BREAKING: European Sleeper will start a Paris-Berlin sleeper train from 26 March 2026, after Nightjet pulls out in December. It'll run via Brussels (with Eurostar connection from London) 3 times a week. This + existing train = Brussels-Berlin 6 times a week. www.europeansleeper.eu/paris

1/3: Now SNCF is sabotaging its own service. The 12:11 Paris-Hendaye has been Ouigoisée, no catering, no 1st class, baggage fees. As a result, I've had to delete the 08:32 London-San Sebastian. Now just 1 London-San Sebastian daytime service.😢

Today’s fun tax tip… (It’s a similarly daft situation that railways pay tax on fuel/energy but airlines don’t pay any tax on their aviation fuel, a huge hidden subsidy) youtu.be/dr9MH0NuUtg?...

Just updating my UK-Portugal page. The 09:30 Vigo-Madrid AVE has had its 1st class & all catering removed, to become an Avlo. It’s almost as if @Renfe is deliberately sabotaging its own service. If you want a proper train it’s 06:00 (ouch!) or 13:27 (doesn’t run Saturdays). 🤷‍♂️

European Sleeper introduces Comfort Standard from December - a couchette compartment ‘converted’ to a sleeper by getting mattresses & fully-made up beds, and sold as single double or triple. A good idea! www.europeansleeper.eu/travel-class...

Still needs Swiss parliamentary budget approval : but a new all-year 3 times a week sleeper could link Basel with Copenhagen and Malmo. ftnnews.com/travel-news/...

Vagonweb now showing proposed Vienna/Budapest-Belgrade service, due to start in Spring 2026: 1) Budapest-Belgrade by SOKO train every 4 hours, in just 3h17. 2) Two direct Eurocity trains Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade, the Avala & Ivo Andric. Bring it on... See www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/razen...

The decision is in! The Office of Rail & Road (ORR) has approved Virgin Trains’ application to access Temple Mills depot, paving the way for competition between London and Paris, Brussels & Amsterdam from 2030. www.railwaypro.com/wp/orr-appro...

My article in The Times today, telling the tale of our family summer holiday to Kusadasi by train (includes a quote from Eurostar’s train manager Blake!): www.thetimes.com/travel/desti...

In The Times today, by yours truly: "Hooray for the double-decker train! I’ve a soft spot for them" www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi...

Krakow to Warsaw for €2.10 has got to be some sort of record, surely? Lo-cost operator Regiojet is expanding into Poland, they've run 1 train per day since September, increasing to 8 trains a day from December. They'll also run trains from Warsaw to Poznan, Gdansk & Gdynia.

What a time to be alive....

EUROSTAR GOES DOUBLE-DECK: Eurostar confirms order for 30 new double-deck trains from Alstom, similar to TGV-M, with option for 20 more, in service from May 2031. The 200m sets can run to/from London as 2 x 200m with 1,080 seats. (Another move in the Battle for Temple Mills...)

Saturday morning fun with Zugfinder: Amazing how punctual the morning Milan-Paris Frecciarossa is, if that data is indeed correct. Read it and weep, Ryanair: www.zugfinder.net/en/train-FR_... 😇 (Mind you, have a gander at the Berlin-Stockholm sleeper, www.zugfinder.net/en/train-EN_... 🫣)

Early days, but so far so good: “Eurostar reports ‘encouraging’ speeds for new EU border checks at St Pancras” www.therailwayhub.co.uk/72017/eurost...

Press launch of Chiltern Railways new trains today, I’m riding this one to Brum: 13 of these excellent Mk5 trains are replacing 5 current Mk3 sets = 12,000 more seats per week (I should even see some from my local station, Haddenham, where a Mk3 set is a very rare treat!)

The Stockholm-Hamburg/Berlin sleeper has been saved. RDC will take over when SJ pulls out. May not run on some winter nights in future though: www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metro...

If Trenitalia gets approval for its proposed London-Paris service, it has pledged to call at Ashford International. www.railtech.com/new-routes/2...

Homeward bound, on the 14:34 GLC-MKC, Avanti Standard Premium. 13 late start, but I’m coping…

Y’know, the more I see of Glasgow, the more I like it…

Heading for Polmadie depot by vintage bus. That rail advert on the side looks strangely familiar…

A chance to visit the exhibition train ‘Inspiration’ celebrating 200 years of rail, 1825-2025. It’s at Glasgow today, touring Scotland then heading south, it’s free to visit but you need to book, see railway200.co.uk/inspiration/

And at Glasgow Central just now, 92 023 is named:

Dinner at the Lasg restaurant on Blythewood Square, in a genteel Georgian part of Glasgow I didn’t know existed - but only 10 minutes walk from Central. Big fan of mussels, these were superb. I reckon Edinburgh gets all the attention, Glasgow is hiding its light under a bushel…

Tonight I’m staying in one of Britain’s great railway hotels, Glasgow’s voco Grand Central, opened in 1883 by the Caledonian Railway.

