Sleeper trains across Europe are making a comeback. The continent is home to among the world’s most iconic sleeper routes and excitement has been constructing across the launch of a latest service in 2023 by a European start-up.
For greater than a century, sleeper trains have provided a way for everybody, from budget backpackers to royals, to get around Europe.
But these services are expensive to run and are available with many operational challenges not faced by the more efficient high-speed rail. Mounting cost issues led several big operators — similar to Germany’s Deutsche Bahn — to scrap them during the last decade.
Hopes are actually constructing that the night train is heading in a latest direction. In May, a start-up called European Sleeper launched a service that travels between Brussels and Berlin.
A scarcity of sleeping railroad cars meant the corporate needed to refurbish older trains with a more “classic” product that its founders hope will tempt people on board for the 13-hour journey — despite its significantly higher cost than a 90-minute flight.
Large operators like Austria’s ÖBB have also committed to their night train products, rolling out modern carriages with improved amenities. Smaller challengers even have big plans.
Traveling by rail could be way more nice than flying, proponents say, so long as costs could be kept relatively reasonably priced (and the journeys run easily). More passengers also see trains as a convenient, reduced carbon emissions alternative to air travel.
So, are sleeper trains back on the right track? Watch the video above to seek out out more.
