‘Belgium’s approach to encouraging night trains should be emulated across Europe’
The Belgian measure in which night train operators will pay nothing for track access fees and energy over the next two years should be adopted across Europe, says ALLRAIL, which represents new entrants in passenger rail. The organisation celebrates the launch of European Sleeper last week, the “first ever – independently owned – scheduled long-distance rail operator to depart from Belgium”.
The First Ever Independent Scheduled Long-Distance Passenger Rail Service Departs from Belgium
A few days ago, history was made in Belgian passenger rail: European Sleeper was the first independently owned scheduled long-distance rail operator to depart from Belgium. Its new night train is commercially driven - not a Public Service Obligation (PSO) - and links Belgium, the Netherlands with Berlin in Germany.
Klart att SJ börjar köra nattåg till Berlin – konkurrenten kritisk
SJ har nu släppt de första biljetterna till nattåget som den 31 mars börjar gå till Berlin från Stockholm.
Samtidigt anser Snälltåget, som kör samma sträcka, att villkoren är orättvisa.
– SJ får statliga pengar för samma sträcka som vi kör, säger marknadschefen Marco Andersson.
SJ använder svenska skattepengar till orättvis konkurrens mot Snälltåget
Trafikverket bör ta ansvar för den av SJ nyligen aviserade offensiven mot det privatägda järnvägsföretaget Snälltåget. Det svenska statliga järnvägsföretaget SJ, har nämligen meddelat att man kommer att kopiera Snälltågets nattåg mellan Stockholm – Berlin, genom att förlänga sin, av svenska skattebetalare subventionerade nattågstrafik Stockholm – Hamburg till Berlin. Detta utgör en olaglig korssubventionering.
Europe must not return to night train services funded by unnecessary Public Service Obligations (PSOs)
On 15 December 2021, the well-known magazine Time Out revealed “the 22 best new things to do in the world in 2022”. Coming in at Number 17 is a new international night train service between Prague and Brussels that will be commercially viable, with an innovative concept that will attract new passengers to rail.
Why then are many state-owned rail incumbents lobbying for taxpayer subsidised Public Service Obligations (‘PSOs’) for international night trains instead – a repeat of the model that already failed around 10-15 years ago. Are memories really so short?