The impending cancellation of night trains between the French capital, Germany and Austria has triggered numerous reactions. While a petition has already collected more than 75,000 signatures, almost one hundred citizens and politicians gathered in front of the Gare de l’Est station in Paris on Friday 3 October. Accompanied by the sound of cellos, the demonstrators called for this Franco-German connection to be strengthened.
Among them were sympathisers and politicians, including Karima Delli, former Chair of the Transport Committee in the European Parliament. She lamented: “We are falling behind in terms of European dynamics, because night trains are currently being expanded everywhere in Europe. The authorities need to understand that night trains are not a niche market, but a real alternative.”
The demonstrators are calling for the Paris-Berlin and Paris-Vienna night connections via Munich to be maintained and strengthened. The collective “Oui au train de nuit” (Yes to the night train) points out that these two trains should actually run daily and not just three times a week. According to the collective, a daily service would improve the financial balance and at the same time benefit the image of the operators in France, Germany and also in Europe.
This is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the Franco-German pairing in European rail transport: a locomotive that goes haywire instead of advocating a policy that facilitates the free movement of people in an exemplary manner.
David Belliard, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of transport and Green Party candidate for the municipal elections to be held in the French capital next year, was also present. He explained that “the night train must be a real alternative to the aeroplane: It is a comfortable means of transport that can become affordable. It’s a question of political choice.”
Democrat MP Frédéric Petit, who represents French people living in Germany, Austria and Central Europe, called on the government to “ maintainpublic support for the introduction of these rail routes and, above all, for the introduction of new, well-connected and adapted services with dynamic and appropriate marketing”.
Quotes
– David Belliard: “Paris must say yes to the night train, because the night train must be a real alternative to the aeroplane.”
– Frédéric Hocquard: “If we want to replace the aeroplane for travel within Europe, we need other transport options, especially the night train. ”
“The night train invents a different kind of tourism, slow tourism.”
– Karima Delli: “European citizens as well as French citizens want night trains, now it’s a question of political decision. Tomorrow we will also need connections like Paris-Barcelona, Paris-Malmö …”
To ensure that France continues to campaign for the reintroduction of night trains, “Oui au train de nuit” is calling on the citizens of Germany and all of Europe to sign the petition at agir.greenvoice.fr/p/berlin.
Some Background:
While France continuously subsidises inner-French night trains with up to 50% of the cost (offering quite affordable prices) the Paris – Berlin/Vienna train received a subsidy of only up to 10M per year for both destinations (Berlin and Vienna) only for the French part of the route and only as an incentive to start the operations. Obviously budget restrictions in France were one of the reasons but the other one were operation difficulties which could not be overcome. One of them was a length restriction in Gare de l’Est which the possible number of coaches to 12 and another one that two locomotives were needed to get in an out of the station and possibly a spare, in a station which hasn’t seen loco-hauled trains for a while.
For sure, demand was not the problem. The trains to and from Paris are among the first to be booked out, often just days after adding them in the booking platform. The demand was sufficient for ÖBB to increase the capacity by offering two separate trains from Berlin and Vienna (which currently run jointly between Mannheim and Paris). This would have allowed to add more cars to the two 6-coach trains and decrease shunting cost in Germany. However this was not possible due to limited track availability in Gare de l’Est, provided the two trains run on the same day, which seemed to be ÖBBs intention.
The French Government (and presumably passengers as well) would have preferred to increase capacity by switching to a daily service instead of the three service day schedule on which the connection was running so far. This was actually what was promised when the train started in December 2023. But this would more than double the capacity – from roughly 55.000 passengers per year to roughly 130.000 passengers per year for each leg (unless you shorten the 6 coach train which would make operations more expensive).
Demand for such an increase of capacity might not have been sufficient on a route which had only 1. M flight passengers on the Berlin-Paris route and 1.5 M passengers (including München) on the Wien-Paris route in 2023, when the night train service was already operational: To achieve an occupancy rate of 75%, OBB would have needed another 50,000 passengers for each train, An additional 3,3% of current flight passengers on the Wien-Paris route would certainly not be a deal-breaker: A shift of 10% of aviation passengers in total is considered possible under given circumstances in high income areas.
Even the 5% extra passengers on the Berlin-Paris route should be doable, in particular this might also attract passengers form the 9-hour day train connections. But this option involves certainly more risk than just adding more coaches and saving shunting cost. And neither it is particularly attractive for DB and SNCF, who run the day trains between Paris and Berlin. However, ÖBB has a policy of operating night trains together with their partners, in order to safeguard benevolence and technical support for operations on their home market – and no inclination to turn against them.
This night train might not need a 10 M € per year subsidy for good. The French government could have accepted a 3 day schedule as an interim solution that would have helped to reduce cost, and OBB could have arranged a schedule with alternating operation days that would not require additional capacity in Gare del’Est. On this base a reduction of the needed subsidy could possibly be reached. But this would need some political pressure on both sides to move.