From Thursday, a regular sleeper train will run between Amsterdam and Berlin for the first time since 2014. After a long search, the Dutch start-up European Sleeper has found enough carriages to drive to the German capital.
Actually, European Sleeper wanted to run the new train last year, between Brussels and Prague. But it was not possible to rent the necessary sleeping cars in time, because there is an acute shortage of them throughout Europe. “It was a bit of gathering,” says co-founder Chris Engelsman to NU.nl.
In the meantime, his company has managed to find twelve carriages. However, the final destination of the train has been adjusted: it will not initially continue to Prague, but will already stop in Berlin. European Sleeper hopes that the train will still be able to continue to the Czech Republic next year.
Now the European Sleeper train runs to Berlin on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. On Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday he will leave for the Netherlands and Belgium. Those who want to sleep on the train can go to compartments that can accommodate up to six, four or three people. There are also seats available for the traveler on a budget.
‘No paper railway’
The train made its first test run from Berlin to Brussels on Sunday night. “That went very well, we were right on time,” says Engelsman. He is already looking ahead to further growth. European Sleeper also wants to drive to Barcelona in the future and hopes to secure renovated carriages for this purpose.
Investors are still needed to buy more than thirty seating carriages and convert them into modern sleeping carriages. “We wanted to start with rented carriages as soon as possible,” says Engelsman. “To show investors that it can be done, and that we are not just a paper railway.”
Between 2009 and 2016, many international night trains from the Netherlands were cancelled. For a number of years there were no sleeper trains at all from our country, but since 2020 this form of travel has experienced a real resurgence. The sleeper trains that now run to destinations such as Zurich and Vienna are popular with people who want a comfortable and climate-conscious holiday.
The sleeper trains are regularly fully booked and investments are being made again throughout Europe. The Austrian railway company ÖBB presented new sleeping cars last year, which run under the name Nightjet. It was the first time in decades that new sleeping cars came into circulation in Europe.
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2023-05-25 03:09:00
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