ÖBB and SBB
Sleeping car instead of plane: travel more sustainably overnight by train
Travel environmentally friendly at night: slumber towards your destination in a sleeping car
© Getty Images
Deutsche Bahn has pushed all of its sleeping and couchette cars to the siding. The neighboring countries Switzerland and Austria are different. Both Railways want to expand their range of night train services from six to ten lines.
If you have to be in another big city for a business meeting in the morning, you can either take the 7 o’clock plane or the night train. But the sleeping car as an alternative to the airplane, which is also often used by tourists and people who are afraid of flying, is limited to very few routes – for now. Finally there is more movement in the market.
The railways are going on the offensive: not Deutsche Bahn, but the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). Together with the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the company has now presented new expansion plans. Both companies want to increase their involvement in international passenger transport with night trains. New connections from Switzerland to attractive tourist destinations such as Amsterdam, Rome and Barcelona are planned.
ÖBB is already the market leader in Europe with its Nightjet range. With 19 Nightjet lines and eight other connections with partners, ÖBB already operates the most extensive night train network between major European cities.
When Deutsche Bahn discontinued its sleeping car offer five years ago for economic reasons, the Austrians seized the opportunity and took over the routes from Hamburg to Munich (journey time: 10.40 hours) and Zurich (12.15 hours) and from Berlin to Zurich (11.50 hours) .
We have worked closely with the Swiss for years. In September 2020, the two railways of the Alpine countries signed a letter of intent and later presented their expansion plans to the press: Under the heading “Nightjet Network Switzerland 2024”, connections from Switzerland are to be increased to ten Nightjet lines. From 2022, the goals will gradually include up to 25 cities that can be reached by trains overnight.
More demand for night trains
Even before the Corona crisis, the demand for night trains had increased significantly. According to SBB, the number of travelers in sleeper and couchette cars from Switzerland has increased by over 25 percent compared to the previous year.
“Night trains have a clearly demonstrable positive effect on the climate, as they cause a shift from other means of transport to the train,” says the statement of the railway companies. “The common goal of ÖBB and SBB is to shift more trips to the railways and thus to make a contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the travel sector.”
In use from the end of 2022: the “mini suites” in the nightjet couchette
© ÖBB
However, all railways have the problem of “rolling stock”, as it is called in railroad jargon: there is a lack of modern sleeping and couchette cars to be attractive to business travelers. In order to start the new daily Nightjet connection from Zurich via Basel, Frankfurt and Cologne to Amsterdam from December 2021, SBB is renting wagons from the German provider RDC Asset.
The new connections overnight
From and to Switzerland from Berlin, Hamburg and Prague, the capacities already offered are to be increased significantly. From the 2023 timetable, two separate trains will be used on the entire route if possible.
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The connection to Prague is to be run as part of the Berlin Nightjet with sleeper and couchette cars via Germany. The changed route creates a direct connection to Leipzig and Dresden.
In addition, a new line is to be run from Zurich via Bern, Brig, Domodossola to Rome, as well as a daily connection from Zurich via Bern, Lausanne and Geneva to Barcelona. However, the introduction of these two new lines is not guaranteed, as there will still be talks with other partner railways.
From January 2020, a night train will run from Vienna to Brussels twice a week. And the one introduced in summer 2020 Alpen-Sylt night express of the private company RDC Deutschland will also operate in autumn 2021 and the destination Lake Constance has been added.
The problem with the old wagons will be alleviated in a few years. The ÖBB has ordered 13 Nightjet sets of the latest generation, which will be in use from the end of 2022. A set consists of two seating cars, three couchette cars and two sleeping cars, which offer one thing above all: more privacy.
More privacy with cloakroom, shower and toilet: the sleeping car of the latest generation of the nightjet
There will be “mini-suites” in the couchette cars for single travelers and family compartments with movable partition walls. In the future, toilets and showers will be integrated into the sleeping car compartments.
ÖBB is investing in new trains. “We are convinced of the success of the Nightjet,” says Andreas Matthä, head of the Austrian Federal Railways. According to him, the ÖBB night trains are already making a small profit.
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