Europe is definitely making strides in convincing travelers to choose train travel over air travel. Yet another high-speed train will soon be available to take passengers between Paris and Berlin in just seven hours. Even better, more destinations will eventually be available for high-speed rail travel, reducing travelers’ carbon impact.

New high-speed train between Paris and Berlin in 2023

As people become more aware of climate change and global warming, more are finding ways to reduce their impact. In fact, train travel is becoming the new “thing” for travelers and while currently, it can be slower than air travel, this is set to change.

Continuing the popularity of high-speed rail travel in Europe, a new direct line between Paris and Berlin is set to launch next year. Speaking of the new service, French rail operator SNCF said the new service could be up and running as soon as December 2023.

SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou told AFP that it makes sense because they see people accepting longer and longer journeys. “There are really people who are willing to spend five hours, six hours, seven hours on a train,” he added. Farandou explained that the Paris to Berlin route would take seven hours.

Demand increases for high-speed rail travel

Currently, high-speed train services are available through SNCF and German rail operator Deutsche Bahn. Meanwhile, they travel between Paris and Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Mannheim in Germany. However, currently, there is no direct line between Berlin and the French capital.

Meanwhile, Alain Krakovitch of SNCF said demand for high-speed train travel is definitely showing no signs of slowing down in Europe. He then pointed to the success of the Paris-Barcelona and Paris-Milan high-speed links as the motivation to connect Paris with more cities across Europe.

The observation we make today is that Paris-Milan and Paris-Barcelona have amazing occupancy rates: on Paris-Milan, the offer has doubled with the arrival of Trenitalia (the Italian high-speed rail company that began operations in France last year), and despite that, the trains are full.

We should be able to have the same thing on Paris-Berlin.

Initially, there will be one train running between the two capitals each day from December 2023. However, a new night service will launch later on.

What else is happening on the European rails?

In the meantime, the high-speed train service, Eurostar, is teaming up with the French-Belgian operator Thalys. Their plan is to directly connect London with German cities for the first time. On top of this, the EuroNight rail service of Sweden’s SJ plans to launch in September this year. This will offer passengers even more choice of destinations when traveling Europe by rail. For example, a night service will be provided from Sweden’s capital Stockholm to Hamburg in Germany, including a stop in Copenhagen along the way.

Meanwhile, the Hamburg stop will also fill the missing link in train travel between the UK and Sweden by connecting London with Stockholm. When this service launches, passengers in London will be able to take the Eurostar to Brussels. The next step is a train to Hamburg to join the EuroNight service to Stockholm. The 9 pm service to Stockholm will arrive at 10 am the next morning, just in time for breakfast.