AnalysisOnly one competitor to the state-owned railways SNCF currently runs trains on the French network. This is Italy’s Trenitalia, which has been running on the Paris-Lyon-Milan axis since 2020. Although there are quite some plans...Read more
An ambitious plan for express trains between South Wales and London, and eventually between Central Scotland and London, may be back on the rails. Grand Union Trains, an ‘open access’ operator was initially refused permission...Read more
InterviewNewly founded operator Suomen Lähijunat Oy (Finland Commuter trains) has big plans in Finland. “We chipped away at the existing monopoly in Finland on the bus side, and we could very well be at a...Read more
The Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management will allow competition on the international lines to Brussels, Paris, London and Basel, as well as the service between Amsterdam and Berlin. The move is not without...Read more
FlixTrain announced an expansion of its network in Germany on Wednesday, which for the first time has a cross-border connection to Switzerland. It includes three new lines with 12 new destinations: Stuttgart – Hamburg, Berlin...Read more
AnalysisThings are moving fast for the privately owned Munich-based firm FlixMobility, which has been running FlixTrains since 2017. The acquisition of the American bus icon Greyhound in 2021 has shown a change in strategy for...Read more
There is a good chance that in the Netherlands, long-distance cross-border train connections that are part of the main rail network concession would also be established in open access. Open access would be a modest...Read more
Trenitalia has requested 550 million at the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance rolling stock for the operations of ILSA in Spain and operations under their own name in Italy.Read more
With its new winter timetable, FlixTrain is adding 10 new stops to its network from 12 December and almost 20 more destinations will be added to the network next spring. This means that by summer...Read more
Arriva is allowed to offer three new open-access train services in the Netherlands from 2023, a breakthrough in the country. The trains will run partly at night, once a week between Groningen and Schiphol and...Read more
Arriva has submitted an application in the Netherlands to run two night trains to Amsterdam from 2023, one from Groningen and one from Maastricht. The rail operator wants to compete with Dutch Railways NS on...Read more
Gaining access to the rail infrastructure and finding suitable equipment. These are the biggest stumbling blocks for private carriers to start an international connection, at least, between the Netherlands and other European cities. “The risks...Read more
European Sleeper, a brand new Dutch railway company dedicated to night trains, is planning to launch a new night train service together with RegioJet connecting Prague – Dresden – Berlin – Amsterdam – Brussels. The...Read more
The Dutch Government is starting a market exploration of the possibilities for open access on the international railway lines to and from the Netherlands. National and international carriers are called upon to express their interest...Read more
