Will the Year of Rail be remembered as the year of new night trains? That’s what one might think looking at all the projects announced in recent weeks. Let’s take a look at the developments of the last 5 years regarding night trains in Europe.
The gradual establishment of the high-speed train in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Benelux had convinced the railway companies to less investing in conventional trains, like Intercity, Eurocity and night trains. Conversely some Eastern countries, Finland, Sweden and the UK for example, have never abandoned their conventional trains and night trains because they don’t have high speed network. Italy remains an exception as this country have both high-speed trains, conventional long-distance trains and night train services.
Not profitable?
In 2016, Deutsche Bahn operated night trains for the last time. The official reason: not profitable. At the same time, Austrian Railways was testing a new night train formula. Caught off guard by the German decision, they decided to speed up the implementation of their new formula by taking over some of the night trains that DB no longer wanted. This was the real story of the Austrian Nightjet’s birth, which started services on 16 December 2016. The new formula, which includes the website, the overall prices, the service on board, quickly showed that the decision of ÖBB was the right one.
Green alternative
The success of the Austrian experience gave several players pause for thought, but there was no positive response from the German, Swiss or French railway groups. When in autumn 2018 a climate wave emerged in Europe, the night train was suddenly promoted as one of the tools for travelling over long distances other than by plane or car. Some even believe that night trains can replace short one- or two-hours flights (800 to 1500 kilometres).
It was from here that several alternative actors set out to investigate how night trains could be operated. They had to face the reality of the railways, with the search for schedule paths, companies that rent rolling stock, and above all the companies that have licences to pull these trains. In the years 1990-2000, many sleeping cars and couchettes cars were scrapped, so there are not many cars available today. SNCF and DB, for example, now have no sleeping cars and are not able to repeat the success of the Austrians.