A ski train is a passenger train which is marketed to carry passengers to ski resorts. A ski train may only operate during the winter sports season, or it may operate more frequently and have extra capacity during the winter sports season.
Ski trains in North America
Ski trains in the United States
Ski trains are trains specifically used for carrying skiers from populated cities to ski areas in the United States. Most were located in northeast, going from cities such as New York City and Boston to ski areas such as Bousquet Ski Area and Chickley Alp. But when ski areas such as the latter closed in the 70s and 80s ski trains began to close. Ski Train cars were designed or converted to carry skis on the side or on the inside. Ski Trains were at the height of their popularity in the late thirties through the mid fifties.
Examples
Milwaukee Ski Bowl 1938-1950 (closed during several WWII years), Snoqualmie, Washington. Milwaukee Road trains (officially Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad) from Seattle and Tacoma offered recreation coaches for dancing. First night ski train.[1]
P'tit Train du Nord, which linked Montreal to ski hills and cross-country ski lodges in the Laurentides-region Laurentians
Ski trains in Europe
Railway companies in Alpine countries operate extra trains during the winter sports season to carry skiers. These are often marketed as Ski Trains. SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) market their trains under the name 'Snow’n’Rail'.
Current long distance ski trains
Under the name Travelski Express, a non-stop Eurostar train London - Moûtiers / Bourg Saint Maurice (French Alps) used to operate on Friday night and Saturday (daytime) during the 2021-2022 ski season as well as the 2022-2023 ski season. This train was chartered by Compagnie des Alpes and was sold only in a package with a stay.[2][3]
Although operating the whole year, the Austrian operator Nightjet (ÖBB) have long distance night trains (with sleeping cars) from Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg (and Paris from December 2021), which in winter have a considerable amount of passengers to several winter sport destinations around Innsbruck and Vienna.
Other trains primarily serving skiers
The Dorfbahn Serfaus carries skiers from a parking lot to the ski lift