Europe's night train renaissance: Still on track?

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1:04There's plenty of creaking and groaning on this train tonight. I'm Jack Butcher and this is the documentary from the BBC World Service. Nothing quite represents the ideal of European travel, quite like the night train. the promise of going to sleep in one country and waking up fully rested in another oh wow that must be the danube the river is flowing gracefully alongside us a milky sun is just trying to poke through the fog as it rises behind the hills on the far bank The water is so still, it looks like glass. At their best, night trains offer a journey like no other. Romantic, green, serene.

2:07But for the European night train industry, it's been anything but a smooth ride. Just a decade ago, the continent's night train network looked to be reaching the end of the line. We're on the point where this whole thing may die out. That was really the absolute lowest of the low end. Since then, night trains have been undergoing something of a renaissance. This is an opportunity to make a real international business. With new operators, restored routes, cabin design innovation. Once you get in, the adventure starts. And you can't get tickets because they're sold out immediately. But while passengers continue to flock onto sleeper services, An array of obstacles for operators means the revival could be under threat before it's even left the station.

2:56About 10 % of all night trains in 2024 could not operate. In the last months, key historic route stopped. So I'm riding the rails to understand Europe's night train renaissance and to find out if it's still on track.

3:17Here we go, carriage 262, this is me. How can I help you? Hello, I have a reservation. OK, it's the cabin number 5, your place. I've crossed Europe by train from east to west and south to north. But while day trains can be great for shorter distances, stitching together these longer trips racks up both cost and inconvenience. So like many travellers in Europe, I've reluctantly found myself travelling by plane, simply because it's often cheap and quick. But airports are busy and stressful, and plane travel comes with the uneasy feeling of a high carbon footprint. Somehow I'd consigned travelling overnight by train to my early 20s.

4:09But then... Across Europe, there's a revival going on of sleeper trains. Sleeper services are expanding in Europe. There's talk of a new age of the train. I'm curious to find out if this trend is real and sustainable. So I'm setting out from my home city, Berlin, on a whistle-stop night train tour around the continent and speaking to some of the most influential figures in the night train industry along the way. First up, Euro night service EN 40457 to Budapest. just occasionally you get a little crack of light that comes underneath the blind and we're following the Elba River down through the sandstone mountains here and it's a strange feeling to know that all of that is passing by outside this leg of my journey is taking me down through central Europe via Prague and Bratislava before arriving into Budapest Nugati station at around 8.30 in the morning.

5:14That means about 12 hours on board, which according to independent railway consultant and pro-night train campaigner John Wirth is the perfect length for a sleeper service. You need to be looking at somewhere between basically 6 and 12 hours by daytime train that can be replaced by something of up to 12 hours by night train. Most passengers don't want to spend more than about 6 hours on a train in the day. that feels like you're wasting time. If you make that journey overnight, a time when you'd otherwise just be sleeping in a hotel at your destination, well, that feels like a time saver by comparison.

5:47Sometime after midnight, I got a knock on my door. The light was turned on. There was the train attendant with a fairly apologetic-looking Canadian tourist in tow, announcing that he would be joining me for the rest of the night. The idea of sharing a room with complete strangers certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea. For some of my fellow travellers, however, meeting other passengers is one of the draws of travel by night train. So my name is Erik. I'm from Denmark. If you like talking to people, if you like connecting, and it's way more possible in night trains, there's a different mood. Train travelling is slower.

6:25And also, of course, it is way greener. People after the COVID pandemic thought, OK, we want to travel again and let's do it green this time. John Wirth. And into that kind of Europe's opening up again came, oh, okay, we can take some night trains to get to our holiday destinations. Ultimately, trains are without doubt the greenest way to do long distances, particularly if they're powered by electricity, and the vast majority of night trains are in Europe. We're just about to roll into Budapest, and I've come across two fellow travellers here who are from Brazil. My name is Rodrigo, I have 30 years.

6:57My name is Tanana, I have 29. And this is your first time that you've been on a night train in Europe? Yes. If we were to go by plane, we also expended a few hours on the airport. Bureaucracy of airport. We didn't want to leave too early. We were arriving in Budapest in the middle of the night. I think I was expecting to sleep a little bit better. Yeah. The morning was just as I expected, like seeing the view, the sun rising. And also we got engaged. Wow. Yeah, in Amsterdam, in the beginning of the trip. Oh, amazing. Congratulations. We are calling the rest of the trip our minimum. This is one of the key appeals that operators have often leaned on to attract travellers and sell tickets.

