Europe was on the brink of a night train revolution. Here’s what actually happened

(CNN) — “It is with great sadness that we must announce the death of a dream. Midnight Trains died today, surrounded by family and friends.”

That was the epitaph from Midnight Trains founder Adrien Aumont on May 31, signaling that its vision of creating a new network of luxury night trains linking major European cities had hit the buffers.

Prior to the company’s demise, it had looked like Europe was poised for something of a night train revolution. Overnight rail journeys have been making a resurgence across the continent as travelers sought out more sustainable links between cities.

The concept of going to bed in one city center and waking in another, hundreds of miles away, presents an increasingly attractive alternative to short-haul flights in an era of heightened environmental concerns and fraught air travel experiences.

Despite this demand, the hurdles for startups like Midnight Train trying to enter the market to meet it remain virtually insurmountable.

At first, it looked like new “open access” rules that permitted new operators to share Europe’s rail network with existing state-owned railway companies would open the doors for a flood of exciting new ideas and routes.

And indeed it prompted several new operators to come forward, promising a web of new routes, cheaper fares or more luxurious accommodation to appeal to different sectors of the travel market.

Yet only a handful have made it onto the rails.

Sweden’s Snälltåget is one, linking Stockholm with Denmark and Germany. Czech travel provider Regiojet operates a handful of overnight routes to cities in Czechia, Slovakia and western Ukraine, plus popular holiday trains from Prague to Croatia’s Adriatic coast in the peak summer season. Both built their overnight services on the back of proven daytime operations.

Just one all-new entrant focusing purely on overnight travel has made it onto the rails so far. European Sleeper ran its first Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin trains in 2023 and now also serves Prague three times per week.

Formidable obstacles

European Sleeper’s difficulties in securing a suitable train and schedules offer sobering lessons for other open-access operators hoping to exploit growing demand for overnight travel. Originally expected to launch in 2022, its debut was delayed by a critical shortage of serviceable coaches.

ES eventually managed to assemble a collection of 1970s seated coaches, couchettes and even a vintage 1950s sleeping car built for the legendary Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits (CIWL) – one-time operator of the iconic Orient Express. It’s enough for one train, running three times a week on alternate days in each direction. It hopes to increase the frequency to daily when more rolling stock becomes available.

The company’s ambition to launch a new route each year is being frustrated by a critical shortage of suitable coaches and the formidable obstacles placed in its path by national railway administrations – particularly in France. Next on its to-do list is a Brussels-Barcelona train. This will have to cross the length of France during the night, a time when many French tracks are traditionally closed for maintenance.

As if that wasn’t enough, completing the mountains of paperwork required to gain operating licenses is extremely time-consuming and expensive. While much of it is essential to prove that a prospective operator has the necessary competences, safety regime and financial backing to deliver its promises, the differing requirements in each country and slow-moving bureaucracy can take years – and millions of dollars - to overcome.

Sadly, Midnight Trains did not even make it that far.

Despite a compelling argument that “clean” air travel is unlikely to be possible before the end of the 21st century and that night trains offer the best way to encourage people to shift to rail travel on medium distance routes, it could not secure the financial backing required to lay the foundations of its operation.

It also highlighted that while the European Union’s rail market is – in theory - open to competition, the reality in 2024 is that it has mainly opened up to itself.

‘Unfair advantage’

The blossoming Nightjet international network is operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) in co-operation with other state-owned railways while burgeoning competition on the continent’s high-speed networks largely sees French, Italian and Spanish national operators trying to win new markets on each other’s routes.

Without government backing – enjoyed by ÖBB and other legacy state railways – it’s also very difficult to obtain the necessary finance to acquire and approve special new night trains.

Nick Brooks, secretary general of ALLRAIL, a pressure group representing non-state train operators, told CNN that national rail companies have an unfair advantage over new entrants.

“Politicians must be clear: the night train market will be effectively closed for a very long time,” he says. “This runs contrary to the goals of the single EU rail market – which is madness when a clear and efficient alternative model already exists.”

In his May 31 statement, Midnight Trains’ Adrien Aumont lamented: “The channels are open but in reality this market was organized by the public authorities for their own historical operators, not to really create new players.”

He said he realized that the stranglehold national operators had on Europe’s rail sector and rolling stock presented major hurdles, but he had believed this would change. He urged European legislators to properly open the door to innovators.

“We hope that this dynamic will allow investment funds to take an interest in rail, so that other entrepreneurs can succeed in creating new uses and improving the train travel experience,” he added. “To make this means of transport beloved as a significant alternative to aviation and automobiles.”

Growing demand

Midnight Trains hoped to deliver a deluxe “hotel on wheels” experience between Paris and Barcelona starting in 2025.

Longer-term, it planned to serve 10 destinations radiating from Paris, including Milan/Venice, Florence/Rome, Hamburg, Berlin and Copenhagen, plus Paris to Madrid and Porto and Paris-Edinburgh via the Channel Tunnel.

Although it spoke to various suppliers, Midnight Trains did not secure any suitable overnight vehicles, let alone start the process of building or refurbishing them to its proposed specification. It was not alone in this respect – all prospective open-access train operators face a huge task in sourcing appropriate “pre-loved” rolling stock.

Supporters of open-access night trains are demanding that the European Union steps in to create a more fertile environment for the creation of new services. One option could be for European authorities to help fund the procurement of a fleet of new specialized night train coaches which could then be leased to train companies. This would help to eliminate one of the biggest challenges faced by new entrants to the market.

“European Sleeper demonstrates that demand for long-distance cross-border passenger rail, including night trains, is growing fast, and that such services can be operated in a commercially viable open-access manner,” Brooks explains.

But, as Midnight Trains discovered, the challenges don’t end with the trains themselves. Traditional venture capitalists and infrastructure funds aren’t set up to invest in risky, complex, long-term projects and rail vehicle leasing companies are reluctant to invest in rolling stock without a guaranteed long-term operating contract.

Wherever they run, night trains are complicated, labor intensive and expensive to operate – one of the major reasons they went into decline from the 1970s onwards.

“The effort required to get new sleeper trains up and running should not be underestimated,” adds rail expert Mark Smith, better known as online rail travel guru The Man in Seat 61. “But ÖBB and start-ups such as European Sleeper are proving that it can be done.”

Reviving old routes

It is proving somewhat easier for legacy railways to deliver better overnight trains. Working with Swiss Federal Railways and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB has reinvigorated overnight routes linking hubs in Vienna and Zürich with cities in Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Its success has encouraged other countries, most notably France, Italy and Sweden, to re-examine overnight operations, revive abandoned routes and even propose new carriages to improve their offering.

Italian State Railways has ordered 70 new carriages for night trains, featuring high-quality cabins with en suite toilets and showers, some with double beds.

The first vehicles will be deployed on the long-distance route from Milan to Sicily, which crosses the Strait of Messina on Europe’s last remaining passenger train ferry. The $770 million contract could eventually see up to 370 new overnight carriages introduced to update Italy’s entire overnight train fleet.

With the honorable exception of Nightjet, which plans to expand rapidly over the next five years, European night train services have yet to match the hype. Demand is growing, but the enormous difficulties of financing and setting up new operations is suppressing growth.

Formidable operational, political and financial obstacles will not evaporate overnight and a concerted effort is required by the EU and member states to deliver railways that are truly open to competition, otherwise the much-needed revolution in European night trains could be stifled before it has a chance to bloom.

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