2024 set to be a bumper year for European train travel expansion

Whether you’re trying to do your bit for the environment, or just prefer a more leisurely form of transportation, 2024 is set to be a great year to travel by train, with a great number of new intra-European train routes and schedules launching. Here’s what we can look forward to, including details of the routes passing through the Netherlands. 

New train lines passing through the Netherlands in 2024

2024 is shaping up to be a super year for train travel in Europe, with many new, reintroduced and extended intra-European lines set to be launched. Not only will journey times between major European cities be reduced but new possibilities to travel by train will also be opened up. 

An X (Twitter) thread put together by Mark Smith, better known as The Man in Seat 61, has parcelled together all of the headline changes. 

Passengers travelling from the Netherlands will be pleased to hear that the European Sleeper service that links Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam with Berlin will be extended to Dresden and Prague from March 25, 2024. It will run two or three times a week. A new twice-daily service will also connect Berlin with Kraków, meaning it will be possible to travel from Amsterdam to Kraków in one day, with just one change. 

Another positive change is the reduction in journey times between Amsterdam and Berlin. This year, the railways have eliminated the locomotive change at Bad Bentheim and dropped several smaller stops in Germany to reduce the service time by almost 30 minutes to just under six hours. 

More and more night services (re)launching across Europe

Across Europe, other exciting changes are underway in 2024, including the launch of a new Nightjet sleeper service between Brussels and Berlin and Paris and Berlin, which will start running three times a week, and daily from October 2024. A new train from Vienna to Kraków will also open up the possibility of travelling from places like Zurich to Kraków in one day with one change. 

A second Vienna - Berlin - Hamburg ICE connection is also being added, making it possible to travel from Vienna all the way to Copenhagen in one day with just one change. On top of this, the Warsaw - Vienna sleeper train Chopin will be extended to Salzburg and Munich. 

Finally, thanks to the Brussels - Vienna Nightjet being combined with the Paris - Vienna one, this service will now pass through Munich Ost and Salzburg en route to Vienna, linking these two major destinations with Brussels in 2024. 

Image credit: BalkansCat / Shutterstock.com