Last summer, the Dutch Railways (NS) announced that it was looking into launching a night train service between Amsterdam and Zurich. While the ongoing coronavirus pandemic may have brought international travel to a relative standstill, the NS has now said that the service should launch either at the end of 2021 or at the beginning of next year.
The night train will be run by NS and its partners Swiss Railways (SBB), Austrian Railways (ÖBB) and German Railways (DB), and will run from Amsterdam via Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Basel through to Zurich.
The service will run every evening throughout the entire year, and will offer a quick, easy, and more sustainable travel option for anyone looking to visit Switzerland. In addition to improving connections with far-off European cities, NS notes the service would also improve connections with large German cities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Up until the end of 2016, a year-round night train service ran between Amsterdam and Zurich. However, a significant fall in demand led to the service being terminated. Over the past five years, people across Europe have looked for more sustainable and affordable alternatives to flying, and so NS is one again establishing routes that would connect key European cities by train.
Last October, for example, saw Eurostar launch a direct train route between England and the Netherlands which allows passengers to travel from Amsterdam to London in only four hours. And, back in May, the long-awaited night train service between Amsterdam and Vienna finally launched.