As part of its ecological shift, the government has announced a plan to revive night trains. But its strategy remains unclear, while their development involves some difficulties.

Expected to disappear a few years ago and abandoned for a long time by the public authorities, the night train will make a comeback in France, where it is causing a new craze. During his interview on July 14, Emmanuel Macron promised in his ecological transition policy to focus on night rail links. This is opposed to the strategy adopted in recent decades.

One only has to look at the Night Intercity network to realise that the SNCF and the public authorities are gradually phasing out this service. In 1981, 550 French cities were served by at least one night train in France. But the rapid expansion of the TGV and low-cost flights convinced the State to withdraw almost all night trains in 2016. Now, only two domestic night lines are still operated by the SNCF: Paris-Toulouse-Rodez-Latour-de-Carol and Paris-Briançon. There is also a Paris-Venice line operated by the Italian Thello and two lines Paris-Moscow and Nice-Moscow operated by the Russian railway company SZD.

Not enough for night train lovers, who have been calling for an increase in the availability of night trains for years. “There is a real demand”, Bruno Gazeau, President of the National Federation of Transport Users Associations (FNAUT), told BFM Eco. Particularly from “nostalgic” travellers, but also from “customers who have time but less money (than those on the TGV) and who therefore have an appeal for Intercity trains,” he continues.

Saving time and money

The government has taken a first step to meet these requests by announcing last week the reopening of two lines, namely Paris-Nice and Paris-Tarbes, from 2022. “At FNAUT, we are happy, because for the time being we had mainly heard about the car and aviation,” says Bruno Gazeau.

This is a first victory for the defenders of the night train who have constantly put forward the advantages of this transport system. Beginning with its carbon footprint, which is about fifteen times less than that of the airplane.

But the benefits of the night train are not only ecological. It makes it possible “not to waste time and to travel during what is considered socially useless time (…). An important benefit that allows you to travel without getting tired. And reduces the risk of accidents by avoiding long car journeys,” notes Florence Péters, head of Transport & Mobility at CGI Business Consulting. Not to mention the significant savings made on the cost of an overnight hotel stay thanks to an early morning arrival at the destination.

A high-cost model?

While night trains offer clear advantages, there are many difficulties in getting them back into service. First, their economic viability is far from secure. When the State dropped this activity under the five-year term of François Hollande, the reasons given were essentially linked to the lack of profits, as night trains accounted for a quarter of the Intercity’s deficit, with losses of around “100 million euros per year”, according to Florence Péters.

At that time, Alain Vidalies, then Secretary of State for Transport, stated that each ticket sold required “over 100 euros in public subsidies”. But this “also matches the subsidies granted on a plane ticket between loss-making airports,” Gazeau replied.

“There is also a political choice which means identifying where we will prioritise subsidies for the railways. (…) The policy of the State and the regions was recently a policy in the daily’s service train to favour this means of transport and make it an alternative to the car with a stronger offer”, Florence Péters analyses.

Critics of night trains also argue that it is expensive to maintain them given their ridership rate: 47% on average in 2015, according to figures from the Transport Regulatory Authority. This is “nearly 10 points above the average for Intercity activity”, stressed the independent body whose figures have been taken up by the “Oui au train de nuit!” (Yes to night trains) collective. Since then, the occupancy rate of the night offer has dropped to 36% in 2018. However, this drop should be kept in context, since it is mainly because of the closure of the Paris-Nice-Vintimille line, which had the highest occupancy rate (56%).

There is still the problem of the work that the SNCF most often carry out at night to ensure optimum use of the infrastructure during the day. This makes the development of a night network a little more complicated.

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“Colossal renovation challenge”

The State subsidises 50% of the operation of the night lines, amounting to 20 million euros. It has also undertaken to invest over 30 million euros in 2018 to renovate the cars that run on the two remaining routes.

In its aim to revive night trains, the State is starting from a long way off. In fact, if they are not already approaching the scrapyard, the bed and couchette carriages still in service are outdated. The same applies to the network of secondary lines, which will probably need to be renovated after being abandoned in favour of the TGV.

