Four major European national train carriers are offering an alternative to air travel, an industry that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and has long been criticised for its ecological impact. The Czech carrier RegioJet has announced its support for the European initiative to develop overnight train services, and plans to further expand their overnight routes from next year. Photo credit: Dining Car (Cropped) via Wikimedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0.
Czech Rep., Dec 21 (BD) – Following the launch in early December of a project by several state-owned rail carriers (DB, ÖBB, SNCF, SBB – from Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland) on the future development of overnight services in Europe, Czech bus and train operator RegioJet has also committed to supporting a Europe-wide strategy for the development of overnight train services as “the most environmentally friendly alternative to air travel”.
The Czech-based company highlighted that “the Europe-wide strategy for the development of overnight services must include all customers and all carriers, public or private.” According to their data, RegioJet’s overnight trains currently carry around a quarter of a million passengers a year across the Czech Republic and Europe and operate without subsidies.
RegioJet plans to further develop its night train service in 2021. Today, the company is the main operator of night connections between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. “RegioJet will expand its night train service with direct train connections with Poland and Ukraine, and during the summer season it will also operate a night train connection from Prague and Brno to Croatia,” says the company’s official website.
RegioJet plans to negotiate the new connections with representatives of the City of Prague and intends to invest in additional train carriages for its night trains.
The four national carriers, DB, ÖBB, SNCF, and SBB, agreed to boost night trains with sleeper services at the beginning of December. The new train service will connect 13 European cities. The first trains on the new network will start operating in late 2021.
