I think we all agree it's time for some train news! Bumper Christmas edition

it’s December in Europe.

In fact it’s December everywhere. But what does December in Europe mean?

Christmas?

Nope! it’s when the next twelve months’ train timetables kick in with a bang!

And truly, this year, they’re a sight for sore eyes!

Lots of juicy titbits from the Oui au Train de Nuit mailing list in France:

  • The night train from Paris to Tarbes and Lourdes (southern France) is back on track since yesterday evening!

  • The new Paris — Vienna night train kicks off tomorrow! It trundles via Strasbourg and Munich

  • After 9 months of track works, the Paris — Briançon (South-eastern France, Citadel, Ski-ing) kicked off again last night too. With renovated couchette cars! This is Briançon:

  • The Paris — Portbou (Spanish border) night train has a new stop at Narbonne (to pick up rugby players and fans of Marine Le Pencil)

  • A new shower zone has been inaugurated at Paris Austerlitz station, perfect for giving yourself a deep clean after your night train pulls in and before you have to rush off to work

  • The recently returned Paris — Nice night train is totally killing it, with an average of over 90% occupancy over the last few months. You make money when your train is 90% full.

  • Poland’s PKP train company is looking at bringing back the Paris — Warsaw night train in the next two years! Totally awesome, dude. This plus European Sleeper (of which I am a shareholder) is considering bringing in a Warsaw — Brussels — Ostend (Belgian seaside) night train too

  • Italy has ordered 70 new night train wagons for its trains that go to Sicily (involving rolling the train onto a ferry between the mainland and the island!)

  • The Berlin to Malmö (Sweden) night train has been up and running since summer, and has now been extended to Stockholm

  • Norway is looking at an Oslo — Copenhagen night train for around 2024 (the day train currently takes around 8 hours, i.e., most of a day)

  • The private Czech operator RegioJet is looking at a Berlin — Ljubljana — Zagreb for the end of next year! They’re also looking at Krakow — Zagreb.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that it’s Go Gadget Arms! again with night trains in Europe.

C’est fantastique!