7:44The romantic and glamorous image of the night train. Because night trains have a real cultural currency in Europe that stretches back more than a century. We've just been served the starter, which is some form of pate. I'm having dinner aboard a restored restaurant carriage from Europe's first long-distance sleeper train service, and perhaps its most famous. The Orient Express. It's got a plush red carpet, mahogany panelling with intricate inlays. The guests are dressed up in their finest outfits for the evening. I'm here with Norbert Schwerd, whose company is responsible for tonight's special service.

8:36The era from 1883 till 1914, that's the golden era of the Orient Express. It was probably the most stylish way of travelling. Starting in the late 19th century, the Orient Express was a luxury service connecting Western Europe to East. Beginning in Paris, it wound its way down through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna and Budapest, before continuing on through Bucharest, Varna and ultimately Constantinople, now known as Istanbul. It's like a three-day journey, but it still was the fastest way to get to Istanbul. And then you can board a ship and travel to the Far East. The carriages were owned by the Waggon-Li company.

9:21When it launched its first service in 1883, it needed to navigate a patchwork of national railways, borders and missing infrastructure. Initially, the final leg of the journey had to be completed by steamboat, as the railway line in Bulgaria was incomplete. The route later had to be changed many times, owing to shifting geopolitical realities in Europe. But the good thing was that many problems, they fixed it quite fast because that was, you know, a very, very impressive time for the railways. The Orient Express has been immortalised by works of fiction. It was, of course, where Agatha Christie's Poirot interrogated passengers as he tried to solve a terrible murder.

10:09and where Sean Connery tussled with a would-be assassin as 007. By the early 20th century, the Orient Express was just one of hundreds of overnight rail services crisscrossing the continent.

10:35Well, it's the morning after the night before and yesterday's experience increasingly feels like a throwback to a long-lost bygone era. At the turn of the millennium, there were still more than 230 night train routes operating in Europe. But two decades later, there were fewer than 70. The main challenge to night trains came in the era of the 1990s, early 2000s, the kind of boom of the cheap airlines. When it was an expensive and complicated thing to do to cross Europe with a plane, then a night train was a natural option. If you could just get there by Ryanair or EasyJet comparatively easily, then people did that instead.

11:16There was also then a greater attention that railways should be profit-making. People in the industry I spoke with also point to long-standing tax exemptions for aviation. The economics of running a sleeper service are also notoriously tricky. Unlike daytime trains, night trains can only run once per night and typically have lower capacities. That means fewer paying passengers. Night trains also have higher operational costs, from laundry fees to paying staff to work overnight. The industry likes high-speed daytime trains more because they are easier to operate and they can more clearly see they make a profit by running them.

11:58If they run nationally rather than internationally, that simplifies your operations as well. You don't have to deal with your pesky neighbours. In 2016, the German national operator Deutsche Bahn dealt a hammer blow to the European night train network as it called time on its extensive city nightline services. The following year, a European Parliament report suggested night train should be left to quietly wither under managed decline. That was really the absolute lowest of the low ebb, on the point where this whole thing may die out. But a new generation of railway leaders saw Deutsche Bahn's retreat as a gap to be filled, led by one in particular.

12:41Next stop, Vienna. It's so foggy here today. Everything just looks grey and flat. Ah, but that's where I need to be. away to my right through the fog, I can just see the big red lettering UBB on one of the buildings. That's the headquarters of the national rail operator, and I've got an appointment there. You could say I was in the story from the beginning. Kurt Bauer is head of long-distance passenger services and new rail business at UBB. A lot of night trains were jointly operated with Deutsche Bahn. We were forced to react. We take this as an opportunity, as a small railway operator, in order to make a real international business.

13:31UBB bought a number of former Deutsche Bahn night train coaches and took over several of its former routes. Rebranding its sleeper services as Nightjet, it became the largest international night train operator in Europe. We have approximately 1.5 million passengers per year and we operate to basically all neighbouring countries. We even go further, we go to Belgium, the Netherlands. What we did is we gave a new image to the night train. It's all about feelings, emotions and storytelling. UBB also invested heavily in new night trains. In December 2023, it began rolling out a brand new, innovative night train design.

