No SBB night train to Copenhagen and Malmö

Kundenservice

SBB night train to Scandinavia cannot run

Parliament has not approved the funding for the night train from Basel to Copenhagen and Malmö. As announced, the service will therefore not be launched. Customers who have already made a booking will be refunded the ticket price.

Publiziert am 30.10.2025, Aktualisiert am 09.12.2025, Lesedauer 4 Min

Update from 9 December 2025

Night trains are popular among customers. However, they are not profitable to run due to high rolling stock costs, track access charges and personnel expenses. Financial support from the Confederation would therefore have been essential for operating a new night train service from Basel to Copenhagen and Malmö.

Parliament has now definitively refused to release the requested funding. SBB acknowledges this decision. As a result, the new night train that was planned to start operating in April 2026 cannot be launched. An economically viable operation of the planned line is not possible without funding measures.

Customers will be refunded the ticket price

To enable customers to make early bookings, ticket sales opened at the beginning of November. There was proven demand. SBB was likewise on track for the planned start of operations in April 2026. SBB understands that customers may be disappointed that the service can no longer be implemented. However, the political decision must be respected. All passengers who purchased a ticket for the night train will be refunded the ticket price. SBB will notify customers in the coming days.

Media release from 30 October 2025

From 15 April 2026, SBB and RDC Deutschland will be running a new night train service from Basel to Copenhagen and Malmö. The EuroNight will run three times a week. Ticket sales for this climate-friendly alternative to air travel will launch on 4 November 2025. The service is only possible if it receives financial support from the Confederation in accordance with the CO2 Act.*

Demand for international travel is increasing. With the new EuroNight, SBB is expanding its international service with the support of its partners and contributing to climate-friendly mobility. The night train from Basel SBB to Copenhagen and Malmö is scheduled to start on 15 April 2026 and will operate three times a week in both directions throughout the year. The service will depart from Basel SBB on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 17:35 and arrive in Malmö at 9:35. The trains from Malmö will depart on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays at 18:57 and arrive in Basel SBB at 11:30.

The EuroNight offers sleeping, couchette and seating cars with space for around 350 passengers, a wheelchair-accessible compartment, plus a bistro between Basel and Padborg. Stops include Freiburg (Breisgau) main station, Karlsruhe main station, Mannheim main station, Frankfurt (Main) South, Hamburg main station, Padborg, Kolding, Odense, Hoeje Taastrup, Kobenhavns Lufthavn. Due to time constraints, the service is not scheduled to stop at Copenhagen main station, but the Danish capital is only a 15-minute S-Bahn ride away from Hoeje Taastrup or Kobenhavns Lufthavn.

Ticket sales for the EuroNight from Basel SBB to Copenhagen and Malmö are expected to start on 4 November 2025 via the SBB Mobile app, on sbb.ch and in SBB Travel Centres. Prices will be comparable to the other night train services from Switzerland. The actual price will vary depending on refund conditions and train occupancy rates in the different comfort classes.

Sleep your way to Scandinavia

The new EuroNight service offers a comfortable and direct night connection to Copenhagen and Malmö – the gateway to Scandinavia. The Scandinavian cities of Stockholm and Göteborg are within easy reach of Malmö. As the only direct connection between Switzerland and Scandinavia, the new EuroNight service provides access to attractive tourist destinations in Denmark and the other countries of Northern Europe. It covers a distance of 1,400 km through Switzerland, Germany and Denmark to Sweden. SBB is operating the night train from Basel to Copenhagen and Malmö in cooperation with RDC Deutschland, a private railway company with many years of experience in international night train services.

High popularity for night trains, funding from Swiss Confederation nonetheless needed

Despite their popularity with passengers, night trains are not profitable to run due to high rolling stock costs, track access charges and personnel expenses. For this reason, state support is also required for the launch and operation of this service for 2026 and beyond. The Swiss Confederation envisages an injection of around CHF 47 million into the service up to 2030 under the CO₂ Act. The budgets are still subject to parliamentary approval – if not forthcoming, the night train will not be able to run. In this case, SBB will inform customers as soon as possible and refund all tickets already purchased.

*In the media release of 30 October 2025, the lead stated: ‘The service will be subsidised by the Swiss Confederation under the CO₂ Act.’ This statement was misunderstood and was therefore amended as follows on 21 November 2025 and thus corresponds to the statements in the last section: ‘The service is only possible if it receives financial support from the Confederation in accordance with the CO2 Act.’