October 14, 2024, 4:51 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
Boarding in Hamburg, Berlin or Stuttgart and waking up in Budapest or Paris in the morning? Night train travel can be great – but a random sample by the ADAC still reveals problems. What are the issues?
For longer rail journeys, the night train is an obvious option – board in the evening and wake up at your destination in the morning. At least in the best-case scenario. Even supporters and industry experts say that there is room for improvement when it comes to this comparatively environmentally friendly form of travel. A recently published ADAC check of night trains in Europe comes to a similar conclusion.
Overview
Night train travel is becoming more popular
According to a survey commissioned by the ADAC, the willingness to travel by night train is definitely there: 42 percent of the about 2000 respondents aged 18 and over stated that they had not yet traveled by night train, but could imagine doing so in principle. Among younger people aged between 18 and 39, the proportion was particularly high at 52 percent.
A good three in ten respondents (29 percent) had traveled by night train a long time ago – the proportion was significantly higher among people aged 40 and over. One explanation could be that DB used to operate night trains itself, but stopped doing so in 2016. Today, night trains in Germany are mainly operated by the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, ÖBB). There are also providers such as European Sleeper, Snälltåget and car trains such as Urlaubs-Express.
According to the Nordlight Research survey, just under four percent of respondents have traveled by night train in the past twelve months, mainly younger people. The survey was conducted online between the end of March and the beginning of April.
This is how the ADAC night train test went
According to the ADAC, it planned and booked 21 exemplary city connections via various online portals in May of this year. These were from seven German cities with – according to the ADAC – “user-friendly night train services”: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Dresden, and Hanover.
The destinations were a dozen attractive European cities, mainly in Central and Western Europe, such as Paris, London, Barcelona, Rome, Stockholm, and Amsterdam. They looked for offers with the outward journey on a date in early summer and with the possibility to lie down.
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The results
Good connections, but …
The results showed that there are some good direct connections. For example, from Berlin to Vienna in just over 11 hours or from Stuttgart to Budapest in just under 13 hours. In addition, there were also quite comfortable connections with one change – the ADAC defined these as journeys with a long-night train section and a change to another train not before 6.30 in the morning. In most cases, the changes were even after 8 a.m., so you didn’t have to leave super early. This included, for example, a connection from Munich to London with just under 10 hours of overnight trains and a total journey time of just under 12 hours.
All in all, the ADAC found two-thirds of the connections to be good or attractive in terms of time. Prices ranged from around 55 to 250 euros.
Different results and pricing policies
The transport club sees the lack of a standardized booking platform for cross-border tickets as a major problem. Online research and the comparison of travel times, prices, or comfort categories are often confusing and very time-consuming. “We are still a long way from having a Europe-wide booking portal where you can easily do everything,” said rail expert Sebastian Wilken recently. Not all major rail companies have integrated the platforms.
For its check, ADAC used the Deutsche Bahn (DB) booking portal as well as the Trainline and Rail Europe platforms. Insights:
- For a route from city A to city B, the three platforms sometimes provided different or far too complicated connections.
- A successful search does not guarantee a booking, because often no ticket is available for a selected connection – either the trains are already fully booked or they are no longer displayed.
Another point of criticism: the price information on the portals, which also varied. A ray of hope: On DB, the cheapest offers were also displayed for three quarters of the inquiries, and on Rail Europe for half of them. This shows that it pays off to compare.
An interactive map from the Back-on-track.eu initiative, which shows existing connections between cities similarly to a public transport route map, provides guidance on night train services in Europe. By clicking on the relevant route, you can find details about the connection: frequency, stops, train number, and operating railroad company.
The ADAC’s conclusion on night train services in Europe
The club draws a mixed conclusion from the random sample: there are not enough direct connections from Germany, some trains are comparatively expensive, and, above all, the connection search on the Internet is inconvenient.
One of the ADAC’s demands: the European night train service should be “expanded with more additional and direct connections and equipped with more affordable couchette options”.
The question remains: Why does an automobile club like the ADAC actually check rail connections? It supports its members in their holistic mobility – and today that goes far beyond driving a car, a spokesperson said.
With material from dpa