Published
Mon, Jan 9, 2023, 15:45
- Travellers from London will be able to connect to the service—which launches in May—via Eurostar.
A new Brussels-Berlin sleeper train is launching on May 25th, 2023.
Run by new, community-based company European Sleeper, the service will initially run three times a week, before possibly increasing to daily in 2024. A train departing Brussels Midi / Zuid at 7:22 PM will arrive at Berlin Hauptbahnhof before 7 AM the following day.
The news is also a boon to artists and ravers travelling from London, who will be able to connect to the service via a two-hour Eurostar. European Sleeper will make several stops along the way, including Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Though tickets aren't on sale until February, passengers can expect to pay from €49 for a seat and from €79 for a bed. Breakfast is included.
"You get to see more when you travel by train," Berlin-based techno DJ DotDash told Resident Advisor. "I like to create music on the journey, the scenery can be quite inspiring."
Speaking to RA, Clubcommission Berlin's Lutz Leichsenring said the sleeper will contribute to a greener club culture—a goal promoted by the Clubcommission's Clubtopia campaign, which launched in collaboration with green nightlife organisation Club Liebe and the German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation.
"We're very pleased international rail connections to Berlin are being expanded," said Leichsenring. "With projects like Clubtopia, we've been working on making clubs more sustainable for many years. A direct train connection between London and Berlin will be an exciting alternative to airplanes for many artists and guests."
European Sleeper plans to expand the route to Dresden and Prague ahead of 2024, a welcome development in the face of climate damage and soaring fuel prices, which have impacted the cost of air travel. According to Bloomberg, flight prices in 2023 are expected to increase by 12 percent on Europe-Asia routes. Trains are also the most ecological way to travel—12 times more efficient than planes, the International Energy Agency reports.
Phil Allen, spokesperson for Berlin club Tresor, said he's "optimistic to see how [European Sleeper] develops and the economic and creative exchange it brings between [London and Berlin]."
He also said it's encouraging that bikes can be carried onboard. "It's a huge eco-friendly-plus, especially since Berlin is a bike city–as is Amsterdam, which is on the route."
According to Allen, the silver lining of all the recent air travel chaos has been touring artists and fans increasingly considering greener travel options. He believes even more people would be motivated to take the train if intercity sleeper options are "scaled up properly."
Some carriers are already thinking along those lines. Marjan Rintel, CEO of Dutch airline KLM, recently spoke about integrating the airline with Dutch rail travel, and encouraged travellers to swap short-haul flights for train journeys to reduce emissions. Last year in France, lawmakers voted in favour of banning short-haul domestic flights.
Allen believes the nightlife community across Europe could play a constructive role in making the scene more sustainable.
"I envision creative collaborations like 'Sleeper Train Swaps' with venues exchanging resident DJs between cities for takeovers," he said. "It could allow fans and artists to travel between cities via train on discounted tickets. This could even be a collaboration with European Sleeper itself."
Photo: Charles Forerunner