Editing Nord Express (section)

== History ==
=== Background ===
[[File:Logo_CIWL.jpg|thumb|[[Logo]] of the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits|CIWL]].]]
In 1874, the [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[civil engineer]] and railway entrepreneur [[Georges Nagelmackers]] founded the [[Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits]] (lit. ''International Sleeping-Car Company'', also ''CIWL''). The purpose was to establish a network of [[luxury trains|luxurious long-distance passenger trains]] across the European continent inspired by the [[Pullman (car or coach)|Pullman night trains]] of the [[United States]]. As one of these train connections, the CIWL wanted to establish a direct cross-continental link between [[Saint Petersburg]] and [[Lisbon]] to connect with [[ocean liners]] to [[United States|America]]. However, this concept proved too complex and could not be realized. In turn, two separate connections arose: the ''[[Sud Express]]'' from Paris to Lisbon and the ''Nord Express'' from Paris to Saint Petersburg.<ref>For a short history of the company, see Behrend, Georges, "The History of the Wagons-Lit, 1876-1955", Modern Transport Publishing Co., 1959.</ref>

=== Before World War I ===
[[File:Nord Express before WW1.svg|thumb|Route of Nord Express before WW1. Connections to London, Sud Express and Transsiberian Express are in black.]]
On 9 May 1896, the Nord Express departed for the first time from the French to the Russian capital. This train service enabled people to travel across Europe in what was, by the standards of the time, a very fast and comfortable manner. For the operation of the Nord Express, the CIWL had to close contracts and timetable agreements with fourteen railway administrations, including nine [[Prussia]]n administrations, as well as the [[English Channel#History of Channel crossings|ferry service across the English Channel]] between [[Dover]] and [[Ostend]].

The train left [[Paris]] and [[Ostend]] (with connection from [[London]]) and travelled via [[Brussels]], [[Cologne]], [[Hanover]], [[Berlin]], [[Königsberg]] (now [[Kaliningrad]]) and [[Dvinsk]] (now [[Daugavpils]]) to [[Saint Petersburg]]. Passengers to and from [[Russia]] had to change once in [[East Prussia]] at the [[Germany|German]]/Russian border because Russian railway tracks are of a wider [[rail gauge|gauge]] than those in [[Western Europe]]. In Paris there was a connecting service to the ''[[Sud Express]]'' (Southern Express) to [[Lisbon]].

=== Interwar period ===
[[File:Nord Express Interwar period.svg|thumb|Route of the Nord Express and its [[through coach]]es and connections between 1925 and 1939.]]
After [[World War I]] and the [[Russian Revolution]] the train's route was shortened to [[Warsaw]] and [[Riga]] instead of Saint Petersburg. Riga joined the connection in 1923, with a separate Riga–Moscow line introduced as well.

=== Post-War Period ===
[[File:CIWL 3920 in Stockholm.jpg|thumb|The ''Nord Express'' in [[Stockholm Central Station]] in the [[1940's]].]]
After [[World War II]] the "[[Iron Curtain]]" divided Europe, and the initially luxury and since 1951 ordinary night train's route was diverted further from Paris via [[Hamburg]] and [[Copenhagen]] to [[Stockholm]] and [[Oslo]]. 

The emergence of [[air travel]] and [[high-speed rail]] caused the end to this famous train. In 2007 it was shortened further and such that it ran between Paris and [[Hamburg]], taking 10.5 hours.