The leaders of five Northern European countries are meeting in Brussels, to talk about beginning research into a faster train link from the Netherlands, through Germany, and up into Scandinavia, which might, according to NL Times, result in an overnight train between the cities.
You’d be right to note that these plans, if they can even be called such, sound pretty flimsy. But nonetheless, some details of the proposed overnight train are available, and we always get excited about overnight trains here at DutchReview, so we couldn’t resist sharing them with you.
Five cities pushing for better train links
The original rumours of this meeting came from Dagblad van het Noorden, which was privy to internal emails between the negotiating parties. The five cities that are the driving force behind this railway link are Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki, who are ambitiously calling themselves the “big five”, according to Sikkom.
EU lags behind Asia when it comes to train connections
We’ll forgive the cringe factor if they do actually get an overnight train going, though. The European Union wants to improve its rail network, lagging, as it does, well behind Asian countries. And as the environmental costs of flying become more and more apparent, it becomes equally clear that it is trains, and not airlines, that will be taking us on our future international trips.
Groningen is also a strong advocate for this new line
Fast trains are essential when we need to cover long distances, and this potential new plan takes that into account. The new Lely line in the north of the Netherlands will be a high speed track, which is why the municipality of Groningen is especially advocating for this train link with Scandinavia.
Would you choose this over a flight from the Netherlands to Scandinavia? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Feature image: John_kast/Pixabay
Yes, I’d rather catch a train overnight, than flying. Oslo needs to be added too.
A train to Brussels or Paris from Amsterdam makes perfect sense. But there is a lot of work to do before Scandinavia makes sense. Look at the relatively slow service between Amsterdam and Berlin. If I don’t have much luggage, I recommend the plane. The rolling stock on the Berlin train is ancient and last summer travelling first class I had to endure a boiling hot carriage with broken air conditioning. Forget about complaining or getting a refund. You can’t select your seat – I got one with no table so no laptop work was possible. NS International is famous for being unhelpful and inefficient when it comes to time table changes. There is so much to do before I would even THINK about taking the train to Scandinavia. Beware of the slick NS propaganda which has little bearing on reality.
Yes, I would certainly welcome an overnight train to Scandinavië
This would be super cool! I definitely need to explore more of Netherlands and Scandinavia