After Prague-Brussels, RegioJet mulls Warsaw-Ostend night train route

Warsaw, Poland – A few weeks after revealing the 2022 launch of a new night train connecting Prague to Brussels, Czech carrier RegioJet, in cooperation with Dutch start-up European Sleeper, is getting ready to open a new route between Warsaw and Ostend, in Belgium.

According to media reports, RegioJet and European Sleeper have submitted an official request to the Belgian Railway Regulator to launch a night train route linking Warsaw to Ostend, a coastal city in north-western Belgium, via Berlin.

Elmar van Buuren, co-founder of the Netherlands-based startup European Sleeper, explained that the train would be part of the previously-announced route to Prague, with a section splitting in Berlin to continue its way to Warsaw.

The new Warsaw-Ostend night train would stop in Poznan, Rzepin, Berlin, Hanover, Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam and Brussels, among other cities.

As part of its ambition to increase the connections between Western destinations and cities in Central and Eastern Europe, RegioJet is reportedly considering the possibility of offering additional bus services from Belgium to the UK. At the other end of the route, the Czech private operator could also launch buses from Warsaw to several off-the-beaten-track destinations in Poland.

In April, the joint-venture between RegioJet and European Sleeper revealed plans to launch a new night train connecting Prague to Brussels via Berlin and Amsterdam in the spring of 2022.

Both initiatives are part of a wider trend seeking to revitalize night train routes across the continent, seen as a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation, after years of neglect.