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European Sleeper
Belgian-Dutch cooperative operating sleeper train services From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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European Sleeper (stylised as european sleeper) is a Belgian–Dutch cooperative[1] which operates a thrice-weekly open-access night train service between Brussels and Prague, with plans to expand to daily service in the near future.[2] An additional service linking Amsterdam, Brussels and Barcelona via France is planned but delayed until 2026 due to delays reaching agreement to operate in France.[3] A seasonal service linking Brussels with Innsbruck and Venice ran February and March 2025.[4]
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History
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European Sleeper was launched in 2021, with an announcement in April 2021 of a proposal to operate a sleeper train service between Brussels and Prague, with Czech operator RegioJet announced as a partner, providing rolling stock as well as hauling the service in Germany and the Czech Republic. The National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB) would be responsible for hauling the service in Belgium, and at the time an operator had not been selected yet to haul the service in the Netherlands. The service was expected to begin in spring of 2022, and a second service was slated to begin in December that year.[5]
Around the same time, Belgian startup Moonlight Express announced its intention to commence night train services between Berlin and Brussels, via Liège, with an expected commencement date of April 2022.[6] Having been announced at around the same time, coincidentally, both services from European Sleeper and Moonlight Express were also scheduled to begin at around the same time.
In May 2021, European Sleeper launched a crowdfunding campaign and managed to raise €500,000 in seed capital by selling shares in the cooperative to more than 350 small investors,[7] reportedly in just fifteen minutes.[8]
One month later, in June 2021, it was announced European Sleeper and Moonlight Express would join forces, with the combined entity taking up the European Sleeper name and pursuing the European Sleeper proposal of a Brussels to Prague route with a start date of spring 2022.[9]
A subsequent fundraising round was launched just before the summer of 2022, with €2,000,000 worth of shares sold to 1400 investors.[7] Around the same time, the company announced that the Brussels to Prague route would be indefinitely delayed, with no revised start date provided.[10]
The cooperative announced in December that the planned Brussels to Prague route would initially terminate in Berlin due to track capacity constraints imposed for 2023, with German authorities only permitting one long-distance train every two hours south of Dresden due to infrastructure works. The scaled-back route would commence operations on 25 May 2023 with a view to extending service to Prague to complete the original proposal in December 2023, dependent on whether track rights could be secured. The company said that its biggest challenge was that no sleeper coaches could be bought, and that the service would initially use leased rolling stock, eventually changing to a mix of new and refurbished rolling stock.[11]
Services commenced on 25 May 2023, with the inaugural service running from Berlin to Brussels arriving 45 minutes late. Deputy Prime Minister and Mobility Minister of Belgium Georges Gilkinet met the service at Brussels South on its arrival on the morning of the 26th and saw off the train on its return leg to Berlin that evening.[12]
In June 2023, a third fundraising round for €3 million of growth capital[13] was announced, which will open on 21 June and be available to both new and existing investors, who can invest at a starting price of €250, with shares worth €3 million to be issued. The cooperative announced it would be the last fundraising opportunity for some time. Funds raised would go towards enabling technical integrations to sell tickets through additional sales channels, hiring a dining car for the existing service, preparing service expansions to Prague as well as the proposed services between Amsterdam and Barcelona and ordering new rolling stock. At the same time, the cooperative announced it had sold 10,000 tickets for its existing Berlin-Brussels service,[14] with expectations that €5-6 million worth of tickets would be sold by the year's end. It also announced that Interrail and Eurail passes would be able to be used on services from 1 July, with reservations able to be made from 12 June.[13]
In April-June 2025 it raised €1.5 million in 3-year loan stock at 8% interest, and also attracted some donations. In August 2025 it will offer a further €1.5m of shares for sale.
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New services
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In June 2022, a partnership with tour operator Sunweb Group was announced, with plans to start new night train services between the Netherlands and French ski resorts by the summer of 2023, and an extension to Southern France the following year.[15] In November, it was announced by the two parties that these plans would be put on hold, citing difficulties in securing rolling stock, track access rights and an operator for the services.[16]
European Sleeper's proposed service from Amsterdam to Barcelona was selected in January 2023 as a pilot project as part of the European Commission's efforts to improve cross-border rail service and encourage ther opening of new links. It joins two other night train proposals from Snälltåget and Midnight Trains.[17]
In August 2024 European Sleeper announced a new seasonal service that would connect Brussels with the Austrian Alps and Venice in February and March 2025.[4] It would be joined by the cooperative's new dining car which launched on the Brussels-Prague route on 1 October 2024, offering a reservation-only restaurant in the evening followed by a walk-in bar open late. This has since been a feature of some but not all Brussels-Prague services. Soon after, in September 2024, the cooperative confirmed that the proposed Barcelona service would be delayed until at least 2026. Co-founder Chris Engelsman put the blame for this squarely with French infrastructure managers SNCF Reseau, describing the issues as "partly understandable but also partly incompetence”.[3]
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Service
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European Sleeper's main service operates between Brussels and Prague. It commenced operations on 25 May 2023, initially between Berlin and Brussels,[2] before being extended to Prague from 26 March 2024.[18] The service is thrice-weekly, with trains from Brussels to Prague via Amsterdam and Berlin leaving on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and trains from Prague to Brussels via Berlin and Amsterdam leaving on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.[19]
In an article in The Sunday Times about the inaugural Brussels to Berlin service, travel writer Kate Leahy commented, "Orient Express-style luxury this is not,"[20] but concluded it was "undeniably an adventure."[20] The Man in Seat Sixty-One praised the friendly staff, beds and meals provided.[21]
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Rolling Stock
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The company was suffering from the general scarcity of sleeping cars in Europe, but at the end of 2022 it announced that it could rent sufficient equipment. European Sleeper uses several second-hand carriages, which were originally built between 1960 and 1980. All these carriages were renewed between 1990 and 2010 by various national railway companies, such as Deutsche Bahn (Bvcmz 248.1, 248.3) and ÖBB (WLABm)
Between May 2023 and March 2024, the train usually consisted of the following carriages:
- one or two CIWL type P (AB30) sleeping cars, leased from TRI
- several 27.5-metre-long couchette cars of type Bcmh with two comfort compartments in the middle of the car, leased from GfF or WAGON SERVICE s.r.o.
- one or two couchette carriages of type BDcm with space for 20 bicycles, rented from TRI, so that one bicycle can be taken along from June to August.
- one or two seating carriages of type Bo(d)mz, rented from TRI[23]
From March 2024, European Sleeper will lease newer couchette cars of type Bvcmz 248.1 and Bvcmz 248.3 from the German carriage rental company Euro Express Sonderzüge from Münster. These carriages have compartments with five beds and air conditioning. [24]
a bistro car (ARkimmbz 288.5) of the TRI is also used sometimes during a trial period for Fall/Winter 2024/25 but as of summer 2025 currently doesn't operate
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References
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