Night train to Switzerland and Italy will soon stop in Antwerp
European Sleeper's new night train service connecting Brussels to Switzerland and Italy will be rerouted via Antwerp and the Netherlands from the end of this year. The Dutch-Belgian railway company announced the change on Tuesday.
The service launches on 9 September. In the first few months, trains will run from Brussels via Liège and Aachen to Cologne, continuing through Switzerland, with stops including Zurich and Lugano, before reaching Italy at Como and Milan.
From December, however, the Brussels-Cologne leg of the route will change. Rather than passing through Liège and Aachen, trains will call at Antwerp and the Dutch cities of Breda and Eindhoven. The Swiss routing will also be adjusted: instead of Zurich, the train will stop in Aarau, described as "a more centrally located station about half an hour from Zurich."
Amsterdam connection from 2027
The night train will operate three times a week in both directions. In 2027, a second service is expected to depart from Amsterdam, with the two trains coupling in Germany before continuing south, and uncoupling in the opposite direction.
European Sleeper said in March that the route "creates a crucial new north-south link at European level." The company added that the service is aimed at both leisure and business travellers, "efficiently connecting a number of key European economic and cultural regions in a single night."
The Belgian-Duth cooperative currently runs night trains from Brussels via Amsterdam to Berlin, Dresden and Prague, and from Paris via Brussels to Berlin. Austrian railway company ÖBB operates a separate night train service between Brussels and Vienna.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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