Brussels-Milan night train will start in September

Night trains from Brussels to Switzerland and Italy will start running in September, rather than in June as initially planned, operators have announced.

The Belgian-Dutch railway company European Sleeper planned to launch these new connections on 18 June, but they will now be postponed due to major works being carried out on the German rail network and procedures that need to be completed in Switzerland.

“A high number of planned works in Germany during summer 2026 would not allow the service to operate with the required level of reliability,” the company said.

“Additionally, the certification process for Switzerland, a new country for European Sleeper, led the company to conclude that a September start would offer a more stable introduction of the route.”

The route will also be slightly modified. In Switzerland, the night train will not stop in Bern, but will instead pass through Zurich and Lugano, among other cities. In Italy, Como will be one of the stops before the terminus in Milan.

From 2027, trains are also expected to run from Amsterdam. The two trains will meet in Germany, where they will merge into one to travel to Switzerland and Italy. On the return journey, they will also split in Germany.

The night train will run three times a week in both directions, departing from Brussels-Midi at about 18.00 every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. For the return journey, the train will leave Milan at about 17.30 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving at Brussels-Midi at 11.10 the following day.

European Sleeper currently operates night connections between Brussels and Prague via Berlin. At the end of March, a Paris-Brussels-Berlin train will also be launched.

Ticket sales for the connection to Milan will start on 17 March 2026. Seats will start at €29.99 and bunks at €49.99 for a single journey.

European Sleeper describes itself as a 100% community-owned Dutch–Belgian railway company, fully focused on night train operations between major European destinations in response to the growing demand for international rail travel.

Its cooperative ownership model enables anyone to invest "and become part of Europe’s growing night train movement", it said.

European Sleeper is currently running a sharefunding campaign that gives individuals and organisations the opportunity to invest from €160. The company aims to secure a total of €1 million, with more than €730,000 already funded.