Plans Underway for Overnight Sleeper Train to the Alps

20th June 2024

Last modified on June 22nd, 2024

It would depart from Brussels with connections from the UK. It is claimed there is a growing interest in train travel from British skiers, but numbers remain very small.

The company, European Sleeper, aims to launch the service in winter 2025 with trains running from Brussels to Innsbruck and Venice.

It would give access to resorts in the Tirol in Austria and the Dolomites in Italy.

British skiers would need to travel to Brussels on the Eurostar or there could be a dedicated coach service by road from the south of England via the Channel Tunnel to link with departures from the Belgium city.

It is partly aimed at weekend skiers with the outbound journey on Wednesdays with returns from Venice on Sundays.

Each train would have a capacity for 750 passengers in sleeper compartments with the journey time to Innsbruck estimated at 15-hours, and 20-hours to Venice.

There is no word on prices, but it is claimed they will be less than peak prices for air fares to the Alps.

The numbers of skiers and snowboarders that take the train to the Alps remains very small, at around 2% of overall passengers.

The vast majority fly and there is no evidence that this will change, though there has been an increase in British skiers driving to the Alps.

Despite ‘intent’ from skiers to take the train, numbers over the past few years have declined with 2% taking the train to the Alps this winter compared to 6% pre-Covid, according to a report compiled by the Ski Club of Great Britain.