Skip to content
Home » News » Nightjet community in dialogue with ÖBB – A meeting at the Open Innovation Factory in Vienna

Nightjet community in dialogue with ÖBB – A meeting at the Open Innovation Factory in Vienna

Back-on-Track Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, photo: ÖBB / Lukas Bezila

The Nightjet operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) is the subject of constant discussion – including on social media. A very committed community has formed, which not only shows great interest in the Nightjet product, but also expresses its critical opinion. On 25 June, some members of this community were invited by ÖBB to the Open Innovation Factory in Vienna. Among the participants were also members of Back-on-Track Belgium (Alexander Gomme and others), Germany (Patrick Neumann and David Prenninger) and Switzerland (Sibylle Trenck-Germann).

Aim of the meeting: dialogue and feedback

ÖBB would like to enter into an open dialogue with the Nightjet community and listen to their thoughts and suggestions. Kurt Bauer, Head of ÖBB Long-distance Transport, opened the meeting with an introduction to the history of the Nightjet. The takeover of the night train business from Deutsche Bahn (DB) by ÖBB in 2015 within just 14 months was an impressive feat of strength.

Bauer particularly emphasised the commitment of ÖBB employees and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), without whom this success would not have been possible. The wife of an ÖBB employee even sewed the cushions for the launch of the Nightjet herself so as not to disappoint customers at the premiere.

The Swiss Federal Railways assumed the economic risk for the Swiss part of the routes, while the Austrian Federal Railways assumed their part. This shows that the segmentation of risk is, or can be, an accelerator for cooperation between the railways.

Current developments and challenges

The community was informed about current developments and future plans for the Nightjet. The current quality problems, which pose challenges for ÖBB, were also openly discussed: For example, the Vienna – Paris, Berlin – Paris and Berlin – Brussels routes will be paused from 12 August to 25 October 2024 due to extensive construction work.

The Munich – Rome and Vienna – Rome connections will also be cancelled for several months. Due to a route closure in Italy, these Nightjets will unfortunately not be able to run from 8 June to 9 September 2024 and will therefore be cancelled along the entire route as there are no alternative routes available. From 10 September 2024, the new-generation Nightjet with more comfort for passengers will then operate on the route. The Nightjets from Munich via Milan to La Spezia and from Stuttgart via Munich to Venice are not affected by a route closure and will continue to operate to Italy.

In future, ÖBB would like to focus on stability and improving product and service quality and increase capacity on existing routes.

Ideation workshop: developing solutions together

Together with ÖBB employees from the innovation department and product management, the participants took part in an ideation workshop. In three groups, they collected and discussed feedback from the community on the product and service quality of the Nightjet. Many current problems were addressed: What is going wrong? Why? How do you want to get these problems under control? What decisions have been made and why?

The Nightjet community and ÖBB employees, photo: ÖBB / Lukas Bezila

The focus is currently on the following challenges:

  • Cancellations of sleeper and couchette coaches due to repair measures
  • Delays and cancellations due to railworks and shunting bans
  • Lack of workshops at the respective destinations to repair defects
  • Delays in the delivery of new Nightjets
  • Regulations in international rail transport
  • Problems with real-time customer information
  • Deficits in the customer friendliness of service personnel
  • Lack of infrastructure such as electricity and waste water at some European destinations
  • Network expansion in cooperation with partner railways

Political influences and international cooperation

International political developments continue to have a major influence on decisions in the railway system, including the Nightjet. ÖBB would support SBB with Nightjets on the Zurich – Barcelona route. Switzerland, which is currently being held back by political interests and decisions on the issue of night trains, should lead the way here.

Conclusion and follow-up

By inviting the community to the Open Innovation Factory, ÖBB is demonstrating its willingness to listen and develop solutions together. The exchange was an important step towards further improving the quality of the Nightjet and taking the wishes and needs of travellers even better into account. ÖBB would like to organise the Nightjet Community Meetup on a regular basis in order to continuously collect feedback from the community.

The members of Back-on-Track are cordially invited to share their feedback in the respective groups.

Impressions of the Nightjet Community Meetup, photo: ÖBB / Lukas Bezila

1 thought on “Nightjet community in dialogue with ÖBB – A meeting at the Open Innovation Factory in Vienna”

  1. In new nightjets:
    – light switch on randomly at night. Siemens light panel should be replaced and bip signal eliminated (or made quiet)
    – sleeping carriages – except deluxe ones there is no matters, and it is tough. Can’t you add matters in the shape of sit/bed as it is really uncomfortable
    – water drainage should be improved in toilet as using mini shower you make a flood,
    – doors to the toilet could be more tin as they make huge noise,
    – it could be nice to specify on breakfast card time when to serve a breakfast (for example 30 mins brackets)
    – in Italy, Germany, France you could sign a cooperation so sleeping car passengers could have entry to lounge

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *