Brussels-Prague night train's future in doubt

Travellers hoping for an overnight train from Brussels to Prague next summer could be disappointed, as construction works, a complex timetable procedure in Germany and a lack of coordination between Germany and its neighbouring countries are casting doubt on the future of the overnight connection beyond June 2025.

European Sleeper, the route’s operating company, has not received the German data necessary for the planning of next year's timetable. This is not expected to be confirmed until just before the annual timetable change in June.

Without an overall view of the timetable, European Sleeper could be forced to discontinue its service, and passengers would lose the benefit of a direct connection linking Brussels to the Czech capital via Amsterdam and Berlin, with the train also stopping at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Dresden.

“Due to a lack of investment, there is a severe backlog on the track works,” said European Sleeper co-founder and chief executive Elmer van Buuren.

“The growing difficulties in finding timetable capacity, combined with the lack of coordination make adding even a single train to the network very challenging.”

European Sleeper operated a night train between Brussels and Berlin for the first time in May 2023. Since March 2024, it has been travelling to Prague three times a week.

From February 2025, a new sleeper train service will also link Brussels to Venice. The train will travel through the Netherlands, Germany and Austria, calling at Rotterdam, Utrecht, Cologne, Munich, Innsbruck, Bolzano and Verona.

Currently the average time taken to travel between the two cities by train is 20 hours, with the fastest possible journey 11 hours 40 minutes for the distance of 842km.