Chronologic history

Note: in this overview relief trains are omitted.

For the purpose of the information it is important to note that the introduction of daylight saving time (summer time) varied a lot between the countries involved. Introduction was as follows: 1966: Italy, 1974: Spain, 1976: France, 1977: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, 1980: Germany and 1981: Switzerland. (These are all the countries where times are mentioned during a transition.) More information on this can be found in the timezone pages.

Graphical history

The picture below shows the number of TEE trains running each season (summer or winter) from 1957 to 1995, a pair counts as two. For ease of reference it includes a grid. The horizontal lines are put at 10 trains with a dot for each season, the vertical lines are put at 5 years with a dot for each 2 trains. The dashes at the bottom mark the start of the summer season for each year. Trains shown in red are without counterpart (running one-way only), the green trains are the Lufthansa Airport Express trains that are not really TEE trains. Note that sometimes changes occur during a season, these are always put halfway the season. Also the vertical lines are set off a bit agains the real start of the season to avoid confusion with staggered edges.

Detailed history

Summer 1957
Introduced:
l'Arbalète
Edelweiss
Etoile du Nord
Helvetia
Ile de France
Mont Cenis
Oiseau Bleu
Rhein-Main
Ruhr-Paris and Paris-Ruhr
Saphir
10 pairs introduced; balance: 10 pairs.
August 1957
Introduced:
Ligure
1 pair introduced; balance: 11 pairs.
Winter 1957/58
Introduced:
Parsifal
Mediolanum
2 pairs introduced; balance: 13 pairs.
Summer 1958
Introduced:
Lemano
1 pair introduced; balance: 14 pairs.
Summer 1961
Introduced:
Cisalpin
Gottardo
Ticino
3 pairs introduced; balance: 17 pairs.
Summer 1963
Introduced:
Brabant (one direction)
1 train introduced; balance: 17 pairs and 1 train.
September 1963
Introduced:
Brabant (second direction)
1 train introduced; balance: 18 pairs.
Summer 1965
Introduced:
Blauer Enzian
Diamant
le Mistral
Rheingold
Rheinpfeil
5 pairs introduced; balance: 23 pairs.
Summer 1967
The first big renumbering took place in this year
Introduced:
Rembrandt
1 pair introduced; balance: 24 pairs.
February 1969
Introduced:
le Lyonnais
1 pair introduced; balance: 25 pairs.
Summer 1969
Introduced:
Catalan Talgo
Roland
2 pairs introduced; balance: 27 pairs.
Winter 1969/70
Introduced:
Bavaria
1 pair introduced; balance: 28 pairs.
Summer 1970
Introduced:
Goethe
1 pair introduced; balance: 29 pairs.
Winter 1970/71
Introduced:
le Capitole (2 pairs, du matin and du soir)
2 pairs introduced; balance: 31 pairs.
Summer 1971
The second renumbering took place in this year
Introduced:
l'Aquitaine
Kléber
le Rhodanien
3 pairs introduced; balance: 34 pairs.
Winter 1971/72
Abandoned:
Rheinpfeil
Introduced:
l'Etendard
Prinz Eugen
Stanislas
1 pair abandoned, 3 pairs introduced; balance: 36 pairs.
Summer 1972
Rhein-Main renamed to van Beethoven
Balance unchanged.
Winter 1972/73
Abandoned:
Mont Cenis
1 pair abandoned; balance: 35 pairs.
Summer 1973
Ruhr-Paris and Paris-Ruhr renamed to Molière
Introduced:
Adriatico
Erasmus