The reopening of night trains, if it is to be achieved through a more complete offer, will, therefore, require a massive investment in equipment and infrastructure modernisation, specifically by renewing the tracks. “If we want to restart night trains, most of the trains are not in a condition to be put back into service, we will have to buy more. (…) There’s a tremendous renovation challenge after a period of under-investment,” confirms Florence Péters.

The “Oui au train de nuit!” collective estimates the investment needed between now and 2030 to create fifteen new national lines – with 750 new or renovated cars – and fifteen new European lines co-financed by several countries at €1.5 billion.

The direction of the night trains project is still unclear

“We have a lot of ambition for night trains in France,” said the Minister Delegate for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, promising “a policy of promotion and revitalisation” of this transport. But beyond the mere announcement, the government’s strategy on this matter remains unknown.

“What is exactly the business model? Who’s financing it?” Florence Péters wonders about the level of subsidies and recommends a serious analysis of the full cost of purchasing equipment and regenerating the tracks in the event of reopening lines. “Operating and traffic costs need to be accurately reworked,” adds the rail transport expert, who believes that “strategic analysis is essential to clearly identify” needs.

Bruno Gazeau has a similar view: “When the government announces that it will reopen lines, it doesn’t mention who will be in charge of improving the tracks, the equipment, the deficit… I find the announcements interesting for ecological reasons, but we haven’t got to the heart of the matter,” warns the FNAUT president.

For him, the future activity of night trains will definitely have to be reorganised: “To make night trains cost-effective, they have to run night and day. We have to find suitable itineraries,” he explains. He suggests, for example, that a night train from Paris arriving in Nice on a Friday could operate regional connections on Saturdays between the French Riviera capital and other nearby cities. Before leaving Nice on Sunday for the return trip to Paris.

“Trains that arrive on Friday and do not run until their departure on Sunday are no longer bearable to compete with air travel,” he added.

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How comfortable will future night trains be?

The resumption of night trains also requires looking at the onboard services offered and the target population. What train frequencies? What fares and conditions of travel? Since 2007 and the discontinuation of sleeping cars, night trains have only offered reclining seats or compartments with four or six berths, without showers or WiFi. “Comfort has been reduced, and they have lost a range of customers through this,” says Florence Péters.

The result of a poor strategic orientation? Probably. A FNAUT study carried out in February among 3,492 people shows that passengers’ expectations in terms of comfort are “very wide”. Asked what type of offer they wanted to find onboard, 69% of those surveyed replied “compartments with four berths” and 56.2% of the more comfortable “sleeping cars” with “two or three beds”.

Another 35.9% wanted “sleeping cars with showers and toilets”, 38.3% wanted “compartments with six berths,”, 34.2% wanted “single sleeping cars,” (one bed) and even 29.1% wanted “reclining seats”. Thus, no option is totally ruled out by passengers. “I think the offer of future night trains should be mixed in terms of comfort levels. It shouldn’t just be top-of-the-range, or just bottom-of-the-range,” suggests Florence Péters.

This solution would eventually make it possible to increase train use by including a wider public. “There is a growing interest among this clientele, who are looking for comfort, but who are not reluctant to spend a night on the train as long as they have a shower, WiFi, breakfast, etc.,” notes Bruno Gazeau.

Intra-European connections

While at least two domestic routes will reopen by 2022, we cannot exclude that new intra-European services will also emerge. Bruno Gazeau states that “Europe is quite a driving force on the return of night trains because the shame of flying is greater in Northern Europe”.

Some European countries have already strengthened their presence on the market for night trains to foreign destinations. An example is the Austrian incumbent operator ÖBB, which in 2016 gained the night train division of its German counterpart, Deutsche Bahn, and is now the European leader in this segment. “Night trains are and will remain a niche, but that does not mean that a niche cannot be profitable,” ÖBB spokesman Bernard Rieder said in March 2019.

Florence Péters believes that it will be essential in the thinking of the public authorities and the SNCF to look at “where it works and how foreign models work” to perhaps consider opening lines to cities in neighbouring countries that would be both relevant and commercially interesting.

Probably we will know more once the government outlines its strategy. A report on the prospects for the revival of night trains with details on the development of extra lines’ and the conditions for enhancing supply’ was due to be submitted by the government to Parliament on June 30. But its drafting has been delayed because of the coronavirus crisis, and it should eventually be “ready at the end of the summer”.