A European Sleeper train prepares to depart. The line runs from Brussels to Berlin, and vice versa.Supplied
Three nights a week, the European Sleeper train eases out of Berlin’s central station at around 11 p.m.
Over the next 10.5 hours, the train rumbles west from the German capital, stopping in seven cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the final destination, Brussels. With any luck, its passengers – who booked seats, padded bunks or proper beds for the night – get the type of rest that befits the company name.
European Sleeper is betting that travellers want overnight rail service that links major cities of the continent, harkening back to the golden age of rail transportation. The Berlin-to-Brussels route, which started in late May, is just the first step: The Dutch company plans to extend the route south of Berlin, to Prague, in March.
They’re not alone in this push. State-owned Austrian Federal Railways, or ÖBB, is bulking up what is already the longest overnight rail network in Europe. The upstart Midnight Trains of France, which bills itself as a “hotel on rails,” is hoping to launch in 2025, part of a recent wave of investments in a neglected market.
“People want to travel long-distance by train,” said Elmer van Buuren, the co-founder and managing director of European Sleeper. “There is high demand and, definitely, there are many trains that are sold out.”
Rail company European Sleeper is betting that travellers want overnight rail service that links major cities of the continent, harkening back to the golden age of rail transportation.Supplied
Overnight train service had been mired in a funk. Facing high operation costs and stiff competition from low-cost airlines, many railway companies abandoned the service, focusing on shorter journeys within their countries that were more profitable.
It remains a tough business. A sleeper train carries fewer passengers over a longer distance, limiting the number of tickets sold. Track charges to use each country’s rail infrastructure can be onerous as well.
“Sleeper trains are the most difficult to run commercially,” said Mark Smith, the founder of The Man in Seat Sixty-One, a popular website for information on train travel. “The odds are stacked against you.”
Despite that, Austria’s ÖBB opted to corner the market. When Deutsche Bahn ditched its sleeper service in 2016, ÖBB took over most of the routes and bought some of the German railway’s carriages. With its “Nightjet” network, the Austrian railway is now the dominant player in overnight train travel.
ÖBB receives financial support from some governments to operate in their countries, which helps to make the sleeper trains viable. The revenue from ticket sales is not enough to make the overnight network profitable, said Bernhard Rieder, a spokesperson for the railway. “You will not get rich with these services,” he added.
On the other hand, demand is booming – enough so that ÖBB is adding new routes from Berlin to Brussels and Paris in December. “Our trains are completely full,” Mr. Rieder said. “If we open a new line, it’s immediately sold out.”
Beds are made up in a cabin on a European Sleeper train.Supplied
Rail executives say consumers are pining for a more climate-friendly alternative to airlines that is also roomier and less stressful. While sleeper trains are typically more expensive than budget flights, they do include a night of accommodation and arrive in central locations, reducing the need for taxis or transit from far-flung airports.
European Sleeper offers three accommodation options on board: regular train seats, with six in a compartment; rooms with six “couchettes,” or padded bunks; and deluxe sleeper cabins with beds. For a single one-way ticket from Berlin to Brussels in mid-September, costs range from €89 ($130) to €189 ($278), depending on the cabin type.
A sink and mirror is hidden in a cabinet in a sleeper cabin.Supplied
Policy makers are hoping their interventions – financial and otherwise – will bolster the industry and give more options to consumers. Belgium, for instance, is temporarily covering track charges and energy costs for night train operators that stop in the country, and the European Union has opened the rail industry to foreign competition on passenger routes. Italy’s state-owned rail operator is planning to launch high-speed services between major cities, including a route from Paris to Barcelona, according to a recent report in the Financial Times.
ÖBB’s service expansion is made possible by the imminent delivery of 33 sleeper trains, which it started to order from Siemens AG in 2018, at a total cost of roughly €700-million ($1-billion). For upstart companies, however, the availability of train cars is a major hurdle. Because the market for manufacturing sleeper trains had dried up over the past two decades, there is little to lease.
European Sleeper is relying on an aging set of passenger cars that date as far back as 1955. On its website, the company warns of various technical issues on board, including toilets that are “regularly out of order” and power outlets that don’t work in some compartments.
“It’s a challenge to keep it up and running,” Mr. van Buuren said. “It’s not the product that we dream of for the future.”
European Sleeper is trying to lease more carriages so that it can run longer trains as it expands to Prague. For now, even though the train itself is a work in progress, Mr. van Buuren is glad to see it on the tracks.
“It’s important to get started, because we need to also prove to many stakeholders, like investors, that we are able to run a train company,” he said. “And the best way of proving that is demonstrating it, because otherwise the whole product will remain a PowerPoint presentation.”