Editing Trans Europ Express (section)

==Origin==
The first services commenced on 2 June 1957 following an idea of F.Q. den Hollander, then president-director of the Dutch national railway company ([[Nederlandse Spoorwegen|NS]]).<ref name="second-demise"/><ref name=TRE>60 Years On: What's Left of the TEE ''[[Today's Railways Europe]]'' issue 264 December 2017 pages 28-33</ref> TEE was a network jointly operated by the railways of [[West Germany]] ([[Deutsche Bundesbahn|DB]]), France ([[SNCF]]), [[Switzerland]] ([[Swiss Federal Railways|SBB-CFF-FFS]]), Italy ([[Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane|FS]]) and the [[Netherlands]]. Although some trains passed through [[Belgium]] from the beginning, the Belgian national railway company ([[National Railway Company of Belgium|NMBS/SNCB]]) joined the program only in 1964. [[Luxembourg]] ([[Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois|CFL]]) also joined at a later date.
[[File:RAeTEEAirolo.jpg|thumb|left|Swiss TEE [[Multiple unit|trainset]] capable of operating at four different voltages]]
The idea was for a network of fast and comfortable transnational trains that would be attractive to businessmen and other regular travellers.<ref name="nock1978">[[Oswald Nock|Nock, O.S.]] (1978). ''World Atlas of Railways''. New York: Mayflower Books (original publisher: Artists House, London, UK).  {{ISBN|0-8317-9500-X}}.</ref> All trains were [[First class travel|first-class]]-only and required payment of a special supplement over the normal first-class ticket price, the amount of which depended on the distance covered.<ref name="nock1978"/> Where possible, TEE trains' schedules were timed to allow a business traveller to make a round trip (return journey) within a single day and also have time for business activity at the destination.<ref name="nock1978"/> Each train was named, and all were expresses, stopping only at major cities. Some of the named trains had already existed for some years before creation of the TEE network and were simply newly designated as Trans-Europe Expresses in 1957 or later. For example, the ''[[Settebello (train)|Settebello]]'' had been in operation since 1953<ref name="nock1978"/> and the ''[[Rheingold (train)|Rheingold]]'' since 1951 (as a revival of a pre-World War II train). The network was launched in 1957 with trains serving 13 different routes.<ref name="second-demise"/>