The Quiet Return of the Night Train
For much of the early 2000s, the night train seemed destined to disappear. Faced with cheap flights and fast daytime rail, many European operators quietly withdrew their sleeper services, and by 2016 only a handful of routes remained. Yet within a decade the picture had changed. A mix of climate concern, rising airport frustration and a wave of nostalgia has pushed the sleeper carriage back into fashion.
The revival began, unexpectedly, in Austria. When Germany's national operator abandoned most of its night services in 2016, the Austrian railway bought the redundant carriages rather than see them scrapped. It relaunched them under a single brand, gradually adding routes that linked cities such as Vienna, Zurich and Brussels. The gamble paid off: passenger numbers grew year on year, and other countries began to take notice.
Modern sleeper travel is not simply the old formula repeated. Newer carriages offer small private cabins, quieter compartments and, on some services, a choice of evening meals. Operators argue that a traveller who boards after dinner and steps off refreshed in a city centre saves both a hotel night and the tedious journey to and from an airport. Critics point out that tickets are rarely cheap, and that a delayed sleeper is far more disruptive than a delayed flight.
Whether the trend lasts is uncertain. Building and maintaining sleeper carriages is expensive, and profits remain thin. Even so, several operators have placed orders for new rolling stock - a sign that they expect demand to hold. For now, at least, the night train is no longer a museum piece but a small, growing part of how Europe chooses to travel.