ÖBB to expand night train services

Austria’s ÖBB is working with Deutsche Bahn (DB) to take over several night train routes following the German operator’s decision to drop the services.

From December 11, ÖBB will add six routes to its Nightjet network, including services with car and motorbike transport.

Routes include:

• Hamburg – Berlin – Freiburg (B) – Basel – Zurich
• Hamburg – Munich – Innsbruck (daily car and motorbike transport)
• Dusseldorf – Munich – Innsbruck (3 x weekly car and motorbike transport)
• Munich – Villach – Venice
• München – Salzburg – Villach – Florence – Rome
• München – Salzburg – Villach – Verona – Milan

ÖBB will work with DB, which announced plans to cancel its City Night Line services earlier in the year, to provide connections to Germany’s IC and ICE services.

ÖBB plans to invest €40 million in the procurement of 42 sleeper cars and 15 couchettes from DB. The cars will all be refurbished and gradually replace some of the older rolling stock.

Currently, around 1 million passengers use Nightjet trains each year. Through the expansion of its network, ÖBB hopes to bring in 1.8 million additional passengers a year.