Another sleeper train from the Netherlands, and more are coming
Yet it is financially a story around the sleeping trains. As the wagons have to pass through several countries, with a lot of staff on board, the ticket prices are much lower than those of normal train journeys.
And then there is the discussion about subsidies. The NS sleeper train between Amsterdam and Vienna is sponsored annually with millions of euros, which does not apply to other sleeper train initiatives. Partly for this reason, a number of transport companies initiated proceedings against the NS. The companies to not have had a chance to make the night train concession to Vienna.
The Dutch Railways does not want to lose much about the subsidy. “It is not up to us to receive who will or will not receive a subsidy, that is decided by the government.” The carrier does say that their next sleeper train, to Zurich, will not be subsidized.
New destinations
Despite the subsidy issue, both NS and Green City Trip are positive about even more sleeper trains in the future. Although they do not want to anticipate which European destinations are yet.
Foreign sleeper train carriers are not so happy to continue to the Netherlands, because of the always located location, because of the NS. “We are always the start and end point. For a transit route, the Netherlands just doesn’t make much sense, which is the case in Germany, for example.”