Night Trains

A collection of 27 posts

Quick takes

Now we're going to get a Bruxelles and Amsterdam to Milano night train. Or are we?

After yesterday's news that Basel-Malmö will not happen, today there's news that a new night train route will open up - European Sleeper is proposing to run from Bruxelles and Amsterdam to Switzerland and Milano from June 2026. Their press release about it is here (PDF)

Analysis

A little short term subsidy for this or that route is no way to support night trains - lessons from the end of Basel-Malmö before it even started

So there will not be a Basel - Malmö night train from the spring of 2026. Switzerland's parliament did not approve the subsidy to allow it to run. Without the 10 million CHF the parliament refused to grant to get this going (from a wider fund of 47

Analysis

SNCF's half hearted effort to support international night trains in danger of hitting the buffers

In December 2023 the Paris-Berlin night train re-started after a 9 year hiatus. Operated as a Nighjet service by ÖBB, SNCF provided motive power for the train from Mannheim to Paris. They even put SNCF stickers on some of the carriages, and ÖBB lauded the launch of the service as

Analysis

If you wanted a massive increase in night train routes in Europe, how could you do it?

In the draft European Parliament election programme of the German Grüne (full PDF here) you can find this paragraph about night trains (my translation): Night trains are a comfortable and climate-friendly way to travel long distances within Europe and thus a good alternative to flying. A massive expansion of night

Quick takes

Toute l'Europe - a future night train map that's very, very bad

This cropped up in my LinkedIn feed earlier today. At the time I commented on it, simply saying it was bullshit. Now I am going to take it apart, and break down why it is bullshit. The map comes from this article from Toute l'Europe. We've

Analysis

Stadler's new day-night trains for Norway - I have some questions

A few days ago it was announced that Stadler has won the contract to supply new long distance trains to Norway. The official press release from Norske Tog in Norwegian is here, and there are articles from IRJ and Global Railway Review in English as well. While this tender only

Belgium

European Sleeper Bruxelles-Amsterdam-Berlin - you better know it exists!

In rail nerd circles we've had our eye on the launch of the European Sleeper service for some time - the new privately operated night train that will run Bruxelles-Amsterdam-Berlin, and eventually will be extended to Prague. As was announced recently in the company's newsletter, tickets

Analysis

A different solution for night trains - a flexible leasing and operations company?

From the start of my Trains for Europe campaign I have argued that the absence of enough couchette cars and sleeping cars is the main constraint on the expansion of night train services. You cannot run more trains unless you literally have more carriages. I do not deny there are

Analysis

Europe's railways: unable to play the role they should in the climate transition

Two interesting pieces of information about transport and the climate transition crossed my timeline yesterday. This tweet from TUMI: https://twitter.com/TUMInitiative/status/1511405279103045635 And this New York Times story entitled In Europe, It’s Planes vs. Trains. For Many Travelers, Rail Is the Way to Go. The problem

Analysis

Night trains, scale and standardisation

I listened in to the Back on Track Belgium conference last week, and the founder of a startup night train company said something interesting. "The reason we are against things like night train rolling stock pools," he stated, "is that means we cannot configure the trains the

Analysis

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

Analysis

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

Germany

How to book a Stockholm-Hamburg train ticket, using the Stockholm-Malmö night train

*** WARNING: I have never done this personally! Attempt this at your own risk! *** Anders Peterson, Associate Professor in traffic systems at Linköping University in Sweden, posed an interesting question on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andpe41/status/1448343509740789767 Anders even pointed out that Swedish rail company SJ has been talking about

Analysis

An annual cross-border rail index - a means to assess what's going on with EU wide rail?

So goodbye Thello. A strange open access rail operator, providing night trains on the Paris - Milano - Venezia route, and daytime trains on the Marseille - Nice - Genova - Milano route, suspended thanks to COVID, and, now we know, never to return. Cue activists writing disgruntled letters, and

Analysis

Midnight Trains - we wish them well, but where are the carriages needed going to come from?

A new night train company has launched today. Paris-based Midnight Trains has launched with a very slick website, and promises a deluxe night train experience - private compartments with showers. The renderings are all soft furnishings and are akin to a smart hotel. RTL news has a report about the

Analysis

Von der Leyen promises €85bn for sustainable transport - night train rolling stock would be an ideal use for it!

Speaking in the European Parliament earlier this week, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen set out some details of European Union Member States' post-COVID national recovery and resilience plans, and gave some details of the scale of the budget for transport: Let me give you some

Analysis

France's PM Castex takes the re-introduced night train Paris-Nice, but it's hardly comfortable!

After a three year absence, the Paris-Nice Night Train is back. The first service ran last night with an important passenger on board - French Prime Minister Jean Castex. He even made the welcome on board announcement to passengers: https://twitter.com/JeanCASTEX/status/1395460907728257029 The problem though - as

Analysis

EIB electric buses funding model the way forward to finance night train stock?

In January 2021, the European Investment Bank and Banque des Territoires launched a Clean Buses Platform - a mechanism through which public transport operators in France have access to up to €100 million to procure electric buses. A similar mechanism might be the way to allow rolling stock leasing companies

Analysis

Tough times ahead for German rail supply industry? Procure some night trains!

International Railway Journal reports that the rail industry in Germany is facing tough times. So that makes now surely is an ideal time for new night train rolling stock to be procured! Photos used in this post Richard MatthewsBombardierJuly 7, 2011 License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

European Union

Bloomberg publishes new interactive website about night trains in Europe

Entitled "Europe Asks Travelers to Ditch Planes for Night Trains", Bloomberg has published a sort of interactive guide to night trains in Europe, and what the European Union is trying to do to solve the night train conundrum. It's not all quite right in the technical

Analysis

If there's demand for a night train on a route, and a night train could be profitable, how can it be that no-one runs it?

One of the questions I am often asked when discussing rail travel in the European Union is why there is no night train on a given route. "People would take it!" I am told, and I do not doubt that. It is not the demand side that is

Analysis

Night trains are excellent, but marginal. How can their provision be scaled up in Europe?

Earlier this month European Sleeper announced its first route - Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague - and the news was gushing. Euronews covered the story, saying how it was driven by flight shame, TimeOut talked of a "a ton of cool new sleeper trains", and Travel+Leisure talked about a "major

Analysis

How could the EU solve the night train conundrum? Procure a massive fleet of night train carriages and lease them to operators

From the doldrums of a few years ago - when Deutsche Bahn left the business of running night trains completely - this mode of transport is back. Or at least in terms of public attention it's back. Snälltåget has bold plans for Sweden to Germany services in 2021,

Analysis

Don't be distracted by ÖBB's shiny night train to Brussels - the problems of EU-wide rail run far deeper

Hey journalists! I'm glad to see you're writing about trains! ÖBB running its first NightJet to Brussels seems to have got you into a particular frenzy. It's amazing what a bit of red carpet at Gare du Midi, and Martin Selmayr on board, can

Analysis

Bundestag hearing on long distance rail, night trains, Autozug

On Wednesday 14th January at 1100, 3 members of the Bundestag from Die Linke - Sabine Leidig, Herbert Behrens and Caren Lay - are organising a public hearing about long distance rail in Europe. The title of this is "Rückzug der Deutschen Bahn AG bei Nacht- und Autoreisezügen stoppen