Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has partnered with the private German Railway Development Corporation (RDC) to operate a night service between Basel in northwestern Switzerland and Malmö in southern Sweden, via Germany and Denmark. The new EuroNight-branded service is set to begin operating three times a week from April 15, with tickets expected to go on sale on November 4.
The new service will be supported by the Swiss government under the CO2 law, and is expected to contribute 47 million Swiss francs (US$58.6 million) between 2026 and 2030. However, the partners state that this funding is subject to parliamentary approval, and if it is not available, the service will not operate. SBB says the support is necessary due to rising costs of rolling stock, tracking and access fees and staff costs.
The service will depart from Basle SBB on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 17.35 and arrive in Malmö at 09.35. Trains will depart from Malmö on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays at 18.57 and arrive in Basel at 11.30.
Each train will offer a choice of sleeping, sofa and seating for around 350 passengers, as well as a bistro between Basel and Badburg. A wheelchair accessible cabin will be provided.
Intermediate stations include Freiburg (Breisgau), Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Frankfurt (Main) South, and Hamburg in Germany, and Badburg, Kolding, Odense, Højtastrup, and Copenhagen Airport in Denmark. Due to timing restrictions, the service is not scheduled to stop in central Copenhagen, but connections are available via S-Train services to/from Hoeje Taastrup and Copenhagen Airport.
Prices have not yet been revealed, but SBB says they will be comparable to other overnight services from Switzerland.
Competing services
The announcement comes shortly after Sweden’s state-owned company SJ confirmed it would stop running night trains between Stockholm and Berlin on August 31 next year, although private operator Snälltåget intends to fill the void.
RDC, currently SJ’s partner in Germany, plans to continue operating the full Berlin-Hamburg-Stockholm service on its own when SJ withdraws.
The RDC says that although the former SJ and SBB services share the same route between Hamburg and Malmö, they will be separate trains and cars will not be swapped between the two services. Both RDC and SBB plan to use existing rolling stock.
