Bad luck to those who would like to book city trips on the Nightjet trains: The Nightjet will stop running between Brussels and Berlin. From March 27th, the offer will disappear, according to the NMBS/SNCB international train travel website.

The reason for the discontinuation of the services is not given, but the competition has probably settled the battle. After all, you can still travel from Brussels to Berlin at night with the European Sleeper’s Good Night train.

Though competition

Austrian railroad company ÖBB launched the night train between Brussels and Berlin in December 2023 with three weekly round trips. It was initially planned to increase the frequency of the Nightjet to a daily connection from autumn 2024.

However, in October—after the connection had been suspended for 11 weeks due to railroad works in Germany—it appeared that it would not come to that: it remained at three connections per week, which were, in addition, given different departure days, the same as those of the Dutch Belgian competitor European Sleeper.

The competition seems to have settled now, with ÖBB throwing in the towel. The Nightjet between Brussels and Vienna, a connection that has existed since the early 2020s, will continue to run perfectly clear.

Is the Netherlands a better option?

Unlike Nightjet, which tracks to Berlin via Liège, Aachen, Cologne, Bonn, Koblenz, Mainz, and Halle, the European Sleeper has a route via the Netherlands. After departing Brussels, the train currently stops in Antwerp, Roosendaal, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Amersfoort, and Deventer before reaching Berlin.

Last March, the route was extended as far as Prague, including another stop in Dresden.

Pas de chiffres exacts

Exact figures on specific passenger numbers on the night train between Brussels and Berlin are unavailable. However, European Sleeper, which launched its Good Night train service to Berlin in May 2023, transported over 55,000 passengers across more than 260 services during its first year of operation.

It is estimated that the European Sleeper can usually hold 350 to 400 passengers, with additional carriages added during the peak summer season to accommodate up to 600 people.

In comparison, ÖBB Nightjet served approximately 1.5 million passengers in 2022 across its 20 European routes, including Rome, Milan, Venice, Paris, and Zagreb.