GoVolta wants tourist trains from the Netherlands to Berlin, Paris and Basel and from Antwerp to Germany

Recently, we read quite a few big announcements regarding trans-continental train travel in Europe. We love those, but we’re also apprehensive. Let’s take a look.

GoVolta, a daughter of the budget conscious travel agent Flywise and a sister of GreenCityTrip, has lodged a request with the Dutch Authority for Consumer & Market (Autoriteit Consument & Markt, ACM) to operate tourist trains from the Netherlands to Berlin in Germany, to Paris is France via Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium and to Basel in Switzerland.

GoVolta aims to offer a daily train to Berlin from 1 May and later also to Paris and Basel. With train tickets from 10 euros, GoVolta wants to offer cheap direct trains abroad.

GoVolta’s main goal is to provide an affordable alternative to air travel. That’s why GoVolta is all about convenience and affordability. In the press, initiator Maarten Bastian emphasizes that their ambition has always been to compete with the airplane. “People who travel with us have often never taken an international train journey or taken a train journey at all”; he says.

By plane, travelers are lured with low fares, but all kinds of costs are added, for example for luggage and choosing a seat. Flywise has deliberately copied this principle to the train. The company regularly came under criticism for this. Yet that was a conscious choice, in order to make ticket prices comparable with the plane.

Bastian: “Otherwise the plane is the cheapest, and people don’t choose the train. And that’s exactly what we want.”

You will also have to pay extra at GoVolta to reserve a seat. The previously mentioned 10 euro rate will be available to a very limited extent. Yet people do not have to fear that they will be lured with low rates, but will in practice face sky-high rates.

The intention is that an average return ticket to Berlin will cost an average of 50 to 60 euros, and to Paris around 80 euros.

Two classes

GoVolta trains will have two classes: Economy (2nd class) and Comfort (1st class).

Each train can accommodate 800 passengers. Which equals 4 to 5 planes. Each train will also have a restaurant or bistro car.

Some low-budget trains deliberately do not have this because of the high costs. And the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) intercity to Berlin will also temporarily no longer have a bar/bistro from December, until the new trains arrive in October 2024.

Bastian explains the choice: “We want travelers to be able to travel comfortably. Because of the travel time, travelers are not cramped as with budget airlines, and a restoration is also part of that.”

Slow

The trains will take approximately eight hours to both Paris and Berlin. The Eurostar does that in 3 hours and 20 minutes, but is much more expensive.

The journey to Berlin will be some two hours longer than the NS intercity. The train paths had already been allocated and GoVolta had to be squeezed in.

More trains in 2025

GoVolta wants to start trains to Paris, Berlin and Basel next year, but it won’t stop there.

By 2025, there should be direct trains to Munich and Copenhagen in Denmark, for example. GoVolta wants to offer direct trains for (mental) comfort of not missing a connection. Which is indeed sometimes a big challenge.

The intention is that there will be twenty routes and that 250 carriages will transport travelers every day.

Antwerp to Germany

The trains will not only run to and from the Netherlands, but a train from Germany to Paris and trains from Antwerp or Brussels to Germany are also being considered.

To make the trains a success, Flywise will, just like with GreenCityTrip, collaborate with various parties, such as TUI, Kruidvat and Albert Heijn. There are also partners in Germany. Although the train will compete with the NS intercity, cooperation is also being sought with the NS. The intention is that the new train services can soon also be booked via the booking platform (Benerail) with which NS International works.

Day train v night train

Flywise will therefore fully focus on the day train. But what happens to the night train?

Bastian: “The night train is a very difficult product to offer profitably. Major investments are required to modernize the current equipment. That is difficult to earn back.”

However, this does not necessarily mean that the night train is being completely abandoned.

“We work a lot with TUI, and they would also like to offer Italy by train. But that’s too far for the day train. That is why we are now looking at a night train with them to Venice.”

Whether this will actually happen should become clear soon. If this does not happen, it may also be the case that a night train will run to Prague in Czechia next year, just like this year.

Timetable Amsterdam – Berlin

The intention is that the train to Berlin will start running on 1 May 2024.

Timetable Amsterdam – Paris

The intention is that the train to Paris will also run in 2024, the exact date is not known, but the target is before or around the summer.

Timetable Amsterdam – Basel

The intention is that the train to Basel will also start running in 2024. The intention is that you can also travel to Basel for an average of 50 to 60 euros return.

That is without a seat reservation. It is not yet clear whether large luggage will be included in the price. This also applies to the other destinations.

Ambitious

Again, very ambitious. But not being a regular service, this could be more realistic. As usual: let’s wait and see. The train to Paris could be a nice addition for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

A train from Antwerp to Germany? Yes please, that would be great. Connections between Belgium and Germany aren’t great at the moment. We’ll have to see if all this comes to fruition.

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