NIGHT TRAINS FIND A NEW CHAMPION AS EUROPE'S SLEEPER REVIVAL GATHERS STEAM

Brussels, 19 March 2026 — In one week's time, a small Belgian-Dutch cooperative will attempt something that Europe's state railways decided was no longer worth the trouble. On 26 March, European Sleeper launches its Paris–Berlin night train, reviving a route abandoned by Austrian national operator ÖBB after the French government withdrew its funding subsidy at the end of last year.

The optics are striking. Where a state-backed giant retreated, a startup is advancing — and the market is watching closely to see whether the numbers can work without a government lifeline. The service will run three times a week in each direction, routing via Brussels and offering sleeping compartments, couchette beds, and reclining seats, with Wi-Fi and charging points pitched at travellers across different budgets.

European Sleeper is not the only operator betting on overnight rail's resurgence. The broader 2026 European timetable represents the most significant expansion of cross-border services in a generation. A new Prague–Copenhagen daytime service launches in May, operated jointly by Deutsche Bahn, Danish Railways, and Czech Railways via Berlin. A summer night train extension will push that service onward to Hamburg. Meanwhile, the long-suspended Budapest–Belgrade link is returning, rebuilt on the Serbian side with Chinese investment to handle trains at up to 125 miles per hour.

The commercial logic behind the night train revival is increasingly hard to dispute. Short-haul aviation faces mounting carbon costs and growing passenger reluctance, and high-speed daytime services cannot replicate the overnight proposition: board in the evening, wake up in another capital.

What remains unresolved is whether independent operators can sustain these routes without subsidy. European Sleeper's Paris–Berlin service will be an early test of that thesis — and the whole sector will be watching.