The new sleeper service that will reignite your romance with train travel
Lovers of the romance of rail travel have been celebrating the recent return of a sleeper train service linking the French capital and the Riviera after a gap of three and a half years. And with France this week (June 9) reopening its doors to fully vaccinated visitors from the UK, adventurous spirits may be tempted to hop on board and enjoy a more memorable way of getting to the Côte d’Azur.
The new night train has been priced competitively – from just €29 (£25) for a bunk in a couchette – and is part of a huge drive to restore many of the old sleeper routes axed by the state-run SNCF at the end of 2017. Back then, with fierce competition from low-cost airlines and high-speed day trains, sleeper trains were increasingly seen as an old-fashioned and uneconomical. But three years, one pandemic – and the ever-watchful eye of Greta Thunberg – have led to a dramatic rethink about the night train, now seen as both a more environmentally friendly and magical way to travel.
Passengers on the first train to make the 12-hour journey from Paris to Nice late last month included Jean Castex, the French prime minister, who helped with onboard announcements and confessed he had been a huge fan of sleeper trains in his youth.
President Macron, too, has given his blessing to the change of tack, agreeing a budget of €100 million for SNCF to bring back a total of 10 sleeper services over the coming decade – with routes to include Paris to the Pyrenean town of Tarbes and Paris to Vienna.
The French have drawn inspiration from Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), which with its Nightjet service has spearheaded attempts to keep sleeper trains running in Europe, taking over many of the routes similarly axed by the German operator Deutsche Bahn and adding new ones: Vienna to Brussels last year and Vienna/Innsbruck to Amsterdam last month.
They have also observed the success of night trains operated by Snalltaget in Scandinavia, which this summer launches a new route from Stockholm to Berlin, and central Europe, where private operator RegioJet had a surprise success last summer with a service linking Prague and Bratislava with Rijeka and the beaches of the Adriatic.
And there is more down the line. A new Belgian company with the name Moonlight Express is looking at a sleeper train linking Brussels, Liège and Berlin. “We want to bring back the magic in responsible and pleasant travelling,” Moonlight Express’s Louis De Jaeger told the International Railway Journal. “The train offers a great alternative for people who want to travel with a clear conscience.”
Few who have travelled on night trains are likely to describe them as boring. And for those wanting to recapture some of the romance of travel, a world of new adventures awaits. All aboard!
Details of European sleeper train services can be found on seat61.com. For more travel inspiration, see our guide to the best hotels in France.
