Uma noite no beliche de cima (A night in the top bunk)
QECR B2360 palavras
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 The Nightjet trains to Paris were withdrawn in December 2025, after the French government stopped funding them.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.
Palavras que talvez não conheças
- bunkbeliche
- couchettecouchette, beliche de comboio
- unpromptedsem ninguém pedir
- obituaryobituário
- sleepercarruagem-cama, comboio noturno
- ironing boardtábua de engomar
- sidinglinha de resguardo, desvio
- to withdraw a servicesuprimir um serviço
- blindestore
- queuefila
- to carry oncontinuar, seguir em frente
Perguntas
Respondem-se com o texto à frente. Não é memória: é perceber.
Where is the writer writing from?
The top bunk of a train between Vienna and Milan — A primeira frase diz tudo: from the top bunk of a train somewhere between Vienna and Milan. O texto está escrito de dentro da viagem, e por isso soa a diário e não a reportagem.
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. As outras duas opções parecem plausíveis, mas o texto não as diz em lado nenhum, e é essa a armadilha.
The Nightjet trains to Paris were withdrawn in December ___.
2025 — 2025. Atenção às três datas do parágrafo: 2016 é quando a Deutsche Bahn se retirou, maio de 2023 é o primeiro comboio da European Sleeper, e dezembro de 2025 é quando caíram os Nightjet para Paris.
The night on board is described as more comfortable than the photographs suggest.
False — Falso, e é exatamente ao contrário: «the photographs lie». O beliche é estreito como uma tábua de engomar, a escada é incómoda e o comboio para de noite numa linha de resguardo. Atenção: dizer que as fotografias mentem não é dizer que a viagem não valha a pena; isso vem no parágrafo seguinte.
The writer counts the absence of airport queues and checks as one of the pleasures of the night train.
True — Verdadeiro, embora não o diga com essas palavras: é preciso deduzi-lo de «Nobody has asked to see your shoes» e de «You haven't stood in a queue since yesterday». É esse o argumento real do parágrafo, mais do que a paisagem.
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»: o bilhete é ao mesmo tempo transporte e hotel, e por isso o preço deixa de ser uma derrota. Não diz que seja mais barato do que voar, nem que o preço seja indiferente: admite que é mais caro e explica o que se leva em troca.