European night trains are slowly making their comeback in Europe. They are one of the solutions to shift passengers from air to rail. Nevertheless, the night train business model suffers from structural and regulatory disadvantages compared to planes. As a result, it is often more expensive for passengers to travel by rail for the same distance, despite the low-carbon impact of this transport mode. Years of underinvestments have also reduced the comfort and the availability of rolling stocks.
T&E and Back-on-Track Europe have shown in their 2023 briefing how the EU and Member States can easily reduce the price of a cross-border night train ticket and push for the creation of new lines by reducing the value-added tax (VAT) and the track access charges (TAC).
T&E wants the EU to table a thorough strategy to facilitate night trains development to remove the interoperability barriers between Member States and reduce the cost of operating night trains.
