The slight delay of about half an hour did not dampen their good mood. Many Alsatian elected officials, as well as the prefect of the Grand-Est, were on the platform of the Strasbourg station early this Tuesday morning. For a rare event: the first passage of the night train between Paris and Berlin, scheduled for 5:50 a.m.
For this return after nine years of absence, the convoy left the German capital at 8:18 p.m. the day before. Not in anonymity again since the Minister Delegate in charge of transport, Clément Beaune, had taken his berth there. And his German counterpart also made the trip. “This is a new era for the night train alliance,” enthused Volker Wessing in front of a crowd of officials.
In Strasbourg, there were around fifteen people waiting for the famous gray, blue and red vehicle. With small French flags in their hands, they warmly welcomed Clément Beaune. Not long: six minutes, just time to cut a ribbon and leave.
“It is a magnificent symbol which highlights Strasbourg as the European capital,” said Pia Imbs, the president of the Bas-Rhin Eurometropolis. “It really shows the place of our city between Paris and Brussels on the one hand, and Vienna and Berlin on the other. The line will also operate during the day, the minister promised us. »
“Much more than a railway project”
For the moment, it will be in circulation on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Paris and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Berlin. The service must become daily from October 2024, still operated by the Austrian railway company ÖBB, a pioneer in the relaunch of night trains in Europe. Clément Beaune said “working” there. “I believe this project is much more than a railway project. It sums up everything that is important to us in the magnificent European project,” he declared from Berlin, insisting on “mobility, exchange, travel” as the cement of European construction.