High-Capacity, No Dining Car: The New Paris-Berlin Night Train Reality

The new Paris-Berlin night train launching in 2026 will be a high-capacity affair, but passengers will need to bring their own dinner. European Sleeper, the Dutch cooperative taking over the route, has confirmed its new service will feature 12-14 dedicated coaches capable of carrying 600-700 passengers, a significant upgrade from the outgoing Nightjet. However, co-founder Chris Engelsman also stated that a dining car is “not from the start,” as the high rental and staff costs make it “difficult to break even.”
This new service, launching on March 26, 2026, is a direct response to the market gap created by ÖBB’s cancellation of its Nightjet services from Paris. The Austrian operator is pulling its Berlin and Vienna trains next month after the French government ended its subsidies, a move that sparked protests from activists. European Sleeper’s commercial, no-frills entry is being seen as a “partial victory” by these campaign groups.
The train will operate three times a week, leaving Paris Gare du Nord on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings, and returning from Berlin on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This reliable schedule aims to capture the existing market and, with its higher capacity, “extend the ridership” to new customers.
A key difference will be the train’s route, which is planned to go via Brussels. This is a departure from the Nightjet’s path through Strasbourg and Frankfurt. The new route, which is pending final confirmation with infrastructure managers, will create a new major overnight link between the French, Belgian, and German capitals.
The rolling stock will consist of German-rented coaches from the 1990s. This is an upgrade from the 1950s-era carriages the company uses on its Prague service and is said to be comparable in comfort to the Nightjet. The new service, therefore, represents a pragmatic compromise: the route is saved and capacity is increased, but the romantic notion of a full-service dining car has been sacrificed for profitability.