A new night train service from Brussels starts today. The Belgo-Dutch rail company European Sleeper is launching a service between the Belgian and Flemish capital and Milan, in northern Italy.
The first train on the new route will depart from Milan at around 4.45 pm on Wednesday and arrive in Brussels shortly before midday on Thursday. En route, the train will stop at destinations including Como (Italy), Lugano, Aarau (Switzerland) and Cologne (Germany). In Belgium, the train will also stop at Verviers (Liège Province).
In the opposite direction, departure from Brussels is scheduled for 7.10 pm, with arrival in Milan the following day at 11.40 am. The train will run three times a week in each direction.
The plan is to change the route between Brussels and Cologne from mid-December. The night train will then run from Brussels to Antwerp and the Dutch cities of Breda and Eindhoven, and on to Cologne – and will therefore no longer travel via Verviers and Aachen.
Other night train options from Brussels
European Sleeper also operates night trains from Brussels via Amsterdam to destinations including Berlin, Dresden and Prague, and from Paris via Brussels to Hamburg and Berlin. The Austrian railway company ÖBB also operates night trains between Brussels and the Austrian capital, Vienna.
From mid-December to the end of March, Travelski, a subsidiary of Compagnie des Alpes, will run a weekly night train from the Netherlands, via Antwerp and Brussels, to the French Alps and back. Compagnie des Alpes is the parent company of the Bellewaerde and Walibi theme parks in Belgium.
European Sleeper previously announced that it hopes to launch a night train service from Brussels and Amsterdam to Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden) in 2028. The company is also looking at a service to Barcelona (Catalonia).