The first night train between Berlin and Paris will depart on Monday evening after a nine-year hiatus, filling a key gap in Europe’s increasingly comprehensive night train timetable and giving a boost to passengers looking for a realistic alternative to flying.
Widely seen as the crown jewel of European rail travel, the service was canceled in 2014 despite angry protests.
Nicky Gardner, Berlin-based co-author of Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide, said the new Nightjet service was an inspiring and vital addition to European infrastructure and integration.
“It strengthens ties between two European capitals that have a lot to do with each other, and it’s also a nice way to travel. “You can leave Berlin in the evening and be in Paris around 10am the next morning, then take a Eurostar service in the middle of the morning and be in London by lunch,” he said.
The fully loaded train, equipped with ordinary to luxury sleeping compartments with individual or shared spaces, some with private showers and toilets, will leave Berlin at 20.18 on Monday evening and arrive in Paris at 10.24 in the morning, stopping in Halle, Erfurt along the way . , Mannheim and Strasbourg.
Austrian national railway operator ÖBB will initially operate services three times a week. The service is expected to operate daily from the autumn of next year.
Gardner said that the time saved by night travel is one of the factors that make rail travel attractive, but in addition, night trains, which have revived in recent years, will have the effect of opening up to the European mainland.
“In a way, it reshapes the geography of Europe because time is saved on the night train. “You can use the train and take advantage of the time you sleep, which makes traveling around Europe really worthwhile.”
But he said that despite the turnaround, night rail would only come into its own in the next two to three years, once orders for new rolling stock are met, allowing operators to obtain a sufficient number of rolling stock.
“ÖBB has created a very creative new night train network, with clever use of Vienna’s location at the heart of it, and subject to supply constraints, I think the future of night train is very bright indeed,” he said. aforementioned.
Demand for tickets is high; Many tickets on the most popular routes sell out within minutes of going online.
Gardner said that the interest and demand was so great that “now finding a seat in the compartment of a luxury sleeper on the night train from Paris to Berlin is as difficult as booking a table in the best restaurants in Paris.”
Under the new service, the West German city of Mannheim will become an ÖBB hub for the night train, and the company’s Brussels-Vienna and Paris-Vienna trains will also stop there.
Passengers traveling from Brussels and Paris to Berlin and Vienna will board separate carriages on the same train, which will be rearranged in Mannheim before continuing to their destination.
The service is the result of a collaboration between Austrian, French and German railway companies that was made public three years ago; but ÖBB is largely seen as the driving force behind the resurgence.
Cat Jones, founder of Byway, a flightless holiday company focused on the “joy of the journey” that combines high technology and human knowledge to find optimal routes, said this would give Europe “incredible momentum”. railway passengers
extremely cheap
France’s expanding night train network offers discounted basement fares, with recliners starting from €19 one-way and couchettes from €29. Delay your detour from Paris to the Riviera or the Pyrenees. New overnight destinations departing from Paris starting this month include Aurillac, Béziers and Montpellier.
ultra long
For Marathon night train journeys, look east to Turkey. Closer to home, the longest regular year-round night train in a single country is 12.58 from Palermo to Milan. The 21 hour and 12 minute journey includes the oddity of diverting the entire train to a ferry across the Strait of Messina.
best amenities
Try the excellent Caledonian Sleeper trains from London to destinations across Scotland, offering double beds with en suite facilities. Enjoy priority access to the club car for dinner and nightcaps. Another foodie favorite is the Euronight service from Prague to Basel and Zurich; here dinner is served in a Czech dining car as you cruise down the Elbe valley towards Dresden.
most romantic
It’s hard to beat the sheer joy of arriving in Venice by train and heading out to see the Grand Canal from Santa Lucia station. Arrival after the night journey is even more magical with Nightjet, which leaves Stuttgart at 20.29 every evening for a 12-hour journey. For a bit of winter romance, leave the suburban crowds in Stockholm and hop on Riksgränsen at 18.08, arriving at Sweden’s northernmost ski resort at 11.49 the next morning. Dress warmly as the snow will continue until mid-summer.
One for the future
There is pent-up demand for a quality night train from France to Italy, so I was delighted to see the newly formed Midnight Trains choosing to run from Paris to Venice as their initial route. However, you will have to wait until 2025 for this.
Nicky Gardner
“It has created tremendous excitement because it has critical routes and really important hubs that make falling asleep in Paris and waking up in Berlin very fast and easy. “In addition, especially if you are planning a family trip, you can now expand it to other places more easily and have a multi-stop, rich and enjoyable road trip,” he said.
“Sleeper trains are new, romantic and exciting for many people, especially those who want to act more sustainably: a way to attract people who perhaps had never considered going ashore but are suddenly fascinated by the idea and rediscovering the richness of the journey in the way we used to experience it. “When they tell their friends, the idea spreads.”
The hope is that it will become more affordable as the trend expands. Currently, rail travel still struggles to compete with budget airlines on price, Jones said, adding that Byway is involved in political lobbying for this to change.
“There is a very strong push for rail reform, ticketing reform, accessibility and moving subsidies from air to rail, and we hope that over time this will make rail journeys increasingly accessible to budget travellers,” he said.