2 pairs introduced; balance: 37 pairs.
Winter 1973/74
Introduced:
Cycnus
Vesuvio
2 pairs introduced; balance: 39 pairs.
Summer 1974
Abandoned:
Ticino
Introduced:
Ambrosiano
Aurora
Iris
Merkur
il Settebello
1 pair abandoned, 5 pairs introduced; balance: 43 pairs.
Winter 1974/75
Introduced:
Memling
Rubens
2 pairs introduced; balance: 45 pairs.
Summer 1975
Abandoned:
Aurora
Goethe
2 pairs abandoned; balance: 43 pairs.
Summer 1976
Abandoned:
Diamant
1 pair abandoned; balance: 42 pairs.
Summer 1977
Abandoned:
Bavaria
1 pair abandoned; balance: 41 pairs.
Winter 1977/78
Abandoned:
le Lyonnais
1 pair abandoned; balance: 40 pairs.
Summer 1978
Abandoned:
Cycnus
Merkur
Prinz Eugen
Introduced:
Gambrinus
3 pairs abandoned, 1 pair introduced; balance: 38 pairs.
Winter 1978/79
Introduced:
Faidherbe
Gayant
Watteau
3 pairs introduced; balance: 41 pairs.
Summer 1979
Blauer Enzian renamed to Diamant(2)
Abandoned:
l'Arbalète
van Beethoven
Edelweiss
Helvetia
Molière
Parsifal
Saphir
Introduced:
Bacchus
Friedrich Schiller
Goethe(2)
Heinrich Heine
7 pairs abandoned, 4 pairs introduced; balance: 38 pairs.
Winter 1979/80
Abandoned:
le Rhodanien
1 pair abandoned; balance: 37 pairs.
Summer 1980
Abandoned:
Bacchus
Erasmus
Roland
Introduced:
Albert Schweitzer
3 pairs abandoned, 1 pair introduced; balance: 35 pairs.
Summer 1981
Abandoned:
Diamant(2)
Iris
Introduced:
Jules Verne
2 pairs abandoned, 1 pair introduced; balance: 34 pairs.
Summer 1982
Abandoned:
le Capitole (one pair)
Catalan Talgo
Friedrich Schiller
Lemano
Ligure
5 pairs abandoned; balance: 29 pairs.
Winter 1982/83
Abandoned:
le Mistral
Stanislas
2 pairs abandoned; balance: 27 pairs.
Summer 1983
Abandoned:
Albert Schweitzer
Gambrinus
Goethe(2)
Heinrich Heine
Rembrandt
Introduced:
Lufthansa Airport Express (4 pairs)
5 pairs abandoned, 4 pairs introduced; balance: 26 pairs.
Winter 1983/84
Abandoned:
Gayant (one direction)
1 train abandoned; balance 25 pairs and 1 train.
January 1984
Abandoned:
Cisalpin
1 pair abandoned; balance: 24 pairs and 1 train.
Summer 1984
il Settebello renamed to Colosseum
Abandoned:
l'Aquitaine
Brabant
l'Etendard
Etoile du Nord
Mediolanum
Memling
Oiseau Bleu
7 pairs abandoned; balance: 17 pairs and 1 train.
Winter 1984/85
Abandoned:
le Capitole (remainder)
1 pair abandoned; balance: 16 pairs and 1 train.
Summer 1985
Abandoned:
Gayant (other direction)
1 train abandoned; balance: 16 pairs.
Summer 1987
Abandoned:
Adriatico
Ambrosiano
Colosseum
Ile the France
Rheingold
Rubens
Vesuvio
7 pairs abandoned; balance: 9 pairs.
Winter 1988/89
Abandoned:
Gottardo
1 pair abandoned; balance: 8 pairs.
Summer 1989
Abandoned:
Kléber
1 pair abandoned; balance: 7 pairs.
Winter 1989/90
Abandoned:
Faidherbe
Watteau
Jules Verne
3 pair abandoned; balance: 4 pairs.
Summer 1993
Abandoned:
Lufthansa Airport Express (all 4 pairs)
4 pairs abandoned; balance: 0 pairs.
Winter 1993/94
Introduced:
Brabant
Ile the France
Rubens
Watteau(2)
4 pairs introduced; balance: 4 pairs.
January 1995
Abandoned:
Brabant
Ile the France (one direction)
Rubens
Watteau(2) (one direction)
2 pairs and 2 trains abandoned; balance: 2 trains.
Summer 1995
Abandoned:
Ile the France (second direction)
Watteau(2) (second direction)
2 trains abandoned; balance: 0 pairs.