You might wonder why I’m lurking next to a leisure centre just outside Glasgow…

Until now, I’ve never worked out where the long-gone Glasgow St Enoch station used to be…. It’s changed a bit! (Photo on left from www.glasgowhistory.com/st-enoch-squ...)

Boarding the @CalSleeper from London Euston to Glasgow Central…

Checked in for the Caledonian Sleeper to Glasgow, now in the lounge on platform 1. Boarding for Edinburgh & Glasgow from 22:30, departure 23:45…

“A Nepalese curry? You must be heading for Scotland!” Yup! My fave pre-Caledonian Sleeper eatery, the celebrated Great Nepalese restaurant next to Euston station ❤️

OK: The direct Vienna-Zagreb 'Croatia' is reinstated for 2026, no more changing at Graz and fares from €28.60!

Breaking: SJ to discontinue successful Stockholm-Hamburg/Berlin sleeper train after 31 August 2026, a month after Swedish government subsidy ends.

I hereby declare Belgrade reconnected to the rest of Europe from today! MAV is selling through tickets Budapest-Belgrade from €26. (Photo courtesy of @hvondelen.bsky.social)

Timetable 2026: Seems the Munich/Budapest/Prague-Krakow-Warsaw sleeper train will have separate portions for Warsaw and for Krakow & Przemysl. Theoretically good - but a significant downside is that Prague-Warsaw gets the sleeping-car, Prague-Krakow becomes couchettes-only.

With HS2 road closures still blocking the 2-mile direct route, it turns out the shortest way to agility with Pip is using the Great Central Railway…

Provisional timings for the 2026 Warsaw-Vilnius service now at www.seat61.com/trains-and-r... Doubled to 2 per day, accelerated by an hour. Krakow departure 06:14 instead of 03:58. Berlin-Vilnius will be possible in a day, 6 days a week - if you don't mind an 05:51 start!

Are (Budapest-) Subotica-Belgrade fast trains FINALLY about to start passenger service after so many false starts? www.blic.rs/biznis/privr... Nothing showing yet on w3.srbvoz.rs/redvoznje but I live in hope...

Good news for younger or older parents using Interrail or Eurail passes! As of 1 October, children under 12 qualify for a FREE pass when accompanying an over-18 using a Youth, Adult OR Senior pass - until now it only applied with an Adult pass. www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a...

Iryo, the Spanish open-access operator, has simplified its classes/fares - like Renfe, it conflates the two! One of the downsides is a €10 fee for a suitcase or backpack in Inicial Superior, there was no fee previously. I have updated the Iryo page, www.seat61.com/trains-and-r...

Breaking: Caledonian Sleeper's highland sleeper to Inverness, Aberdeen & Ft William will call at Birmingham International from 15 January onwards, picking up northbound at 22:42, setting down southbound at 06:20. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... More about the sleeper: www.seat61.com/sleeper-to-s...

Booking for French trains for Christmas & New Year opens tomorrow, for German trains it opens 15 October.

It's now official: Due to the French government withdrawing support & SNCF unsupportive, the Paris-Vienna & Paris-Berlin Nightjet sleeper trains will be discontinued from mid-December. presse-oebb.at/news-oebb-be... The Brussels-Vienna Nightjet will continue, 3 times per week.

Protests outside of Paris Est this evening - with news of the Nightjets to Vienna and Berlin potentially being axed due to reduced funding from SNCF, it would seem the community’s come together to send them a message… @seatsixtyone.bsky.social

Breaking: Paris-Vienna, Paris-Berlin (and therefore possibly Brussels-Vienna) Nightjet sleeper trains under threat. www.hourrail.voyage/en/blog/trai...

The #Railway200 exhibition train ‘Inspiration’ is on tour across Britain and it’s free. Check the locations & book your visit 👇🏻 I’m booked to see it in - *checks notes* - Glasgow. Well why not? railway200.co.uk/inspiration/...

All in a day’s work for a Eurostar train manager…

Sale of SailRail tickets from British rail stations to Dublin have been suspended by Transport for Wales (who manage it for all train operators), possibly until December, due to ferry timing shenanigans while repairs to Holyhead's deepwater berths continue: tfw.wales/ways-to-trav...

Tomorrow, open-access operator RegioJet launches a daily lo-cost Warsaw-Krakow train. Look at those prices and weep (then realise that €16.30 Business class one includes complimentary fizz & Illy coffee and bawl your eyes out...)

Caledonian Sleeper have an offer on for Autumn/Winter on their Highlands routes: www.sleeper.scot/200/. Might be the time to try out the sleeper! More about the sleeper at www.seat61.com/sleeper-to-s...

For your next pub quiz: “Name a European station served by 3 different track gauges.”