Love letter to the night train

Moonlight Express: Around The World By Night Train

- Shawn Hoo

MOONLIGHT EXPRESS: AROUND THE WORLD BY NIGHT TRAIN By Monisha Rajesh Non-fiction/Bloomsbury Publishing/ Hardback/336 pages/$34.24

In the era of budget flights and high-speed railways, does the sleeper train—chugging along sluggishly and irregularly, sometimes even more expensively—still have a place in the modern traveller's itinerary? British travel writer Monisha Rajesh takes 18 trips across the world and affirms the night train's importance to travel and culture.

Since Covid-19 brought the world into lockdown, there has been a revival of interest in the analogue—from vinyl records to 35mm film cameras to tabletop games. Thanks to the pandemic, the sleeper train, too, has been roused from its hibernation and even younger travellers are no longer sleeping on the trend.

According to Rajesh: "Many people are nervous to fly, booking private compartments and taking the time to explore closer to home. In 2022, Interrail had a record year of sales—and then I saw it, one line at a time, sleeper trains inching back out of the darkness, headlamps ablazing."

Across 18 chapters, Rajesh is armed with luggage and a simple question: "Why are you taking this journey?"