{"id":293641,"date":"2025-09-30T11:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=293641"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:04:50","slug":"its-goodnight-vienna-as-paris-sleeper-train-to-austria-and-berlin-hit-by-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=293641","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s goodnight Vienna as Paris sleeper train to Austria and Berlin hit by cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Night train services linking Paris, Berlin and Vienna are to end from mid-December because of the French government\u2019s withdrawal of funding, the Austrian national rail operator has said, in a blow to sleeper travel on important European routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d6BB, the largest provider of such trains in Europe<\/a>, has led a drive to revive a once popular form of low-emission transport as an alternative to flying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the French public cash crunch<\/a> has now deprived the service of a crucial lifeline, meaning it will be suspended before the year is out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to the discontinuation of government subsidies in France<\/a> from 2026 onwards, we are unfortunately forced to discontinue the Vienna\/Berlin-Paris (night train) connections from 14 December 2025,\u201d \u00d6BB said in a statement online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said its French partner SNCF \u201cwas informed by the transport ministry in Paris<\/a> that the public service orders for the operation of night trains between Vienna and Paris as well as Berlin-Paris will be suspended in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNight trains can only be operated with the participation of international partners,\u201d \u00d6BB added, saying it regretted the French withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state-owned rail operator said it would maintain its thrice-weekly Nightjet service between Vienna and Brussels next year, as well as on popular routes such as Vienna-Amsterdam and Munich-Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to invest in night train service with what will be 24 modern next-generation Nightjets, offering greater capacity and comfort on the existing routes,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u2018Night trains can only be operated with the participation of international partners,\u2019 said \u00d6BB.Photograph: Joe Klamar\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The French daily Le Monde had last week reported the looming demise of the night service between Paris and Vienna and Paris and Berlin, which had resumed in recent years after a long hiatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newspaper cited a decision taken over the summer by the French transport ministry to cut millions in subsidies after it received its 2026 budget guidelines from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe state as a shareholder requires us to be profitable, and we can only achieve this through considerable effort,\u201d it quoted an unnamed SNCF manager as saying. \u201cIt cannot require us to operate connections at a loss simply for the sake of a beautiful symbol, even if it would be a beautiful symbol.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some Nightjet services suspended from mid-December after French withdrawal amid public budget crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":293642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,94,47,13105],"tags":[5642,12021,18304],"class_list":["post-293641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-france","category-rail-news","category-sleeper-trains","tag-paris","tag-sncf","tag-vienna"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t