. You get on in one country in your ordinary clothes, you read for an hour, you fall asleep somewhere flat and grey, and you wake up with the blind half up and mountains going past at the speed of a bicycle. Nobody has asked to see your shoes. You haven't stood in a queue since yesterday.
So no, it's not a postcard. Booking a sleeper across three different operators can still feel like homework, and a bed costs far more than a cheap flight to the same city. But I've stopped counting that as a defeat: one ticket pays for the journey and the bed, and I do the travelling while asleep, which is the only kind of multitasking I've ever been good at.
Parole che forse non conosci
- bunkcuccetta
- couchettecuccetta di treno
- unpromptedsenza che nessuno lo chieda
- obituarynecrologio
- sleepervagone letto, treno notturno
- ironing boardasse da stiro
- sidingbinario morto
- to withdraw a servicesopprimere un servizio
- blindtendina
- queuecoda, fila
- to carry onandare avanti
Domande
Si risponde con il testo davanti. Non è memoria: è capire.
Where is the writer writing from?
The top bunk of a train between Vienna and Milan — La prima frase lo dice: from the top bunk of a train somewhere between Vienna and Milan. Il testo è scritto durante il viaggio, ed è per questo che sembra un diario e non un reportage.
According to the text, what did ÖBB do after Deutsche Bahn dropped its night trains?
It took over several routes and created the Nightjet brand — Picked up several of the routes… called the whole idea Nightjet and carried on. Le altre due opzioni sembrano plausibili, ma il testo non le dice da nessuna parte, ed è proprio questa la trappola.
The Nightjet trains to Paris were withdrawn in December ___.
2025 — 2025. Attenzione alle tre date del paragrafo: il 2016 è quando la Deutsche Bahn si è ritirata, maggio 2023 è il primo treno di European Sleeper, e dicembre 2025 è quando sono caduti i Nightjet per Parigi.
The night on board is described as more comfortable than the photographs suggest.
False — Falso, ed è proprio il contrario: «the photographs lie». La cuccetta è stretta come un asse da stiro, la scaletta è scomoda e il treno si ferma di notte su un binario morto. Attenzione: dire che le foto mentono non significa dire che il viaggio non valga la pena; quello arriva nel paragrafo dopo.
The writer counts the absence of airport queues and checks as one of the pleasures of the night train.
True — Vero, anche se non lo dice con queste parole: bisogna dedurlo da «Nobody has asked to see your shoes» e da «You haven't stood in a queue since yesterday». È questo il vero argomento del paragrafo, più del paesaggio.
How does the last paragraph answer the objection that a sleeper costs more than a cheap flight?
By pointing out that the same ticket also pays for the night's accommodation — «One ticket pays for the journey and the bed»: il biglietto è insieme trasporto e albergo, e per questo il prezzo smette di essere una sconfitta. Non dice che sia più economico di un volo, né che il prezzo non conti: ammette che costa di più e spiega cosa si ottiene in cambio.