A new Europe-wide organisation aims to influence European Union rail policy and fix long-standing international rail problems.
Tag: European Union
Nox night trains: a smart new cabin concept or just an unachievable dream?
Announced in June 2025, the Franco-German night train initiative Nox (Latin for ‘night‘) has drawn immediate comparisons with the defunct start-up Midnight Trains, which folded in 2024. Back-on-Track.eu’s Juri Maier weighs up the viability of Europe‘s latest night train start-up.
BELGIUM TRAVEL STATS | France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany most popular destinations in 2024
Triggered by a press release by Germany Travel, aka the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), aka Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus (DZT), let’s have a look at the most recent available travel statistics from travellers living in Belgium.
COPENHAGEN | Gefion Fountain – Little Mermaid – Langelinie
I turned 44 in June. I have this tradition – when possible – of not being in Belgium for my birthday. From Sweden in 2013 to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 2014, Lake Orta in 2015, Rome in 2016, London in 2018, North Carolina and Virginia in 2019, England in 2022, and Rotterdam…
QUESTION | Should you be stressed about travelling to Japan, and fear of missing out?
Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…
#CROSSCHANNELRAIL | Expanding UK-Europe train links most realistically leading to Switzerland
A new independent analysis has laid out the most comprehensive roadmap yet for expanding direct high-speed rail services between London in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. The #CrossChannelRail Final Report, published on 17 November 2025, is the result of an unusually detailed investigation that included visits to sixty-three stations across the continent, technical assessments…
Rail should be functional, not fine art: EU leaders call for standardisation and lower costs
European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) chief Oana Gherghinescu has called for a radical shift in how Europe builds, funds, and manages its railways, stressing that rail should be functional, standardised, and affordable — not fine art.
Subsidies for night trains? “You cannot fix this until someone builds more sleeper and couchette carriages”
“I’m so tired of these arguments about small pots of money (or not) for night train operations. You cannot fix this until someone builds more night train carriages”, independent railway commentator Jon Worth posted on Bluesky. That last sentence in all caps. “Because then we can start to run night trains that aren’t with knackered…
Italo targets the German high-speed rail market
Germany’s long-distance rail market is about to see a shake-up. After decades of dominance by Deutsche Bahn, Italian private high-speed operator Italo is preparing to challenge the ICE with its own trains.
European Commission wants to link all EU capitals by high-speed train by 2040… and that’s not going to happen
On Wednesday 5 November 2025, the European Commission unveiled a comprehensive plan to accelerate the development of high-speed rail across the European Union, offering passengers significantly reduced travel times. By boosting fast, comfortable, safe, and reliable rail services, the plan supports the EU’s twin goals of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 and strengthening Europe’s global competitiveness.