Bitter news: night trains to Paris will be discontinued!

Bitter news: night trains to Paris will be discontinued!

On October 3, 2025, a bitter decision will reach travelers in Vienna: the popular Nightjet connections between Vienna, Paris and Berlin will be discontinued. From December 14, 2025, there will no longer be night trains on these routes. The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) announced this in a press release on September 29, 2025, which is due to the failed government subsidies in France, which had previously amounted to around ten million euros annually. French state railway SNCF said operating night trains would not be economically viable without this support.

The route between Vienna and Paris, which has existed since 2021, as well as the Berlin-Paris connection, which only began operations in December 2023, were intended to symbolize the comeback of environmentally friendly night trains in Europe. While the travel time was around 15.5 hours for the Vienna-Paris connection and around 14.5 hours for the Berlin-Paris connection, the trains had an average occupancy rate of 70 percent. In 2024, the operators counted around 36,000 passengers on the route from Paris to Vienna. Despite this success, high operating costs, including personnel expenses and locomotive changes, made these lines unprofitable.

Impact on travelers and perspectives

The discontinuation of the two Nightjet lines represents a big change for travelers. The cheap seats for the trip to Paris were around 35 euros; There were also couchette cars and sleeping cabins that were particularly used for short trips. Many enthusiastic travelers in Vienna now have to resort to alternatives. Fortunately, the Nightjet connection between Vienna and Brussels will continue to exist in 2026, with this service running three times a week.

As ÖBB also announced, it will continue to invest in existing night train routes in the future and remains the largest provider of night trains in Europe. A daytime connection between Berlin and Paris will remain, which can be completed in around eight hours, but this route will not offer the overnight experience that many travelers valued.

The decision about night trains should not be viewed in isolation. French media reports that despite the high demand, such connections are economically challenging. Trains running during the day are far more profitable for rail operators, while night trains are often shut down during the day. ÖBB regrets the cancellation of the connection and is disappointed that the comeback of night trains did not last long.

For Germany Ticket holders, there are also changes to expect from the end of 2025 due to the restrictions on connections. That doesn't change the fact that ÖBB wants to continue to show a good hand in developing new night train concepts, while travelers will probably have to increasingly look for other travel options.