14:18A raft of new features includes ergonomic seats and push-pull locomotives that make it easier to get the trains in and out of stations quickly. The most striking feature, however, is its new mini cabins, small private sleeping pods reminiscent of Japanese capsule hotels. Passengers really want to have privacy on night trains. And for this group, we really needed a new product. So for the next leg of my journey around Europe, I'll be squeezing myself into one of these cosy or some would say cramped pods to Amsterdam. In front of me is the new generation nightjet train itself. I can tell it's brand new because it's glistening under the lights here on the platform and I can actually see my reflection in the train.

15:10There's an attendant waiting at the door to welcome us aboard. Hello.

15:20It's just as shiny inside. Oh, it's a bit of a squeeze down the corridor. Thank you. We're doing a dance to get past. Oops, sorry. Just bashed somebody with my back. I think it's a big plus with the new trains that you have your own pot. I like it. Pretty modern and nice. I think I will have a good rest here. I quite like it because it's antisocial. If I'm travelling by myself as a woman, you don't have to interact with people if you don't want to. The new Ubebe train design helped emphasise a broader message. Night trains are back. Seeking to support climate-friendly alternatives to flying, a number of European governments signed public service contracts with night train operators and helped to subsidise new routes.

16:13In 2023, UBB relaunched an historic nighttime service connecting Paris and Berlin. Following in UBB's footsteps, a handful of new private night train startups emerged, eager to expand. But that won't be easy. Here in Key West, we were out before it was in. In this open and inclusive paradise, you can be yourself, make new friends and savor our live and let live vibe. With LGBTQ plus friendly accommodations, our legendary nightlife and year round activities and events. It's always a good time to come as you are. Key West, close to perfect, far from normal. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day.

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17:50Download the latest episode and follow at schwab.com slash Washington Wise or wherever you listen. This is the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Jack Butcher and this is Europe's Night Train Renaissance, still on track. We're bitten um and shooting um. Dear passengers, good morning. Due to a delay on the German railway, this train is 120 minutes late. We apologise for the inconvenience. Delay of two hours. I was fast asleep. I had no idea that we were even behind schedule. This train is always late and there's always something, but especially in Germany. Fingers crossed that we eventually make it to Amsterdam.

18:42Kurt Bauer again. At the moment, it's really the infrastructure works, the engineering works going on on the network. The 10 most delayed trains in Europe in total in 2025, they were all night trains. Often the works on the tracks are done during the night, which is of course a problem for night trains. Tilly Metz is an MEP from Luxembourg who represents the Greens in the European Parliament. She has led the Parliament's work on a cross-border rail infrastructure regulation that is still passing through the EU legislative process. Now there are penalties for scenes. So if you are promised a track and then the infrastructure manager has to work suddenly or that they were not good organised or good planned, they have to pay a penalty to the companies.

19:35Our total delayed time is now more than three hours. As we approach Amsterdam after more than 17 hours on board, many of my fellow passengers still seem to be in surprisingly good spirits. You're still having fun. Yes, but it would be nice when we go ahead. And are you going to be very late now for your conference? It started already, so we will just hear the speakers in the afternoon. But it's OK, tomorrow is another day. You've hardly slept. We've got a delay of, at the moment, somewhere near three hours. And yet all of you are absolutely down for taking the night trains again. Absolutely, yeah.

20:13I agree, yeah. The demand itself doesn't change that much. It has always been high since we started the business. In July 2025, UBB amended an order for new night trains to focus on high-speed daytime trains instead. Having previously announced an intention to double night train passengers by 2030, Kurt Bauer now admits that the target is out of reach. About 10 % of all trains in 2024, of all night trains, could not operate. because of engineering work and short-term restrictions on the infrastructure. What we will do is now we will focus on the existing network and put all the capacity we have on the existing network.

21:04That network, however, is now without two flagship routes that ÖBB launched as part of its big push to revitalise night trains. In September 2025, the Austrian operator announced the withdrawal of services connecting Paris with Vienna and Berlin. The move followed a decision by the French government to withdraw subsidies on the grounds of financial savings and a desire to prioritise domestic services. In Sweden and Switzerland, emerging routes have also been cancelled after national operators deemed them unviable without state financial backing. So what you've had is a few small pots of cash. We've got a few new things started.

21:49The pot of cash runs out and so it stops again. The political support is not as big as it used to be. In all areas where we speak about sustainability, times became more difficult. It's been a tough few months for sleeper trends. But unlike the weather here tonight in Amsterdam, it's not all doom and gloom. Thank you very much. Where state support falls short, private operators are seeking ways to fill the gap. The bedding is up here, so there's a pillow and a sheet. Chris Engelsmann, co-founder of European Sleeper, is my host on board the final leg of my journey back home to Berlin. We strongly believe that the main connections between European major cities can have profitable night trains running between them.

