OEBB’s Nightjet is set to serve Paris-Vienna from December.
This is a most significant route which will interest corporate and leisure travellers alike.
The news was broken yesterday by Alain Krakovitch, MD of Voyages SNCF, in a tweet. He said the new Nightjet service will be operated as a joint venture between SNCF of France and OEBB of Austria.
Le train de nuit entre Vienne & Paris devient réalité avec l’ouverture des ventes billets ce matin!
1er train @unsereOEBB et @GroupeSNCF le 13 déc.
3 liaisons par semaine via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Munich, Salzbourg, et 3 inversement. #nightjet 🌍
Encore une promesse tenue! pic.twitter.com/R8BaUgMh6M— Alain Krakovitch (@alainkrakovitch) September 28, 2021
There will be three trains a week in both directions, and they will have en route stops in Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, Munich and Salzburg which will provide more night train opportunities for travellers.
Paris-Vienna is an historic route. It used to form part of the Orient Express’ original route from Paris to Istanbul.
It also means that the wish of OEBB’s chief Andreas Mattha who said it was his “dream” to serve Paris has finally come true.
🇦🇹🛌🇫🇷 "Paris would be a dream!" said @unsereOEBB🇦🇹 CEO @AndreasMattha today to the question about possible new #Nightjet destinations 😉😍👍! All this, after @lgewessler's announcement of future investment in #nighttrain.s! #nachtzug pic.twitter.com/5fTaMvdvU3
— Dining Car (@_DiningCar) June 9, 2020
One might ask why it’s taken so long for Nightjet to serve Paris. As we have previously explained the main reason is the high costs of operating rail services in France. Remember Flixtrain?
I suspect the joint venture between these two state-owned incumbents has made the process easier. The EU will also approve as 2021 is the European Year of Rail.
At time of writing schedules had not been included in the various booking systems.