The Erasmus was an express train that linked The Hague, the Dutch seat of government, with Munich in Germany. The train was named for the Dutch Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus.[1]
Trans Europ Express
The Erasmus was launched on 3 June 1973 on request of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen in order to provide a direct TEE service between The Hague and Germany.[2] The Deutsche Bundesbahn wanted to have an extra TEE service linking Cologne and Munich, using the same intinary as the former TEE Rheinpfeil.[3] Although the Rheinpfeil was relabeled from TEE to IC already in 1971, a time-consuming exchange of coaches, including vista-dome cars, with the