The Nederlandse Spoorwegen or NS, the Netherlands‘ state railway, ordered 36 new Stadler Flirt Flex, Sprinter in NS terminology, trains for over €400 million. Unlike the current Sprinter trains, the ultramodern trains, named Flirt Flex, will once again have the classic yellow-blue NS livery. The first trains are expected to enter Dutch service in 2030.
Tag: Stadler
ITALY | Trains in Sicily
March 2025. We’re embarking on a train trip to Sicily. We fly from Brussels Airport to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport with ITA Airways. Then we take an Intercity Notte sleeper train by Trenitalia from Roma Termini Railway Station across Italy to Syracuse. Yes, the train is loaded on a ferry to cross the…
Leo Express wants night train service from Slovakia to Ostend, Belgium
Leo Express, a Czech railway operator, intends to introduce a night train service between Ostend in Belgium and Bratislava in Slovakia via Germany and Czechia from mid-December 2026; Thibault Lapers reports on his Mobilithib Substack. Leo Express notified the Czech Office for the Protection of Economic Competition (Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže) of its intentions.
TRI-COUNTRY TRAIN | Taking a peek at Heerlen and Aachen
After years of being in the pipeline, the (in)famous Tri-Country Train started running in the summer of 2024. Operated by Arriva and with NMBS / SNCB personnel on the Belgian side of the route, the Drielandentrein, Dreiländerzug or Train des trois pays connects Liège in the eponymous province in Belgium to Maastricht in the province…
Leo Express wants to operate trains from Ostend, Belgium to Bratislava, Slovakia from 2024 or 2025
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.
Tri-Country Train between Maastricht, Liège and Aachen delayed until spring 2024
The so-called Tri-Country Train that was to connect Maastricht in the Netherlands with both Liège in Belgium and Aachen in Germany from December 2023 is being delayed. The first trains will only start running in the first half of 2024, outgoing State Secretary for Transport and Water Management Vivianne Heijnen (CDA) reports to the Dutch…
SWITZERLAND | GoldenPass Montreux – Gstaad – Interlaken without changing at Zweisimmen thanks to dual-gauge trains
From 11 December 2022 the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) in Switzerland will offer a service from Montreux in canton of Vaud to Interlaken in the canton of Bern. This route, famously known as the GoldenPass Line, now requires a train change at Zweisimmen in Bern as the gauge differs. But new rolling stock will…
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