Night train route
Nightjet Vienna–Zurich
Vienna → Zurich · Austria · Germany · Liechtenstein · Switzerland
Nightjet in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 780 km
- Fastest time
- ≈ 9 h
- Average speed
- 87 km/h
- Top speed
- 200 km/h
- Train
- Nightjet sleeper
- In service since
- 2016
- Runs
- nightly each way
- Highest point
- 1,310 m
- Countries
- Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
The founding route of the Nightjet brand: over the Arlberg while you sleep, Alps at both ends.
The evening train out of Vienna is one of the anchors of ÖBB’s Nightjet network: the operation that kept European sleepers alive when others gave up, and now fields new-generation cars with lockable mini-cabins alongside classic compartments. The route runs the Westbahn to Salzburg and Innsbruck by night, then takes the Arlberg crossing towards dawn: avalanche galleries, the 1,310 m summit tunnel, and breakfast light on the Rhine valley floor before the Swiss lakes. It rolls into Zurich just as the espresso machines warm up.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from 2 OpenStreetMap relations, their own nodes end to end: relation 7576704 (305 km), relation 1623486 (135 km) — 440 km of the route between them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: 97.5% of this line lies within 250 m of real track (median 16 m); the longest stretch away from it is 7 km
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: ÖBB Scotty — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Along the way
- Salzburg and Innsbruck by night
- Arlberg tunnel towards dawn
- Feldkirch and the Rhine valley at first light
- Walensee cliffs
- Zurich HB breakfast arrival
How long is the Nightjet?
The Nightjet runs 780 km from Vienna to Zurich. It runs through Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
How long does the Nightjet take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 9 h for the 780 km. That is an average of 87 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 200 km/h.
Who runs the Nightjet?
ÖBB, with Nightjet sleeper.
How old is the Nightjet?
The line has been in service since 2016. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
How high does the Nightjet climb?
1,310 m above sea level at its highest point.
View on the world railway map →More night train routes
- EuroNight
Scandinavia’s night-train revival: across the Öresund while you sleep, into Germany by breakfast.
Wikipedia ↗ - Santa Claus Express
Rolls out of Helsinki by night and crosses into Lapland by morning: sleepers and car carriers bound for the Arctic Circle.
- Trans-Siberian Railway
The longest railway on Earth: 9,289 km, eight time zones and seven nights between Moscow and the Pacific.
Wikipedia ↗ - Mumbai Rajdhani
India’s first Rajdhani: the overnight flagship linking the capital with the financial capital, now in bright Tejas livery.
Wikipedia ↗
All sleepers serving these cities: night trains from Vienna · night trains from Zurich · all 117 night trains.
More train routes in Austria · Germany · Liechtenstein · Switzerland.
Planning this trip? Journey time & direct trains: Vienna → Zurich · Zurich → Vienna.