The public transport provider in the Netherlands, NS, has submitted documents to market regulator ACM with plans to launch a new night train connecting Amsterdam, Bad Bentheim and Vienna.

Direct night train through the Netherlands and Germany to Vienna

Together with the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), NS wants to run a new night train starting in Amsterdam and calling in Amersfoort, Deventer, and Bad Bentheim in Lower Saxony, as well as other cities in Germany and Austria - though which specific German cities is yet unclear.

NS and ÖBB plan to split the existing Nightjet train line that runs via Innsbruck to Vienna into two lines, adding a new route via Deventer at the end of 2025. The current Nightjet train from Amsterdam stops in 11 cities including Arnhem, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Nuremberg and finally Vienna. 

The news came after NS submitted its plan to the market regulator ACM. Dutch publication De Stentor reported on the documents but didn’t extrapolate which additional German cities would be connected to Vienna by the new route.

New generation Nightjet trains between Bad Bentheim and Vienna

The plans submitted to ACM include using the new generation of “DANI” Nightjet trains on the international route. The new train will be able to carry 416 passengers, spread over several sleeping cars, couchette carriages, minicabs, lounge compartments and normal seats.

Starting in Amsterdam, the journey would take approximately 14 hours and nine minutes - about an hour less if departing from Bad Bentheim - and would likely depart from Amsterdam Centraal station at around 7pm and arrive in Vienna at around 9am the next morning. On the return trip, the train would leave Vienna at around 8pm and arrive in Amsterdam at close to 10am.

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