Couchette car

A couchette car is a railway carriage conveying non or semi-private sleeping accommodation.

The cheaper "Platzkart" cars, use a somewhat different layout, with no wall between compartment and corridor, only four bunks along the long sides of the compartment, and two more mounted on the corridor wall, the lower bunk folding in the daytime to become two seats.

Unlike in sleeping cars, couchette compartments are not always segregated by sex, and it is normal not to undress except for removing footwear.

It was normal practice, nevertheless, for British passengers to join long-distance overnight trains at Calais, Boulogne, Ostend or Hook of Holland after crossing the English Channel or North Sea by ferry.

Environmental organizations are trying to make night trains more attractive again, as a more climate-friendly alternative to short-haul flights.