European Sleeper to launch night train between Paris and Berlin

A new night train service is set to launch between Paris and Berlin, with the first train operated by Dutch-Belgian rail company European Sleeper due to depart Paris's Gare du Nord for the German capital on Thursday.

The service will run three times a week between the two cities, with a journey time of around 16 hours.

From July 13, its only stop in Germany will be at Hamburg-Harburg station. The train will also stop in Mons, Brussels and Liège.

European Sleeper is taking over a route that the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) discontinued in mid-December due to the withdrawal of state subsidies from France.

That service, operated by ÖBB in cooperation with SNCF and Deutsche Bahn, ran via Strasbourg, Frankfurt and Erfurt.

There was significant protest against the discontinuation of the service, which had only been reintroduced two years earlier. European Sleeper then stepped in to connect the two cities.

The company already operates a service between Brussels and Prague via Berlin.

Night trains are in high demand as more people are once again opting for long-distance travel by rail and are not put off by long journeys.

However, state-owned rail companies still complain that these services are not profitable.

This is also due to the fact that night trains are left on the sidings during the day, whereas an Inter City Express (ICE), for example, travels back and forth on a route several times a day and is therefore more economical.

European Sleeper says that it operates on a cooperative ownership model. Project supporters purchase shares and finance the services.