European Union Archives - Page 3 of 6

Where we stand with the need to order new night trains: the EU, every government, every operator assessed

When I started Trains for Europe in mid-2021, the demand was that the European Union organises the procurement of a fleet of new night trains. Now – 8 months on – it is time to take stock of what has(n’t) happened in the interim. We started with the assumption that[Read More…]

26.01.2022 0 comments

Night trains to/from Berlin

We’ve been invited to present at an event in February about night train services to and from Berlin, the city where our campaign is based. That has led to some interesting reflections – rather than seeing the complete picture of night trains in Europe, what would work from one city[Read More…]

17.01.2022 2 comments

Skyscanner for rail? Before we can even build such a thing we need a European rail timetable

In as far as there is a debate about the problems of cross border railways in Europe, one question crops up over and over: “why is there no Skyscanner for rail?” If one website can aggregate all the flights in Europe and allow a customer to compare prices and book[Read More…]

14.01.2022 4 comments

Where is the ambition in the provision of international night trains?

When I started the Trains for Europe project a little over 6 months ago, I had identified the key problem – that the main barrier to scaling up night trains in Europe was the absence of the trains themselves. To get more night trains onto Europe’s rails, someone has to[Read More…]

10.01.2022 0 comments

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

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[Read More…]

05.01.2022 5 comments

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

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[Read More…]

21.12.2021 0 comments

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

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[Read More…]

12.12.2021 0 comments

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

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[Read More…]

25.10.2021 0 comments

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

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[Read More…]

06.10.2021 1 comment

I’ll be on the #ConnectingEurope Express – Kraków to Ljubljana

2021 is the EU Year of Rail, and so the European Commission DG MOVE and Community of European Railways are running the “Connecting Europe Express” in September and October to try to show what rail can do for Europe and for the green transition. The train departed from Lisbon on[Read More…]

06.09.2021 0 comments