European Sleeper, a crowd-funded Belgian-Dutch company, launched a three-times-weekly overnight train service in September 2023, connecting Brussels to Como and Milan via an indirect route that offers scenic views of Germany’s Rhine Valley. The company previously introduced routes from Brussels to Berlin and Prague, and Paris to Brussels and Berlin. Despite the growing demand for sustainable and relaxing travel options, sleeper trains face significant challenges such as high operational costs, specialized rolling stock requirements, and bureaucratic hurdles across different countries. European Sleeper uses refurbished carriages from the 1980s and '90s, with some dating back to the mid-1950s, and operates on a tight budget while navigating complex regulations.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
It sounds too good to be true.
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It → sound → ?
Last month, European Sleeper, the crowd-funded Belgian-Dutch company, made this a reality, launching a three-times-a-week overnight service from Brussels to Como and Milan.
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this → fund → Como
The new route joins the firm’s existing Brussels-Berlin-Prague sleeper, which began in 2023, and its Paris-Brussels-Berlin route, which debuted in March.
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which → join → March
Sleeper trains have been enjoying a modest renaissance across Europe as travellers look for a more environmentally sustainable and relaxing alternative to a low-cost airline experience that is at best soulless and at worst unpleasant.
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that → enjoy → experience
But it’s not easy.
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it → ’ → ?
Sleeper trains are the most difficult type of train to run commercially, requiring specialist rolling stock that can only make one loaded journey per 24 hours, carrying 20 people in sleeping berths in a 26-metre-long carriage that could accommodate 70 passengers in seats on a daytime run.
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that → run → run
Staff costs are also higher, and there are extra overheads such as bedding.
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costs → be → bedding
Spanish national operator Renfe doesn’t think sleeper trains can ever be profitable, which is why you will now find no sleeper trains anywhere on the Iberian Peninsula.
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you → think → Peninsula
But others, such as Austria’s ÖBB and European Sleeper, believe these trains can be a success, albeit with only a small margin.
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trains → believe → margin
European Sleeper has had to battle railway bureaucracy in four countries with differing requirements and processes to run this train.
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Sleeper → have → train
Rolling stock is another issue.
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stock → roll → ?
Only a limited range of older rolling stock is available to lease because most national operators stopped building sleeper and couchette cars in the mid-1990s, when budget airlines appeared.
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airlines → roll → mid-1990s
European Sleeper mostly uses former German Railways carriages from the 1980s and ’90s, but the sleeper cars used on this route are even older.
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cars → use → route
Their distinctive stainless-steel bodyshells date from the mid-1950s, although the interiors and the plumbing and electrical systems were rebuilt in the ’90s.
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interiors → date → 90s
Given the hurdles, it was a major achievement just to get this train up and running.
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train → give → hurdles
Bookings opened in March, and I eagerly bagged a private, single-berth compartment on the inaugural southbound sleeper, leaving Brussels on Sept 10.
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I → open → Sept
The late show
Departure day arrives, and all goes perfectly – as far as the margarita.
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all → arrive → margarita
Striding across the concourse at Brussels Midi for the scheduled 7.06pm departure, an ominous “+1h30” appeared on the departure boards.
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+1h30 → stride → boards
A text message from European Sleeper blamed “cleaning and provisioning logistics”.
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message → blame → logistics
Word on the street (or rather, platform) was that a minor shunting mishap at the depot at the Belgian town of Denderleeuw caused the delay.
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mishap → cause → delay
Before long, “plus 1h30” became “plus 1h40″, then “plus 2h30”, before finally, at 9.50pm, the first Brussels-Milan European Sleeper service arrives at platform six.
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service → become → platform
There is no shortage of passengers, and the company’s co-founder Chris Engelsman tells me that ticket sales have been strong.
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sales → be → me
I booked a single room in what European Sleeper calls “Comfort Standard”.
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Sleeper → book → what
The single, double and triple rooms in the sleeping-cars (Comfort Plus) typically sell out first, ahead of the more numerous and cheaper bunks in shared four-person and six-person couchette compartments (Classic).
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rooms → sleep → compartments
Responding to demand, European Sleeper has equipped compartments in two couchette cars with sleeper-quality mattresses and duvets, and sells them as Comfort Standard for single, double or triple occupancy.
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Sleeper → respond → occupancy
Forty years ago, sharing a six-berth couchette compartment was the accepted norm of sleeper-train travel, but today’s travellers increasingly desire privacy.
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travellers → share → privacy
My Comfort Standard is a former Deutsche Bahn six-berth couchette compartment with the right-hand side made up as a spacious sofa and one upper berth folded out above it.
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side → make → it
Although I’d booked it as a single, another two berths are set up with a mattress and duvet on the left-hand side of the compartment.
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berths → book → compartment
Drinks and snacks are available from the train staff, but I raided the Carrefour Express supermarket at Brussels Midi for a pasta salad and wine.
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I → raid → salad
The delay put paid to any hope of seeing a moonlit Rhine Valley – we will be passing the legendary Lorelei rock, south of Koblenz, in the small hours – so I climb into bed.
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I → put → bed
The couchette bunk is a little firm, but with a mattress and duvet added it is as comfortable as any proper sleeper.
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it → add → sleeper
I wake up in Basel, Switzerland, to find we are running more than three hours late.
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we → wake → Basel
It is a glorious sunny day and south of Aarau the train starts its climb up and over the historic Gotthard route through the Swiss Alps.
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train → start → Alps
Other international trains now use the Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened in 2016 and currently the world’s longest rail tunnel at 57 kilometres long.
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trains → use → 2016
It saves an hour, but passengers miss the best scenery.
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passengers → save → scenery
Our train snakes around the pretty village of Wassen, fluffy wisps of light-grey cloud garnishing the opposite mountainside, only a little higher than the railway.
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wisps → snake → railway
An attendant appears with my breakfast: a welcome cup of coffee, a roll and a small box containing jam, cheese, yogurt and orange juice.
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attendant → appear → jam
At Goschenen, a 10-minute pause is enough to stretch my legs on the platform in the cool mountain air, until whistles summon me back on board.
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whistles → stretch → board
After Goschenen the train enters the original Gotthard Tunnel, a 14-kilometre engineering marvel when it opened in 1882.
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it → enter → 1882
Inside the tunnel the train reaches the line’s summit, some 1150 metres above sea level.
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train → reach → level
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
