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TRAVEL NEWS

The big changes for train travel across Europe in 2024

Whether it be new 'nightsleepers' or eastward expansions, a whole host of new intra-European train routes and schedules are set to be launched in 2024. Here are the details thanks to The Man in Seat 61.

Published: 8 November 2023 17:41 CET
Updated: 27 December 2023 10:00 CET
The big changes for train travel across Europe in 2024
A passenger arrives to board the first Nightjet train between Vienna and Paris at the Central Station in Vienna, Austria on December 13, 2021. Photo: JOE KLAMAR/AFP.

If you’re a fan of so-called ‘slow tourism’, are worried about your carbon footprint, or just prefer train travel as opposed to flying everywhere, the coming year will offer some rather significant opportunities for you to travel around Europe.

In fact, 2024 is set to be a bumper year for railways around the continent, with a whole host of new, reintroduced or extended intra-European routes set to be launched, shortening journey times and opening up new travel possibilities.

READ ALSO: The domestic flights in Spain that could be cancelled to reduce emissions

Mark Smith, a former railway worker in the UK and widely accepted as the man in the know when it comes to all things train travel around Europe, has outlined some of the major changes to be aware of on his X/Twitter account.

For the train lovers among us, his website seat61.com is an near-encyclopaedic source of information if you’re trying to go between European cities using the railways. Here are the most significant changes to train routes and timetables around Europe as we head into 2024.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How Austria will expand train services in new timetable

The new ‘Nightjet sleeper’

2024 will see a new Nightjet sleeper service between Brussels-Berlin & Paris-Berlin operate 3 times a week from December 10th 2023, and will become a daily service from October 2024.

This provides a key east-west link, and will help with connecting journeys from Paris, London, and Brussels to Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow & Prague.

From December (of this year) the Nightjet will depart from Paris Gare de l’Est at 19:12 on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays, arriving at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 08:26.

The service will be operated by Austrian rail operator ÖBB, and according to Seat6, and the new (or rather, reintroduced) route will use an “air-conditioned Comfortline sleeping-car with nine 1, 2 & 3-berth standard compartments with washbasin and three 1, 2 or 3-berth deluxe compartments with shower & toilet.” 

Shared toilet and shower facilities can be found at the end of the corridor for passengers in non-deluxe compartments. Refreshments and breakfast will be served, and fares will start at €49.90 in 6-berth couchettes, €59.90 in 4-berth couchettes, €89.90 in a 3-bed sleeper, €109.90 in a 2-bed sleeper or €159.90 in a single-bed sleeper, all per person per berth, according to Seat61.

European Sleeper

The European Sleeper, which runs between Brussels/Amsterdam to Berlin, will be extended to Dresden & Prague from 25 March 2025. For the existing routes, prices for Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam or Amsterdam to Berlin by sleeper are:

From €49 in a seat, €79 with a couchette in 6-berth, €99 with a bed in 4-berth. From €109 with a bed in 3-bed sleeper, €129 with a bed in 2-bed sleeper, €159 with a bed in single-bed sleeper.

READ ALSO: What’s it like driving from Scandinavia to the UK with a young family?

Krakow connections

From December 10th 2023 there’ll be two Berlin-Krakow trains running, and there’ll be another new train to Krakow from Vienna. As Mark Smith at Seat 61 says, this Berlin-Krakow link opens up a number of new journeys. Brussels or Amsterdam to Krakow, for example, will become possible in a day.

Berlin to Krakow services will be run by EuroCity train, leaving Berlin Hauptbahnhof 16:52 and arriving at Wroclaw 20:53, Katowice 23:03 & Krakow Glowny 23:54.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on the rollout of the EU’s new ETIAS and EES travel rules?

There will also be a new train from Krakow to Vienna Hbf, departing 16:10 and arriving in Vienna at 21:34.

A second Vienna-Berlin-Hamburg ICE service will also begin in 2024, and the Warsaw-Vienna sleeper Chopin, currently also running to Graz, will be extended to Salzburg & Munich.

