Data story
The night-train revival, by the numbers
Sleepers were written off in the 2000s. Since 2016, 22 routes have launched or come back, 14 of them in the 2020s alone.
Open the interactive railway map →For most of the 2000s the story of the night train was one of closures: dining cars scrapped, sleeping cars sold off, routes quietly axed. Then it reversed. Airlines' short hops fell out of climate favour, ÖBB bet on its Nightjet brand where others retreated, and start-ups crowdfunded whole new lines. This atlas records 108 sleepers across 57 countries; counting them by the decade each launched or was revived turns the comeback into a shape you can see.
- Sleepers in the atlas
- 108
- Launched or revived since 2016
- 22
- In the 2020s so far
- 14
- Countries with a night train
- 57
The comeback, in one chart
Sleeper launches and revivals bottomed out at just 4 across the whole 2000s. Then they rebounded: 14 in the 2010s and already 14 in the 2020s — a decade not yet half over.
Europe lit the fuse
11 of the 22 sleepers revived since 2016 run through Europe, 4 of them under ÖBB's Nightjet brand — Hamburg–Vienna and Zurich–Amsterdam among them, while Paris–Berlin and Brussels–Prague were started by European Sleeper — a crowdfunded operator, not a state railway.
And it went global
The wave reached 24 countries. The longest of the new sleepers, the Floridian, runs 3,340 km from Chicago to Miami; others opened the first direct rails into Laos, a high-speed sleeper from Hong Kong to Beijing, and Central Asia's new international Talgo.
Night-train launches and revivals, by decade
Each column counts the night services in the atlas that launched or were most recently revived in that decade. The dip is the 2000s; the two brightest columns are the ongoing revival. 1950s–2020s.
How we counted it
Each sleeper is placed in the decade its current service launched or was most recently revived, as recorded in the atlas — for long-running classics that is the original launch year, so the earlier decades are context, not new lines; the story is the modern collapse and recovery. Only overnight sleeper services are included, not day trains or purely scenic lines. Every figure comes from the open TrainRouter Atlas (CC BY 4.0, archived at DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21322030) — free to check or reuse.
Every sleeper that has launched or returned since 2016
| Year | Service | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | European SleeperParis–Berlin · 🇫🇷 🇧🇪 🇩🇪 | 1,100 |
| 2026 | Baku–Tbilisi Night TrainBaku–Tbilisi · 🇦🇿 🇬🇪 | 551 |
| 2024 | FloridianChicago–Miami · 🇺🇸 | 3,340 |
| 2024 | Hong Kong–Beijing High-Speed SleeperHong Kong–Beijing · 🇭🇰 🇨🇳 | 2,439 |
| 2024 | Almaty–Tashkent TalgoAlmaty–Tashkent · 🇰🇿 🇺🇿 | 1,000 |
| 2024 | Bangkok–Vientiane ExpressBangkok–Vientiane · 🇹🇭 🇱🇦 | 647 |
| 2023 | European SleeperBrussels–Prague · 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇨🇿 | 1,200 |
| 2023 | EuroNight Praha–ZürichPrague–Zurich · 🇨🇿 🇩🇪 🇨🇭 | 1,050 |
| 2023 | Cox’s Bazar ExpressDhaka–Cox’s Bazar · 🇧🇩 | 551 |
| 2022 | EuroNightStockholm–Hamburg · 🇸🇪 🇩🇰 🇩🇪 | 1,150 |
| 2021 | SnälltågetStockholm–Berlin · 🇸🇪 🇩🇰 🇩🇪 | 1,290 |
| 2021 | Intercités de Nuit Paris–NiceParis–Nice · 🇫🇷 | 1,088 |
| 2021 | Nightjet Zurich–AmsterdamZurich–Amsterdam · 🇨🇭 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 | 840 |
| 2020 | Golmud–Korla RailwayGolmud–Korla · 🇨🇳 | 1,206 |
| 2019 | AYaM Yakutia TrainTynda–Nizhny Bestyakh · 🇷🇺 | 1,035 |
| 2018 | Tashkent–Khiva Night TrainTashkent–Khiva · 🇺🇿 | 1,120 |
| 2016 | NightjetHamburg–Vienna · 🇩🇪 🇦🇹 | 1,100 |
| 2016 | Nightjet Munich–RomeMunich–Rome · 🇩🇪 🇦🇹 🇮🇹 | 1,100 |
| 2016 | Night ExpressKyiv–Uzhhorod · 🇺🇦 | 853 |
| 2016 | NightjetVienna–Zurich · 🇦🇹 🇩🇪 🇱🇮 🇨🇭 | 780 |
| 2016 | Kyiv–Warsaw SleeperKyiv–Warsaw · 🇺🇦 🇵🇱 | 780 |
| 2016 | Isan WatthanaBangkok–Ubon Ratchathani · 🇹🇭 | 575 |
Are night trains making a comeback?
Yes, and the numbers are unambiguous: sleeper launches and revivals bottomed out at 4 across the whole of the 2000s, then rebounded to 14 in the 2010s and 14 in the 2020s so far. 22 routes have launched or returned since 2016, across 24 countries.
How many night trains are there in the world?
108 sleeper routes in this atlas, running in 57 countries and covering 132,385 km of line between them. That counts named overnight services with sleeping accommodation, not every train that happens to run after dark.
Which night trains have returned recently?
Europe drove the revival: 11 of the 22 restored sleepers run through it, 4 of them under ÖBB's Nightjet brand, including Hamburg–Vienna and Zurich–Amsterdam. Paris–Berlin and Brussels–Prague came from European Sleeper, a crowdfunded operator rather than a state railway. The newest arrivals in this atlas are Paris–Berlin and Baku–Tbilisi, from 2026.
What is the longest night train route?
Of the services revived since 2016, the Floridian is the longest at 3,340 km, from Chicago to Miami. The wave also opened the first direct rails into Laos, a high-speed sleeper from Hong Kong to Beijing, and a new international Talgo in Central Asia.