European Union

Austria, Belgium, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden

A look ahead – what’s in store for night trains in Europe in 2022?

05.01.2022 5 comments

It’s a new year and it’s time to look forward. Here at Trains for Europe we’ve looked into the crystal ball and in this post are going to have a look at what’s coming up in the next 12 months in the world of night trains in Europe. What the […]

Analysis, European Union

Revisiting Michael Cramer’s “Missing Links” 6 years on – meagre progress

23.12.2021 8 comments

Back in 2015, Michael Cramer MEP published his list of missing links in the European railway network. Cramer – a politician from the Greens-EFA group and chair of the TRAN Committee of the European Parliament at the time – had the idea that smaller, cheaper, lower scale cross border railway […]

Analysis, European Union

European Commission action plan to boost long distance and cross-border passenger rail – a glass half full

21.12.2021 0 comments

Last week the European Commission published its long awaited “Action plan to boost long distance and cross-border passenger rail” – you can download the 18 page PDF document here, and there is also a summary of the proposals here. The action plan was based on a much longer piece of […]

European Union, France

Djebbari announces a “Trains for France” – a missed opportunity

12.12.2021 0 comments

Plans for the rejuvenation of night trains in France are proceeding – the news this morning from France’s Minister of Transport is that new routes with new rolling stock will be launched in the period 2026-2030. You can read more about the plans in Ouest France here. But there’s a […]

Belgium, Denmark, European Union, Germany, Sweden

Subsidise night train services? Or sort out the market conditions to enable night trains to run?

25.10.2021 0 comments

Back in September 2020, Swedish transport authority Trafikverket sought to award contracts to run two international night trains from summer 2022 – Stockholm-Hamburg and Malmö-Bruxelles. Sweden’s state owned railway firm SJ won the contract to run Stockholm-Hamburg (with rolling stock provided by RDC), but no bids were received for Malmö-Bruxelles, so […]

Analysis, Austria, Czechia, European Union, Poland, Slovenia

Europe’s empty publicity train – the Connecting Europe Express – reaches the end of the line

06.10.2021 1 comment

On Thursday 7th October the EU Year of Rail “Connecting Europe Express” reaches its final stop in Paris after a month criss-crossing Europe. If ever a tweet summed up the emptiness, the hollowness, of this train, it was this by Community of European Railways’ Yann Seimandi: Amazing experience and discussions […]