Brussels is again connected to Vienna, by Nightjet night train, since 2020.
Welcome / Industry / Europe. Belgium wants to help the development of night trains
By: Patrick Laval
Putting night trains back on track from or to Brussels comes up against several obstacles that the Belgian federal government wants to help remove with a draft bill aimed at reducing the charges for using the rail network.
France, where the SNCF joined forces two years ago with the ÖBB, the DB and the CFF to relaunch night trains across Europe, is not the only country to bet on the return of these relationships that allow you to travel a thousand miles ” in masked time “. Belgium is also affected by this revival, and has been for a little longer, since it was in January 2020 that the ÖBB launched a Nightjet connecting Brussels and Liège to Vienna and Innsbruck. Belgium is also affected by the reopening projects announced two years ago by the French, German, Swiss and Austrian incumbent operators, including a night train from Brussels to Berlin, announced for December 2023.
But other night train projects to Belgium are encountering difficulties, whether financial or technical-administrative, to materialize: on the side of new open access entrants, RegioJet and European Sleeper cannot yet connect Prague, Dresden and Berlin to Amsterdam and Brussels and on the contracted relations side, no operator has volunteered for Malmö–Brussels, which would have been subsidized by the Swedish government. For the moment in limbo, these two projects, as well as seasonal services to the Mediterranean in summer or the Alps in winter, were cited Georges Gilkinet, Belgian Minister for Mobility, to present the preliminary draft law of the Belgian federal government supporting passenger transport by night train “, which was transmitted for opinion to the Council of State. ” I want to give them the signal that they are welcome in Belgium. And if this European first is conclusive, we can hope that other States will follow us “said the minister.
👉 Find the full article in the issue 3919 of La Vie du Rail.
More news and files on rail in La Vie du Rail paper or online version !
