A night train service from the Netherlands and Belgium to Barcelona in Spain? Not before 2027. European Sleeper has revised its timeline. 

European Sleeper wanted its night train from the Low Countries to Iberia to launch in 2025, but that turns out to be too ambitious. 

Due to “significant challenges”, the company announced in September 2024 that the service would have to be pushed back to 2026. ES blamed the French at SNCF Réseau. Now CEO Chris Engelsman tells RailTech the year 2027 is more realistic. 

“Our Amsterdam-Barcelona project has been selected as one of the ten pilot projects by the European Commission aimed at promoting international passenger transport”, Engelsman says. 

Engelsman singles out two main challenges. Securing a suitable timetable in France and addressing the current shortage of night train carriages.

European Sleeper desperately needs 30 to 35 extra carriages. Even now, essential rolling stock is now missing. Sleeper cars are taken off the train for repairs, leaving passengers to downgraded. 

Downgrades

Trustpilot and Reddit collects mixed reviews and shows accounts of downgrades. 

“Truly a disappointing experience. About 4 days before the trip they told me they had no sleeper car and I was rebooked in to a 5 person couchette. Then 2 days before they told me the train was leaving an hour earlier causing me to rebook my Eurostar service. They have refused any reimbursement of the rebooking cost and just EUR50 for the downgrade. The food in the dining car was poor and it was full of drunk passengers shouting. My carriage had two middle aged British families getting more and more drunk and more and more loud”, Mark Beattie says on Trustpilot. 

“I also received the “downgrade” email yesterday before boarding a flight to Brussels today specifically to grab this train so my kids could experience a sleeper train. European Sleeper customer support told me I would now be sharing a cabin with othersI even though I booked a private cabin before the downgrade) so I canceled the train and booked very expensive 1 way flights to Prague because I am too old to share a cabin with my kids and 2 strangers. I would NEVER book this again, what a hassle and a last minute, expensive scramble for nothing”, Illustrious_Cry_8595 wrote six months ago on Reddit. 

It must be said European Sleeper responds to reviews on Trustpilot. Kudos for that.

Challenges there to stay

“Despite the outpouring of demand for sustainable long-distance travel, the night train market remains difficult to conquer. Private companies like European Sleeper have struggled to secure government financing and suitable rolling stock. Meanwhile, the problem of navigating infrastructure access and complex cross-border regulations persists. That’s especially the case when SNCF is focused on its own domestic services, while it also has its own subsidiary running night trains, essentially putting it in direct competition with European Sleeper”, Thomas Wintle of RailTech writes. 

We’ll see

Actually, we are due to travel on European Sleeper next week. So far, we received no email telling us we’re being downgraded. But in the meantime we’re looking at alternatives. Better be prepared. 

More on the European Sleeper

• Do engineering works in Germany’s railways block European Sleeper from operating night trains from Brussels to Prague?.
• European Sleeper night train service from the Netherlands and Belgium to Barcelona delayed to 2026.
• European Sleeper introduces a new night train to the Austrian Alps and Venice in 2025.
• European Sleeper aspires to run night train to the Alps and Venice during 2025 ski season.
• European Sleeper adds dining car to Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague night train.
• European Sleeper finally connects Belgium and the Netherlands to Berlin, Dresden and Prague.
• European Sleeper serving Dresden and Prague from 2024, targets Barcelona from 2025.
• European Commission supports 10 pilot projects for cross-border train travel, but Back On Track Belgium calls out key weakness.
• EUROPEAN SLEEPER | ‘The Good Night Train’ Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin starts on 25 May 2023.
• Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague RegioJet / European Sleeper night train service delayed.
• NIGHT TRAINS TO BERLIN | Stronger European Sleeper effectively takes over Moonlight Express.
• Moonlight Express and European Sleeper join forces under the brand European Sleeper.
• Not only Prague: RegioJet European Sleeper preparing Ostend – Warsaw night train.
• The couchette and sleeping cars for the Ostend – Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin – Prague European Sleeper by RegioJet.
• European Sleeper announces Berlin and Prague as destinations.
• European Sleeper to launch night train services from the Netherlands and Belgium in April 2022.

More on night trains and transcontinental train travel

• Arriva Tri-Country Train between Maastricht, Liège and Aachen will start on Sunday 9 June 2024 without OV-chipkaart.
• EU train travel report sees increase in cross-border passenger trains and easier bookings.
• ‘Hotel on rails’ Midnight Trains announce end of project before it actually started operations.
• Slow(er) Eurocity Brussels – Mons – Paris for Olympic and Paralympic Games in July and August 2024.
• Brussels to Luxembourg by train under 2 hours by 2030?.
• GoVolta wants tourist trains from the Netherlands to Berlin, Paris and Basel and from Antwerp to Germany.
• Heuro wants to operate high speeds trains between Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and London from 2028.
• Eurostar and five more train operators joined the European Agreement on Journey Continuation.
• ÖBB’s new Nightjet sleeper cars accommodate solo travellers with Mini Cabins.
• Trenitalia orders new Hitachi Frecciarossa trains suited for France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
• ÖBB’s Nightjet to connect Berlin to Brussels from December 2023.
• EUROCITY EC-8 | Basel to Cologne in SBB’s Panoramic Car.
• Trenitalia / FS confirms interest in connecting Spain to Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin.
• Deutsche Bahn and Trenitalia want piece of Amsterdam – Brussels – Paris HST service via subsidiaries Arriva an Qbuzz.
• SNCF and NMBS / SNCB to link Paris to Brussels with ‘slow’ classic train in about 3 hours from December 2024.
• Sampling NS’ new train and future Benelux rolling stock ICNG.
• REVIEW | Trenitalia Frecciarossa 1000 Paris – Milan in Business Executive.
• RAIL TOUR OF EUROPE | How easy is touring Europe by train?.
• Eight train connections between the Netherlands and Belgium by 2030?.
• REVIEW | ÖBB Nightjet Amsterdam – Zurich night train.
• European Commission wants booking train tickets to be as easy as booking flights.
• Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.
• Why the expensive ÖBB Nightjet is really not that expensive.
• Reliving the era of the great railway journeys, travelling overnight on Nightjet.
• How we plan a big rail trip.
• Ticket Distribution: the failure of railways to sell themselves.
• To use night trains in Portugal and Spain or not?.
• Night trains in Europe.
• Low-cost, long-haul trains to conquer Europe?.
• Fly now before it’s taxed and consider using the train instead.