French start-up Midnight Trains is proposing a premium overnight sleeper train service which could link European cities, including a service between Edinburgh and Paris.
The company intends to launch an inter-city route that is between 800 and 1,500km long radiating from Paris, where the operation would be based. With services departing from Gare du Nord destinations include Budapest, Hamburg, Rome, Porto and Wien.
This network, which could launch from 2024, would be designed to feature high speed trains which give an alternative option to short-haul flights.
The founders describe the solution as ‘hotels on rails’ and are focusing on private rooms providing privacy and security.
Midnight Trains co-founder Adrien Aumont, said:“People want intimacy. They don’t want to be sharing a sleeping space with a stranger. They want privacy, security and a good quality bed. By offering a bar and restaurant we are also offering conviviality and a certain art de vivre.
“What we aim to do is to make people who want to travel in Europe hesitate to take the plane, to make a 90-minute flight a thing of the past.”
While the pricing structure has not been announced, Midnight Trains said it would be competitive with that of a short-haul flight, including what Aumount called the “hidden costs” of flying such as paying for bagging as well as transport to and from the airport.
