Europe’s night trains face cut-throat competition from budget airlines.
Sarah and Sonia pile out of a rain-smattered train at Berlin Central Station, surprised they feel so rested after sleeping on Europe’s newest night train service, but also over an hour late.
“When you see the beds, they don’t look like the most comfortable ones,” says Sarah, a midwifery student from Belgium. But, pulling on their rucksacks after their journey from Brussels, the friends feel ready for a weekend of sightseeing.
They travelled with European Sleeper, a Dutch-Belgian startup whose launch in May is part of a renaissance of night train travel.