The night trains linking Paris with Berlin and Vienna are now expected to be discontinued. The Vienna route was reintroduced two years before the relaunch of the Berlin service in 2023. Once promoted as symbols of the revival of slow, environmentally friendly travel, these services have fallen victim to government budget cuts and the suspension of subsidies.
Both routes were struggling financially, as are many French night trains and Intercités and regional TER services. SNCF has stressed that such routes are extremely difficult to make profitable, as trains can only operate once a day and have a reduced passenger capacity. In comparison, a TGV can make up to four trips daily.
In order to comply with EU state aid rules, the government granted a one-year start-up subsidy, renewable twice. This was renewed in 2024, but will not be extended again following a ministerial decision after the Prime Minister’s Office issued its annual budget ceiling.
🚆🌙 Les trains de nuit Paris–Vienne/Berlin déjà menacés :
— Fnaut (@FNAUT_fr) September 30, 2025
❌ 3 A/R seulement
❌ Supprimés ou détournés 30 fois en 2024
❌ Nancy ignorée comme arrêt commercial
❌ Billets introuvables sur SNCF Connect
➡️ Pourtant 66 000 voyageurs, 70 % de remplissage !
✊ Donnons une vraie… pic.twitter.com/d6lGp2y1gf
“The government, as our shareholder, asks us to be profitable, and we can only achieve that with considerable effort. It cannot ask us to provide services at a loss for the sake of symbolism, even if it was a beautiful symbol”, said a source within the state-owned company.
Government officials and environmental groups have criticised SNCF and its partners for failing to honour their commitment to provide daily services. Instead, they have only offered three weekly round-trips. Some have accused the operators of favouring the far more profitable Paris–Berlin TGV line, which was launched in December 2024, and of not selling tickets on their SNCF Connect platform.
“International night trains are in the same situation in 2025 as national night trains were in 2015: the SNCF is degrading the service and thus encouraging the state to get rid of it, against a backdrop of an ill-adapted regulatory framework”, said the French NGO Réseau Action Climat (RAC).
The Paris–Berlin and Paris–Vienna routes were jointly operated by SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, and Austria’s ÖBB, with the latter supplying the Nightjet rolling stock – a rare cross-border arrangement in Europe. Despite a 13-week suspension for track work, the Vienna train carried 36,000 passengers and the Berlin train 30,000 in 2024. Advocacy groups point to these figures as proof of public demand. A study by RAC found that more than one million passengers took night trains in France in 2024, despite delays, cancellations, and a limited service.
Environmental groups, including Oui au train de nuit, accuse the SNCF of repeating the same strategy that led to the closure of domestic night trains in 2015: degrading the service until the state abandons it. The group has petitioned SNCF president Jean-Pierre Farandou and urged President Emmanuel Macron to intervene. “It is unacceptable that the only two international night trains serving France year-round should disappear. Each of the stakeholders can act to truly revive international night trains”, the group said.
The NGO has also called for EU legislation to allow clearer subsidies for international services, arguing that rail faces unfair competition because aviation fuel remains tax-exempt. “The EU could subsidise night trains to balance competition with air travel and rebuild the network after two decades of underinvestment”, they said.
Neither SNCF nor the Ministry of Transport has confirmed the shutdown. However, barring a last-minute reversal, both routes are set to be discontinued on 12th December 2025.
