This is a fact. With the coronavirus crisis and because of the global warming, more and more travelers choose to lower their carbon footprint using train. In Europe, more and more ideas are shared faced with the demands. Therefore, Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland have signed a treaty protocol in order to relaunch several pan-European nighttime train lines. Among the signatories, there are the Nightjet network the Austrian ÖBB night train line behind the renewal of night trains in Europe, as well as the German Deutsche Bahn, the Swiss Federal Railways and the French SNCF (French National Railway Company).
In concrete words, the first night train line to open will be the one linking Paris to Vienna, via Munich, expected for December 2021. 15 hours will be necessary to join the French capital to the Austrian capital. At the same time, a night train trip between Amsterdam and Zurich via Cologne will be inaugurated as well.
What is next? A Zurich-Rome trip in December 2022, as well as Berlin-Paris and Berlin-Brussels trips in December 2023. Last but not least a Zurich-Barcelona trip is expected for December 2024.
Nous venons de signer avec @DB_Bahn @RailService @unsereOEBB un partenariat pour développer le train de nuit entre nos pays. Une belle coopération dont je suis fier et un signal fort pour une mobilité écologique, plébiscitée par beaucoup. #SlowTrain #NighJet #Europe pic.twitter.com/TbZr0nF4Ao
— Alain Krakovitch (@alainkrakovitch) December 8, 2020
Tweet reads: “We’ve signed with DB_Bahn RailService unsereOBB a partnership to develop night train between our countries. A wonderful cooperation I’m proud of and a strong symbol for an ecological mobility asked by many”.
Even though departure and arrival cities have been unveiled, the detailed routes of these lines have not been shared yet, commercial partner SNCF told AFP.
“Starting today, we move to TEE 2.0 (Trans Europe Express – Editor’s Note)” German minister for transport Andreas Scheuer said in an online press conference. As for SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, he told AFP it was necessary to listen to the “youth (that) is less interested in traveling by plane”.
