Climate-friendly train travel
BERLIN — People venturing between countries are not only interested in comfort and convenience, but they’re choosing climate-friendly train travel to help reduce their carbon footprint.
After a 9-year hiatus, a night train from Berlin to Paris will be returning to service. Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) are anticipating about 40% more passengers than 5 years ago with their new joint efforts to expand cross-border, long-distance transportation options.
New day and night train times will be available, along with new trains — Railjet high-speed trains branded as Nightjet — for overnight service — that travel up to 230 km per hour (143 mph). Through this partnership, DB and ÖBB hope to double the overall number of passengers traveling on sleeper service, as stated in a recent press release on ÖBB’s website.
The two companies will offer Nightjet connections from Berlin and Vienna to Paris and Brussels beginning on Dec. 11, 2023. The connections will run three times per week to start and be converted to a daily schedule in fall 2024 — which ultimately doubles the number of Nightjet connections available in Berlin.
The Nightjet train includes individual cabins or “Mini Cabins” in the couchette car, and level boarding for people with restricted mobility. Passengers leaving from Brussels and Paris for Berlin and Vienna will board different carriages on the same train. The carriages will be rearranged at Mannheim in order for each to reach its destination. The same goes for traveling on the reverse route. Additional connections in Austria, Germany, and Italy are expected to be announced in 2024.
For more background information, read “Europe plans a new network of international high speed trains.”
Is there a market for such overnight service in any North American markets?
It could be an interesting market research topic.
High-speed sleeper train service seems like an attractive idea in almost every large country.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Europe has forced a serious cutback in ‘short’ distance and regional air travel to be replaced by train travel, and they take passenger service seriously.
In the US, 1950’s, my dad would board a Lackawanna train in Scranton PA, head out west, with, as I understand it, his sleeper car transferred to another train and railroad for the Detroit connection. Board before dinner, have a great dinner, nice sleep overnight without needing a hotel or airport connections, wake up, have breakfasts, take a tax to his meetings, then repeat going east. Made sense in so many ways.
At times, Amtrak has had sleeper service out of Boston going south, I believe to NYC, perhaps DC, on otherwise quiet overnight track space. If the view is not needed, lots of runs where this could make sense today.
Where there is a will, there is always a way.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
* Suggested Correction: According to ÖBB, both Railjet and Nightjet brands remain the same and keep their original identity. As you know, the only big difference here is the indroduction of recent Nightjet trainsets that are capable of running as fast as (230 km/h – 143 mph) Railjet trains.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
ÖBB is the biggest company advocating for climate protection in Austria, and the Nightjet has now become synonymous with sustainable travel within Europe. The Nightjet of the new generation consists of seven carriages: two seat cars (a control car and a multi-function car), three couchettes and two sleeping cars. Each trainset can accommodate up to 254 passengers for an overnight journey to one of Europe’s beautiful destinations.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Sleeper trains that can travel at high speed… This is a beautiful European railway dream that will finally come true. Viva ÖBB’s Nightjet!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün