Euro Night

Euro Night

EuroNight, abbreviated EN, denotes many main-line national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. The classification and name were brought into use in May 1993. Unlike the equivalent day-running counterparts EuroCity and InterCity trains, the EuroNight trains tend to run during the nighttime and are equipped with various cars for accommodating sleep services. Nearly all EuroNight trains require reservations and additional fare-supplements in addition to the regular cost of a ticket from the destination to the arrival point. These supplements vary in price depending on whether the traveler wishes to sit in a regular seat, a couchette "lying bed" which offers a padded, felt bed with a blanket and small pillow, or a sleeping bed which allows a mattress bed with full-bedding (sheets, comforters, pillows).

Nearly all EuroNight services are international services (though a few large nations, including France and Germany, operate EN services nationally) and are jointly operated by various national rail companies, with many rail companies sharing cars on the route. EN trains developed and became the standard night-train service for all Western and most Central European nations, receiving special designation from the older D-Nacht services (many of which still operate in Central and Eastern Europe). EN trains have special criteria that rail companies must match in order to receive the EN designation.

Train numbers follow the EN designation. Many routes also have accompanying names that originally designated the route in the 19th and 20th centuries (EN 264 still operates on the classic Orient Express route from Vienna to Strasbourg, for example).