Europe night trains: more operator cooperation

[wirewiper]

The CEOs of the national rail operators of Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland have agreed to cooperate on the expansion of the overnight train network, which suggests there is s new political willingness to work together and secure the future of long-distance European train travel. 

The expansion will be based on the OBB (Austrian Federal Railways) Nightjet network, which has bucked the trend of recent years and added new services of its own as well as taking on routes discarded by other operators. The brand would be used as a guarantee of quality standards.

Routes to be introduced over the next few years include:

- December 2021: Wien-München-Paris; Zürich-Köln-Amsterdam
- December 2022: Zürich-Roma
- December 2023: Wien & Berlin-Brussel & Paris
- December 2024: Zürich-Barcelona

The CEOs state that cooperation between their companies enables plans to be enacted quickly, but in a joint statement said "cross-border night train services are operationally challenging and require a joint effort and political support". 

The Back-on-Track group which lobbies for night trains has welcomed the initiative, but wants it to be increased in scope to include more destinations beyond the four countries, such as Lisboa, Oslo and Beograd.

Source: Focus Transport www.focustransport.org/2020/12/four-operators-to-co-operate-to-expand.html

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2020 18:29:17 GMT wirewiper said:

The CEOs of the national rail operators of Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland have agreed to cooperate on the expansion of the overnight train network, which suggests there is s new political willingness to work together and secure the future of long-distance European train travel. 

The expansion will be based on the OBB (Austrian Federal Railways) Nightjet network, which has bucked the trend of recent years and added new services of its own as well as taking on routes discarded by other operators. The brand would be used as a guarantee of quality standards.

Routes to be introduced over the next few years include:

- December 2021: Wien-München-Paris; Zürich-Köln-Amsterdam
- December 2022: Zürich-Roma
- December 2023: Wien & Berlin-Brussel & Paris
- December 2024: Zürich-Barcelona

The CEOs state that cooperation between their companies enables plans to be enacted quickly, but in a joint statement said "cross-border night train services are operationally challenging and require a joint effort and political support". 

The Back-on-Track group which lobbies for night trains has welcomed the initiative, but wants it to be increased in scope to include more destinations beyond the four countries, such as Lisboa, Oslo and Beograd.

Source: Focus Transport www.focustransport.org/2020/12/four-operators-to-co-operate-to-expand.html

I’d love it if the UK were involved. Sounds very appealing and a good idea to incorporate into my European holiday post covid ! Thanks for posting !

[wirewiper]

Dec 14, 2020 7:02:14 GMT @rob said:

Dec 13, 2020 18:29:17 GMT wirewiper said:

The CEOs of the national rail operators of Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland have agreed to cooperate on the expansion of the overnight train network, which suggests there is s new political willingness to work together and secure the future of long-distance European train travel. 

The expansion will be based on the OBB (Austrian Federal Railways) Nightjet network, which has bucked the trend of recent years and added new services of its own as well as taking on routes discarded by other operators. The brand would be used as a guarantee of quality standards.

Routes to be introduced over the next few years include:

- December 2021: Wien-München-Paris; Zürich-Köln-Amsterdam
- December 2022: Zürich-Roma
- December 2023: Wien & Berlin-Brussel & Paris
- December 2024: Zürich-Barcelona

The CEOs state that cooperation between their companies enables plans to be enacted quickly, but in a joint statement said "cross-border night train services are operationally challenging and require a joint effort and political support". 

The Back-on-Track group which lobbies for night trains has welcomed the initiative, but wants it to be increased in scope to include more destinations beyond the four countries, such as Lisboa, Oslo and Beograd.

Source: Focus Transport www.focustransport.org/2020/12/four-operators-to-co-operate-to-expand.html

I’d love it if the UK were involved. Sounds very appealing and a good idea to incorporate into my European holiday post covid ! Thanks for posting !

The UK is unlikely to be involved due to the onerous safety conditions that would need to be met for travelling through the Channel Tunnel. However there is potential for add-on fares using Eurostar to connect with night services in Brussel or possibly Lille. 

I've often thought there is potential for a daytime Brussel-Barcelona service which would have a connection from Amsterdam and also a Eurostar connection at Lille. 

[snowman]

Dec 14, 2020 8:34:33 GMT wirewiper said:

Dec 14, 2020 7:02:14 GMT @rob said:

I’d love it if the UK were involved. Sounds very appealing and a good idea to incorporate into my European holiday post covid ! Thanks for posting !

The UK is unlikely to be involved due to the onerous safety conditions that would need to be met for travelling through the Channel Tunnel. However there is potential for add-on fares using Eurostar to connect with night services in Brussel or possibly Lille. 

I've often thought there is potential for a daytime Brussel-Barcelona service which would have a connection from Amsterdam and also a Eurostar connection at Lille. 

The plan at time of building Channel tunnel was night sleeper trains, think they were to be known as night star. After a while of being parked they were sold to Canadians who put them into service on Canada night services. Some were part built at time of cancellation. Was something like 139 carriages. (which were to operate some services as half trains from 2 cities, combining into long trains for other routes.).

From memory the rise of low cost airlines like Ryanair killed the plan

[capitalomnibus]

Dec 14, 2020 9:17:54 GMT snowman said:

Dec 14, 2020 8:34:33 GMT wirewiper said:

The UK is unlikely to be involved due to the onerous safety conditions that would need to be met for travelling through the Channel Tunnel. However there is potential for add-on fares using Eurostar to connect with night services in Brussel or possibly Lille. 

I've often thought there is potential for a daytime Brussel-Barcelona service which would have a connection from Amsterdam and also a Eurostar connection at Lille. 

The plan at time of building Channel tunnel was night sleeper trains, think they were to be known as night star. After a while of being parked they were sold to Canadians who put them into service on Canada night services. Some were part built at time of cancellation. Was something like 139 carriages. (which were to operate some services as half trains from 2 cities, combining into long trains for other routes.).

From memory the rise of low cost airlines like Ryanair killed the plan

had to check this out, interesting
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_373
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightstar_(train)