Inaugurated with great fanfare on December 11, 2023, the night train service between Berlin and Paris will be halted for several weeks starting August 12. The connection between Vienna and Paris has also been suspended. The suspensions are the result of critical work to be done on the French and German rail lines.

"Between August 12 and October 26, 2024, SNCF Réseau will be carrying out major work in France on the Epernay – Château-Thierry section which will prevent the optimal running of night trains. At the same time, other work will be taking place in Germany along the Berlin-Mannheim line, notably between Halle and Eisenach, which could lead to detours and longer travel times," said the SNCF, France's state-owned railway company, in a statement. It has also suspended connections between Vienna, Berlin and Brussels.

The night train, reintroduced by then-prime minister Jean Castex and championed by Clément Beaune when he was minister for European affairs before becoming minister for transportation, did not survive for long after the two men left the government. Nevertheless, Beaune emphasized this "high point for Europe and the environment" during the inaugural trip.

Companies promise to resume operations

No tickets have been sold for these trains, operated by the Austrian company ÖBB under its brand Nightjet, therefore the suspensions won't require any tickets to be refunded by ÖBB, SNCF, SNCB or Deutsche Bahn.

Meanwhile, the companies have been eager to voice their commitment to resuming operations. "The Nightjet partners (ÖBB, DB, SNCF Voyageurs and SNCB) believe in the future of night trains. There is a strong demand for night train travel in Europe, and ÖBB plans to continue investing in new and higher-capacity trains," said the SNCF, which lamented that "the operation of cross-border night trains presents many challenges for the railways."

These challenges also led start-up Midnight Trains, created in 2020, to throw in the towel and announce on June 1 that it was halting its venture – double setback for aficionados of slow and low-carbon travel.