Back on track with slow travel

‘The lost romance of unhurried journeys across continents comes alive as Mon-isha Rajesh hops on and off multiple sleeper trains, crossing their names off her wish list at the end of each voyage. In the process, she draws the reader into not just the train and the intricacies of its sleeper class, but also the people, the character of cities it passes, and of course the surrounding countryside as it whizzes by.

- KANKANA DAS

It was a delight to travel on Finland's flagship train, the Santa Claus Express, into the heart of the Arctic Circle and Lapland just before Christmas; experience Berlin’s Carnival of Cultures; almost taste the aromatic street food in Ankara; and feel her acute disappointment when she finds that the dining car — a space she loves — had been discontinued on the Dacia between Vienna and Bucharest.

Moonlight Express covers 11 journeys and multiple sleeper trains, undertaken over a period of three years. They range from Austria’s OBB Nightjet, India’s Shalimar Express, Scotland’s Caledonian Sleeper, and Peru’s Andean Express. An avid locomotive enthusiast, this is her fourth book on the magic of train travel. Her first, in 2012, was Around India in 80 Trains. For a solo travelling British-Indian, it would have taken a fair bit of courage and a true passion to have done this.