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Switzerland to expand night train links to Rome, Barcelona and Amsterdam

Switzerland’s federal transit authority (SBB) has announced plans to expand its night train connections with Barcelona, Amsterdam and Rome.

Published: 16 September 2020 09:37 CEST
Switzerland to expand night train links to Rome, Barcelona and Amsterdam
The Nightjet is the largest night train network in Europe. Photo: ALEX HALADA / AFP

Currently boasting six lines, the network will be expanded to ten lines linking Switzerland with major destinations in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. 

Known as the ‘Nightjet’, it is the largest night train network in Europe, reports Swiss daily 20 Minutes. 

It currently serves 11 destinations across the continent: Berlin, Zagreb, Vienna, Ljubljana, Hamburg, Budapest, Hanover, Graz, Prague, Linz and Potsdam. 

 

 

The expansion plan is a joint effort between the SBB and Austria’s federal railway body (ÖBB). 

The first expansion step will begin in 2021 and will link Zurich, Basel, Frankfurt, Cologne and Amsterdam. 

REVEALED: Where are Switzerland’s best and worst train stations?

Leipzig and Dresden will be added on the connection between Berlin and Prague from 2023. 

The plans are set to be finished by 2024. 

The expansion will also involve the construction of new trains. 

“We are investing in new trains, 13 Nightjet sets of the latest generation will be in use from the end of 2022”, said Andreas Matthä, CEO of ÖBB, in a press statement. 

This is how Europe's Nightjet train service will operate from 2024. Image: SBB

With financial support from climate funds

The money for the expansion came from the Swiss Climate Fund, with parliament in early September approving the expansion. 

The SBB has emphasised the environmental benefit of night trains in comparison with other modes of transport. 

“Night trains have a clearly demonstrable impact on the climate, as they shift travel from planes, cars or buses to trains,” the SBB said. 

READ: New Swiss Alps tunnel set to transform Europe's rail links 

According to calculations completed by the SBB, an approximate 50,000 tons of CO2 will be saved by using night trains – approximately 30,000 cars.

SBB CEO Vincent Ducrot said that Europe would again embrace night trains as an environmental friendly and convenient solution. 

“This development is sustainable and the demand for environmentally friendly and resource-saving mobility will continue to grow,” Ducrot said.  

 

 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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