“The creation of Nightjet from a PR perspective was so successful because a railway was willing to take full ownership of a brand and customer experience. Until then, the passenger experience was totally fragmented with coaches from several railways making up a train. It was not clear what you purchased, what the service standard would be, what breakfast you would have.
“For the first time, we had an opportunity to become a European player in the passenger market. We didn’t run franchises abroad like NS or Trenitalia. We had a realistic chance to become a European player, and this brought so much energy throughout the railway from management to cleaning staff. It suddenly became the most important product of ÖBB.”
The launch of Nightjet was helped by the flygskam (flight shame) movement, which started in Sweden in 2017 and quickly spread through northern Europe. Swedish Railways sold 1.5 million more tickets in 2018 than the previous year.
In April 2020, Air France’s €7 billion (£6bn) pandemic bailout was conditional on the cessation of most flights that competed with TGV services.
But Bauer regrets that the European Commission, although wanting to encourage rail transport, does not address the most important issues.
“We need a level playing field, and we do not have that in Europe. Airlines pay no fuel tax - we pay all the taxes and VAT. Buses don’t pay tolls on Germany highways.
“We shall need PSO on some international services until we have an external world where it can be done competitively. My vision is that we don’t need PSO, and I believe it will have to come on a European level. Minor things would help: the track access charges that we pay for night trains are such a tiny part of all infrastructure revenues that business managers wouldn’t even notice their abolition, yet it would transform the economics of Sleeper trains.
“As for keeping costs down, we really look into how many staff we need at different times of year. We have disposed of old rolling stock with high maintenance costs, and built a more homogeneous fleet to standardise maintenance.
“We have invested in a unique yield management system. This is relatively easy for day trains, but there are so many options on night trains - sleeping, couchette, sitting, and various-sized compartments - that it can drive you crazy. The product is so complex that you need advice in purchasing a ticket. We have worked hard on our website to give a clear idea of what you get for your money.
“I think a game-changer for economics will be the new capsule coaches, like Japanese capsule hotels. ”
Built by Siemens Mobility, the key feature of the new Sleeper carriages is the accommodation of passengers in capsules instead of ordinary compartments.
Each capsule, known as a MiniSuite, has sliding doors to provide a high level of privacy. It is also equipped with a monitor, reading lamp, charging facilities, coat hook, and a pocket for storing personal belongings to offer a comfortable trip.
There are four capsules in each compartment, located on two floors, and capsules on the same floor can be paired by opening a sliding roller at the head. Each compartment has a special area to store outer clothing and baggage.
Says Bauer: “People don’t want to share. A Sleeper is easy to sell and so is seating, but couchettes are difficult. The capsule compartment will solve this, providing full privacy for the price of a couchette.”
On the demand side, the market on the continent is predominantly leisure, not least because the business traveller often wants flexibility, and Nightjet trains are often booked months in advance. Offering flexibility can adversely have an impact on loadings, but leisure travellers are willing to pay for a good-quality service.
Although Nightjet operates a Zürich-Hamburg service outside Austria, Bauer says any further services that do not touch the country have to allow an easy return to one of Nightjet’s three maintenance facilities at Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz.
Nor does he see the EuroNight Trains brand, operated by ÖBB in partnership with six other national railways, being folded into Nightjet: “EuroNight Trains have coaches from different countries. so you never know quite what you are going to get. The brand promise of Nightjet is that the train is all Austrian and of consistent standard.”
Consumer research shows that dinner is not that important, but good beer is, and breakfast is always mentioned positively.
Friendly and informed staff are also crucial, says Bauer: “When things go wrong, and there is plenty of scope in running Sleeper cars for them to do so, this can be greatly eased if there are good personnel, and people feel taken care of. When we have complaints, they always end by saying that the staff really tried to help.
“With all these cost and revenue measures, I’m totally convinced there is a business case for night trains.”
Prospects for Britain
Mark Smith agrees that costs, not demand, are the problem, and that track access fees are as significant a factor in Britain as on the continent: “In vertically integrated days, the railway didn’t save anything on infrastructure by not running the train, so it was zero cost. In some countries, lower charges have been offered for classic as opposed to high-speed routes.”
Calls have been made for a revival of the idea to run Sleeper services through the Channel Tunnel. When passenger train plans were being developed during the 1980s, Sleeper services were envisaged from Glasgow, Manchester Piccadilly, Plymouth and Swansea as well as London, operating to Amsterdam via Brussels, and to Paris, Dortmund and Frankfurt. A fleet of 139 carriages was planned, and 45 were built by Alstom before the whole idea was deemed a basket case and the carriages sold to Canada for Halifax-Toronto services.
On the demand side, there would almost certainly be sufficient business for Sleeper services from London to a limited range of continental destinations. But the HS1 track access fees (three times the cost of SNCF), Channel Tunnel access charges, security and border control charges, plus the costs of creating sealed sidings and platforms at end destinations, destroy the prospects for a business case.
The stringent safety regulations attached to operation through the Channel Tunnel are another impediment to developing cross-Channel services, adding complexity and cost. Comparable difficulties have bedevilled Swedish Railways’ Stockholm-Hamburg EuroNight service, because of the regulations attached to Denmark’s Storebælt Tunnels.
