Following the arrival of the first regularly running night train since 2003, several environmental organisations emphasise that the impact of the Vienna-Brussels night train is 11 times smaller than the same trip by airplane.
Brussels will be connected to the large "nightjet network" of the OBB, the Austrian railways. The night train will run twice a week between Brussels and Vienna, with several stops in Germany and stopping in Liège, Brussels-North and Brussels-Midi stations in Belgium, reports VRT.
Bond Beter Leefmilieu, an association for a better environment, Greenpeace and TrainTramBus are asking the government and the Belgian railway organisation NMBS/SNCB to develop Brussels into an important hub in the night train network.
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Several activist groups, including Zomer Zonder Vliegen (Summer Without Flying) and Back on Track Belgium, are calling the connection "a new promising step," reports Bruzz.
"There should be night trains from Brussels to several European capitals," the groups said, appealing not only to the railway company, but to the government as well. "The new management agreement, which is already six years overdue, must include an ambitious section on night trains and international passenger transport," they added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times