Seat61 says that a knock-on effect of the Brussels-Vienna Nightjet being combined with the Paris-Vienna one is that it will now cover Munich Ost & Salzburg en route (it currently goes via Nuremberg and Passau), so these two major destinations will be linked to Brussels in 2024.

Nightjet

The brand new Nightjet trains will go into service on Hamburg-Vienna & Hamburg-Innsbruck lines next year, with more routes to follow throughout 2024. Munich-Innsbruck-Verona EuroCity trains will start being replaced with new-gen Railjet trains starting in April 2024.

The Berlin-Vienna/Budapest sleeper will change its route in 2024, taking a more direct route to Poland through Prague.

From 2024, both Barcelona-Paris TGVs will be 1 hour earlier. 

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FRANCE WEATHER

Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

The final holiday weekend of May in France is set to be marked by bad weather and difficult driving conditions on busy roads.

Published: 17 May 2024 15:44 CEST
Thunderstorms, floods and traffic: France’s last holiday weekend in May 

Monday, May 20th is a holiday for most of France, marking the Christian festival of Pentecost, which means that many people will enjoy a three-day weekend.

This is the last of four public holidays in France in May 2024, now we need to wait until August for another extra day off work (since the Fête National on July 14th falls on a Sunday this year).

So what can we expect for the long weekend? Well, bad weather and heavy traffic, unfortunately.

The Moselle département, in north-east France, was placed on red weather alert on Friday after hours of heavy rain caused flash flooding.

The red weather alert initially runs until 9pm on Friday, with between 80mm and 100mm of rain expected, while between 70mm and 90mm are predicted in the far north of the neighbouring Bas-Rhin, with up to 70mm expected further south – figures national forecaster Météo-France said approached records for daily rainfall figures in the region.

Orange alerts in the area remain in place on Saturday.

Image: Météo-France

Rain and occasional storms, some bringing hail, are expected to develop across large parts of the country throughout the weekend, with only the Mediterranean areas likely to remain dry on Saturday.

Showers and sunny spells will continue into Sunday and Monday, with occasional thunderstorms in the south-west. Temperatures throughout the weekend should rise to between 15C and 22C.

To make family getaways on the final long weekend of the month even more difficult, roads watchdog Bison Futé predicts ‘difficult’, or ‘very difficult’ travel conditions on key routes across the country. 

Image: Bison Fute

On Friday, traffic is expected to be heavy on routes heading away from major cities towards popular holiday destinations until well into the evening – especially on Paris’s Périphérique and the A86 and A6B, the A7, along the Mediterranean Arc and on the Atlantic seaboard (A11, N165 and A63). 

The A13 is likely to remain closed to traffic between Paris and Vaucresson across the holiday weekend, so drivers from the Paris region wishing to reach Normandy are advised to take the A14, A15 or N12

On Saturday, May 18th, conditions on the roads will be difficult nationwide, particularly on roads serving the Mediterranean arc (A7 and A9) and the Atlantic coast (A63 and N165). In the Île-de-France region, traffic will be heavy from early morning onwards on the A6 and A10. From mid-morning onwards, traffic is expected to intensify significantly. 

Image: Bison Fute

Routes converging on the A10 and A6 could also see traffic problems on Saturday, Bison Futé warned.

No major forecastable traffic problems are expected on Sunday – but, on Monday, May 20th, short breakers will be returning home, leading to heavy traffic across the country, notably on A7 and A9, in the Mediterranean region, and routes serving the west of the country.

Traffic will be heavy on the A10 and A6 in the Île-de-France region from late morning into the evening. The A13, which should be open, could also experience traffic problems from mid-afternoon onwards, and could continue to do so well into the evening.

Across the country banks and public administration offices will close. Some independent shops may close, while larger stores and chains are more likely to be open, but probably with altered opening hours.

Most bars, restaurants and cafés will remain open while public transport will run as normal. 

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