European Sleeper launched the inaugural trip of its night train from Brussels to Venice on the evening of Wednesday 5 February. However, due to technical issues, the train will not make it all the way to Italy on its first trip.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, European Sleeper's co-founder Chris Engelsman confirmed that the train would not be allowed to travel past Innsbruck in Austria.
"We were informed that the train cannot ride on to Italy because of technical issues," he said. "The train has not been given the green light to ride the Italian railway tracks."
People travelling on the train on Wednesday night, including many members of the press, will have to alight the European Sleeper train in Innsbruck, and board another train by Austrian railway company ÖBB to travel on to Italy.
Travellers have been informed that they will have to transfer to a different train on their way to Venice.
"This is not the best start to this journey. This is proof that train travel is all about unexpected events," Engelsman concluded with a laugh.
Wednesday's trip was the first of six in a pilot project for overnight train travel between Belgium and Italy. It is currently unclear whether European Sleeper will be allowed to make the Italian part of the return journey during the night of Sunday 9 February.
