Over the past decade or so, there has been a boom in overnight trains. Demand is high and new routes are announced on a regular basis, with passengers keen to reduce their carbon footprint and avoid the misery of airport security.
While some love the romance and excitement of sleeping in a couchette, there is a significant drawback: the lack of privacy. Bunking up next to strangers is fine in your twenties, but as you get older, the charm wears off.
Most passengers end up having to share a compartment with at least three other people, as four or six-berth compartments are the norm in Europe. Single compartments are both difficult to find and often prohibitively expensive.
Enter Nox, a German startup promising rail travellers the holy grail: cheap train tickets and total privacy. From 2027, Nox plans to operate Europe-wide overnight trains with compartments for one or two people at the price of a flight.
The company has announced that single cabins will be priced from €79 and double cabins from €149. An overnight journey from Brussels to Barcelona for a passenger staying in a single compartment has been provisionally priced at €99.
'It's often more expensive than air travel'
“Sleeping while a train gets you across Europe is a great concept,” said Thibault Constant, Co-Founder of Nox. “But today people have to share their cabins with strangers, beds are tight, and it's often more expensive than air travel. We want to change that and make night trains an essential part of European travel."
According to Constant, compartments on Nox trains will all have comfortable beds, separate seats with tables and “enough space to stand up and store your luggage”. Nox also plans to offer double beds and bunks with panoramic window views.
Founder Janek Smalla, who co-launched FlixTrain, explained: “Our room design allows us to fit more people into our trains than traditional operators can. This, paired with a strict focus on standardisation and operational excellence will allow us to offer affordable fares on over 35 European routes.”
The company has already reserved train coaches and is finalising the approval of the interior design of the carriages. By 2035, Nox plans to connect more than 100 cities including Brussels, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Milan, Amsterdam and Paris.
