The railway companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France want to offer joint night train connections again. A corresponding letter of intent was signed today.
Better through Europe by rail: This is the goal of the Federal Transport Minister for the time of the German EU Council Presidency, and now Andreas Scheuer was able to present his first success. “I am pleased that we now have an example of how we can achieve very specific results within a few months. That is politics,” he said when presenting the project with Deutsche Bahn boss Richard Lutz. The transport ministers of the three other participating countries were involved.
There should be a renaissance of the night trains in Central Europe: Deutsche Bahn, together with the state railway companies of the neighboring countries Austria, Switzerland and France, wants to put four cross-border night train connections on the rails. The first new Nightjet lines are expected to connect Vienna with Paris and Zurich with Amsterdam in just under a year from December 2021. The Berlin-Paris and Zurich-Barcelona routes are to follow by 2024. Then 13 European metropolises will be accessible overnight, says Scheuer. “We can look forward to the golden post-Corona era in European rail traffic with great hope.”
Night trains are considered to be particularly climate-friendly, which is why the Federal Transport Minister sees the plans as an important contribution to climate protection. “With such attractive offers, we can be even more climate- and environmentally friendly in Europe.” According to the CSU politician, this is active climate protection and an effective contribution to reducing CO2. “Rail travel in Europe can become a convincing alternative for other modes of transport.”
Railway boss Lutz was also convinced that the night train offer is very trendy in this regard. “This is good news for our customers, for whom overnight travel is becoming more and more popular. Especially in cross-border traffic, the night train can increasingly exploit its potential as an extremely green and stress-free alternative to airplanes and cars.”