{"id":1033,"date":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/1033\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","slug":"skip-the-flight-take-the-night-paris-berlin-sleeper-makes-a-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/1033\/","title":{"rendered":"Skip the flight, take the night: Paris\u2013Berlin sleeper makes a return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BERLIN, March 29 \u2014 The first service on a revived night train between Paris and Berlin arrived in the German capital on Friday morning, winning plaudits from its passengers.<\/p>\n

Among them was 25-year-old French student and train enthusiast Victor Falzon, who had long dreamed of visiting Berlin but was reluctant to fly for environmental reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw that a new line was opening, we said to ourselves: \u2018This is the moment!\u2019\u201d he told AFP after stepping off the train at Berlin\u2019s Central Station.<\/p>\n

The new service has been launched without public subsidy by the Dutch-Belgian European Sleeper company, founded in 2021.<\/p>\n

It replaces the Paris-Berlin night train which started with great fanfare in late 2023, in a joint venture by the French company SNCF, Germany\u2019s Deutsche Bahn, and Austria\u2019s OeBB.<\/p>\n

That service was suspended in December 2024 after the French government ceased a 10 million euro ($11.5 million) subsidy for the line, rendering it unviable.<\/p>\n

The collapse of the previous night train route between the two capitals prompted \u201cpyjama protests\u201d at several European stations.<\/p>\n

Little wonder then that train buffs have welcomed the new service so warmly.<\/p>\n

Falzon remembered with a smile that \u201cevery time we pulled into a station, people were waiting for us with flags\u201d.<\/p>\n

What with the scenery rolling past and the excitement of the trip, he and his friends \u201chad trouble falling asleep\u201d.<\/p>\n

Falzon admitted that the cabin was \u201ca little cramped\u201d with five passengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s the train vibe!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u2018More sustainable\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ulrike Jendrezok, 55, was on her way back home to Germany after a Paris stay with her two children and told AFP the journey was \u201ccomfortable and straightforward\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had dinner, talked and played games, then made up the beds late at night, and we slept well,\u201d said Jendrezok, a doctor.<\/p>\n

She had rushed to book tickets as soon as sales opened for her very first night-train trip.<\/p>\n

\"(From <\/p>\n

(From left) Co-founder of the \u2018European Sleeper\u2019 train, Elmer van Buuren, managing director of \u2018Visit Berlin\u2019 Sabine Wendt and co-founder of \u2018European Sleeper\u2019 Chris Engelsman stand with a sign after the arrival of the European Sleeper night train from Paris in Berlin, on March 27, 2026. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

In low season, one-way fares start at \u20ac39.99 (RM184.78) for a seated ticket and \u20ac59.99 (RM277.19) for a couchette.<\/p>\n

At peak travel times in summer, the train will run with 14 carriages, carrying up to 700 passengers.<\/p>\n

While the old SNCF service ran via Strasbourg, European Sleeper has opted for a route via Brussels, hoping that this will prove more profitable.<\/p>\n

One of European Sleeper\u2019s two co-founders Chris Engelsman told AFP that \u201cthere is much more demand\u201d from the Belgian capital in comparison to Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

With Middle East war sending energy costs soaring, Engelsman says that train travel on such routes may prove to be the \u201cmore sustainable\u201d option in both an economic and an environmental sense.<\/p>\n

European Sleeper is financed by a community of over 6,000 investors, with shares starting at \u20ac160 (RM739.21), and hopes to break even by the end of 2026, Engelsman said.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The European Sleeper from Paris to Berlin returned to service on March 27, 2026, 15 months after stopping its run in December 2024 when the French government stopped subsidising the night train. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

One of the investors, 54-year-old Briton Zoe Falk, was also on board on Friday, having travelled from the United Kingdom on the Eurostar.<\/p>\n

Armed with her folding bike, she said she planned to enjoy Berlin\u2019s historic sites and \u201cmany vegetarian restaurants\u201d.<\/p>\n

European Sleeper already runs another service linking Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, and Prague three times a week.<\/p>\n

Tickets are on sale for an upcoming third line running from Brussels to Milan via Cologne.<\/p>\n

The company is also planning a Brussels-Barcelona route, which is not expected to go via Paris but \u201cprobably via Avignon, Montpellier and Perpignan,\u201d said Engelsman. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN, March 29 \u2014 The first service on a revived night train between Paris and Berlin arrived in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,860,857,858,856,859],"class_list":{"0":"post-1033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-chris-engelsman","10":"tag-european-sleeper","11":"tag-night-train","12":"tag-paris","13":"tag-victor-falzon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}