The revival of night trains across mainland Europe has many obstacles to overcome.
It might have been missed by many, but 2021 is the EU’s Year of European Rail, and operators across Europe are investing in night trains.
The appeal is obvious. There is the romance of overnight train travel, but there is also a benefit for business travellers. Imagine if you could take an evening train and wake up at your destination, refreshed, rather than rushing to catch an early morning flight, always worrying about delays.
For long-distance trains there are options for working on the journey, or relaxing, and of course they are more climate-friendly – important with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) fast approaching. It is for that reason that there is likely to be government support, not least since the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, published by the European Commission in December 2020, called for a major shift in passengers to rail, including night trains.
Austria’s OEBB leads the pack with Nightjet. It offers the largest network of night trains by far, and one that will be expanded thanks to collaborations with national operators SNCF (France), DB (Germany) and SBB (Switzerland). At the time of writing, OEBB had ordered a further 20 complete trains from Siemens.
Elsewhere, new Swedish operator Snalltaget has started a Stockholm-Copenhagen-Berlin link, but this is seasonal and does not provide the sort of sleeper accommodation that would appeal to the corporate market.
There are also several newcomers, one being a joint venture between Dutch start-up European Sleeper and Belgium’s Moonlight Express. They plan to operate Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague under the name of European Sleeper, and the service is mainly intended for the leisure market.
Still, considerable problems remain. Let’s start with the issue of rolling stock for trains serving the corporate or well-heeled leisure market. Only OEBB has suitable stock capable of serving major business destinations with its sleeping carriages, some of which have en suite facilities. In addition, it is only OEBB that has commissioned a fleet of “next generation” rolling stock to meet travellers’ future needs.
When SNCF restarted its Paris-Nice overnight train, it was thought that something similar to the famous Le Train Bleu would be recreated. Sadly, nothing was further from the truth. Many
customers, including a number of our readers, were left disappointed. Why? Because SNCF had to revive older couchette stock which then meant Paris-Nice would appeal mainly to the leisure market. In truth, SNCF had dispensed with its comfortable sleeper trains years ago when it decided to quit the sleeper business.
France’s last international sleeper service, operated by Thello and linking Paris with Milan and Venice, was suspended at the start of Covid-19 and Thello has said its night service will not return.
Although France still maintains a couple of night trains, these provide a spartan service on board. In July the Financial Times reported on SNCF’s night trains. When one passenger on a Perpignan-Paris service asked the conductor about catering facilities, he was told: “Nope. There’s no food, not a thing. You’ll just have to go to sleep.”
One therefore wonders whether operator Midnight Trains will succeed in its plans to launch numerous routes with the best rolling stock as soon as 2024. Founded by French entrepreneurs, its aim is to offer an alternative to state-run SNCF sleepers and short-haul flights, with “hotel-style” rooms and an onboard restaurant and bar. Proposed routes out of Paris could include Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen. Its selling point is that it will use sleeper accommodation with catering facilities.
There are obstacles to overcome, however. Speaking to publication Railtech, Romain Payet, co-founder of Midnight Trains, said that finding places to park and maintain rolling stock was a major obstacle, since “workshops and sites are almost all in the hands of the major national carriers” which are controlled by the government. Payet said that he was continuing to negotiate with vehicle owners for equipment and track but that finding the right “facilities to clean, resupply and maintain rolling stock [was] proving a challenge”.
Acquiring suitable new stock is not easy. It can be time-consuming and expensive, as OEBB and Caledonian Sleeper have experienced. Look at the number of years it has taken both operators to order and commission their new stock.
The other major issue is whether or not an operator can make money from a night train operation. OEBB claims it can but, for the others, it is doubtful. The costs of operating and funding night trains is mired in secrecy.
Last year, we reported online that Caledonian Sleeper’s losses had increased by 48 per cent from £3.08 million to £4.57 million in 2019-20. That was pre-Covid-19 and lockdown, when they may have risen further. At the time of writing, Caledonian Sleeper, along with other TOCs (train operating companies), is under the government’s emergency measures or ERMA agreements. This means that the government now takes the fares revenue and has the responsibility for their operations. No further details are available, although The Guardian reported in May 2021 that the government said it had spent £12 billion funding the UK rail network during the pandemic.
COST CONSIDERATIONS
Why are night trains unlikely to make money? Some reasons are the high cost of rolling stock, poor utilisation, especially on shorter routes, low passenger numbers and a high staff-to-passenger ratio (compared with daytime trains), and complexity of operations. Take utilisation for the Caledonian Sleeper, for instance. Over one day (and it operates only six days a week) one train will make a single trip. By comparison, a daytime train between London and Edinburgh would make two or three trips per day, so they have greater earning potential.
However, these facts are based on conventional night train operations. Nick Brooks, secretary general of Allrail Alliance (an alliance of new market entrants), told Business Traveller: “State incumbents have always done night trains in the same way, with the same type of advertising and the same complex bureaucracy. Newcomers think outside the box and do things differently. They use different yield management systems, different advertising techniques and so on. They will not carbon copy the state incumbent product.”
As for SNCF’s night train customers, there’s some good news about the future. Speaking to the Financial Times, France’s transport minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, revealed a new investment plan. “Between 2020 and 2030, France will invest €75 billion in the rail sector. Of this, €100 million will go towards night trains, with €69 million to be spent on upgrading the rolling stock.”
FURTHER PROBLEMS
However, another issue has emerged. It’s one of climate change – and in July, at the time of writing, there were numerous incidents of weather-related disruption. Examples included Russia’s Trans-Siberian line, which surely has sound infrastructure. One might expect issues in the winter – but in July? That’s when flooding destroyed a bridge in the Baikal region, which blocked the line completely.
Closer to home, Caledonian Sleeper was either cancelled or had to start from just outside London because the lines outside Euston were flooded for several days. Then intrepid rail user and EU transport expert Jon Worth took OEBB’s Nightjet from Berlin to Vienna. All was going well until a tornado damaged the tracks in the Czech Republic. Fortunately, OEBB has a contingency plan and the Nightjet was rerouted. This meant an unscheduled reversal at Brno. The Vienna arrival was not overly delayed and Worth made his onward connection to Budapest.
More worrying was the incident on a Warsaw-Vienna night train. Polish media reported that flooding washed away some track ballast, derailing the train. Tragic floods across Europe this summer also affected several countries and caused widespread disruption.
Nevertheless, the EU and the UK are determined that trains in general, and night trains in particular, are a “greener” alternative to yet more flights; and with Eurostar boss Jacques Damas suggesting a £1 tax on aviation fuel to help fund the cost of rail access fees for companies such as Eurostar for using high-speed lines, it seems likely that night trains will become more established in the coming years. In the final analysis, night trains have a future, providing the funding and new rolling stock for the next generation can be made available.