22:44And what gives you such confidence? The huge demand. And it needs a commercial approach rather than a technocratic approach. And that's what we are doing with the company. That's why private initiatives are important to show that it's possible. As other services were being withdrawn, European Sleeper announced the launch of two new routes for 2026, including a takeover of Paris-Berlin. It's quite an exciting decision. We are a relatively small company still, but this route was just too good an opportunity to let it go. It's Paris-Berling. I mean, if that's not a profitable route, then we can rather stop.

23:22For a young company, however, the operational obstacles in the industry are formidable. One French startup folded in 2024 before getting a single train on the rails, citing a lack of investors in private rail projects and an overly complex European rail network that is not open to new entrants. Chris's company is the only new startup to have actually launched a service. Others are still in the planning phase. After underinvestment in the night train industry for decades, one of the biggest challenges is sourcing the actual trains. The carriage we're sitting in is perfectly serviceable. But the seats are worn, the walls thin, and it has a distinct rattle.

24:12The rolling stock is really a problem, not only in availability, because there are so few coaches available, but also because some of it is just old. And this carriage that we're in today is from the 1990s, is that right? Yes, yes. So this is a relatively new one. Our comfort class is from 1956. Six. Still going strong, but it says something about what is available. We know that there's at least 15 routes which are not served by night trains in Europe at the moment, which could economically be served if only anyone could serve them. John Wirth again. If you want to serve them, you need carriages to serve them.

24:48You only get a decent price if you order loads of them. And the difficulty is at the moment is we can't get scale, because all of the companies interested in the night train business are all comparatively small. These are cross-border problems. And if it's a cross-border problem that the member states themselves are not fixing, then that's obviously something the European Union needs to step in to fix. What we have so far to support night trains is quite little. Metz, who has supported night trains in her role as an MEP, also agrees that the EU should be doing more. It's not enough to speak about night trains and to give hope, but we need really also a concrete roadmap.

25:31one final groan of the train as it weaves its way through central Berlin. And there are the iconic buildings of Museum Island. Any minute now, I'll be home. As I approach the end of my trip, the idea of a truly flourishing cross-border night train network that will revolutionise European travel still feels like a pipe dream. Many of the fundamental challenges that led to the decline of night trains around the turn of the millennium remain. Buses are cheaper, flights faster and cars afford greater freedom. The complexity of running cross-border services on Europe's fragmented railways is immense and the cost leaves many routes dependent on precarious government subsidies.

26:27Hello. How are you doing? Good, good, good. Good to meet you. But I still have one final stop to make at a startup in Berlin. My name is Thibaut Constant. I'm from France and I'm the co-founder of Nox Mobility. Founded in 2025, Thibaut's company aims to offer 35 new affordable night train routes in the next decade, connecting 100 European cities. I'm deeply convinced that night train can be the future of long distance transportation because right now nitrogen are stuck in the niche and we want to make nitrogen mainstream product and i've seen on your website that you've got a map of envisaged new routes or competition or airlines so we selected the most busiest air route the mission here is to bring people who are flying euro wings lufthansa okay so on your laptop here we've got a rendering of a carriage so everybody has a private room everybody you would never share with a stranger never ever but also we need to bring good prices because if you go above this 130 euros, 150 euros.

27:26It's harder to convince a lot of people to ditch a flight. The big challenge is turning the bold vision and impressive computer renderings into a real operational business. Whether Thibault's ambitious plans will succeed, it's still too early to tell. But it's a timely reminder that almost a century and a half after Europe's first cross-border sleeper service helped to connect the continent, there are still people who fundamentally believe in the value of the night train. My journey has shown me that every single sleeper service that weaves its way across Europe's borders each night is itself a minor miracle, the result of hundreds of problems solved.

28:12Despite the odds being stacked against them, we should not underestimate the night train's ability to survive and perhaps once again thrive. The demand is still there. However, if society or policymakers really want to see a truly European white night train network, they will have to do their homework. We've had renewed public attention. What we've now got to do is the hard work of turning that into better services, more services, more reliable services. And then if we have this conversation again five years from now, maybe we might then be able to call that a renaissance.

28:56You've been listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. It was a Whistledown production, presented and produced by me, Jack Butcher.