A night train linking Berlin and Paris will return in December, nine years after the service was canceled, Austrian rail operator OeBB said on Wednesday, September 6. OeBB has been a pioneer in bringing back night trains as Europeans look for low-carbon travel alternatives.
"The service will start on December 11 from Berlin with three trips per week before becoming a daily service in October 2024," said OeBB spokesman Bernhard Rieder. The trains will make stops in Strasbourg, Mannheim, Erfurt and Halle.
OeBB will make Mannheim a hub for night trains, where its Brussels-Vienna and Paris-Vienna services also make stops.
Passengers heading from Brussels and Paris to Berlin and Vienna will board different carriages on the same train, with the carriages rearranged in Mannheim to travel to their destination. The same will happen in the other direction.
The Austrian, French and German rail companies first announced plans to resurrect the service in December 2020. Deutsche Bahn confirmed the resumption of service in December while France's SNCF did not comment.
France and Germany also plan to introduce a fast train service between their two capitals from the end of 2024.