Rail travel is set for a resurgence as travellers are increasingly concerned about carbon emissions. A French travel company takes advantage of the trend.
Midnight Train plans a route network between large European cities in 2024. With Paris as a central hub, the company is to launch routes connecting Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid and Porto.
Backed by French investors, the start-up is still negotiating rolling stock and the use of railway networks. However, the founders want to revolutionise the night-trains of yore. The company literature boasts of the "challenge to create a hotel on rails, by redesigning the night train experience.”
The sleeper cabins will be private, will be designed for single, double and multiple occupancy and come with a private bathroom. Dining will be available in an on-board restaurant or via cabin service. Co-founder Adrien Aumont said “It’s a train, a hotel, a restaurant and an app connecting Europe and its cultures with no limit.”
Their idea is to entice travellers to “skip the airport” and arrive well-fed, watered and rested at their destination – with a carbon-clean conscience.
