NIGHT TRAINS: RDC Deutschland runs the Berlin–Hamburg–Stockholm night train at its own risk from 1 September, three times a week. A week earlier it joined European Sleeper’s plan for a Malmö sleeper.
SJ, the Swedish state operator, held the route on a four-year contract with infrastructure manager Trafikverket that expired on 31 July, and scheduled its final departure for 31 August, according to Christer Litzell, SJ’s business manager for the EuroNight service.
RDC, a Hamburg-based rolling stock owner and railway undertaking controlled by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, owns the coaches and runs the train three nights a week, two of them from Berlin, without public support. SJ continues to provide operational support on the Scandinavian section.
Snälltåget’s seasonal Stockholm–Berlin train, running until 7 January 2027, is the corridor’s only other night train. RDC is the responsible railway undertaking for the whole route, and the European Sleeper partnership, announced on 25 August, would add a Brussels–Copenhagen–Malmö route planned for April 2028. A third route with RDC coaches, SBB’s Basel–Copenhagen–Malmö, was cancelled in December when the Swiss parliament refused to fund it.
The 2021 contract
Trafikverket awarded SJ the Stockholm–Hamburg night train in August 2021 for four years, with a possible two-year extension and 244 days a year under the contract, with SJ running the remaining days commercially. RDC was SJ’s main partner for coaches, crews and traction in Germany, and DSB hauled the train through Denmark.
SJ’s own sleeping cars are too wide for the continental network, so the fleet came from RDC from the first departure in September 2022. The Swedish government did not fund an extension, and SJ announced in October 2025 that it would withdraw. RDC said the same month that it would continue the route on its own at three departures a week, down from the 244 days a year the contract covered.
Timetable to 12 December
Northbound trains leave Berlin-Lichtenberg at 19:06 until 5 October and at 18:39 thereafter, calling at Hamburg Hbf at 21:53 and reaching Stockholm Central at 09:45; one of the three weekly runs starts in Hamburg. Southbound, EN 345 leaves Stockholm Central at 17:29, with two weekly runs continuing to Berlin Gesundbrunnen and the third terminating in Hamburg at 05:53.
On 26 September and 10 October the southbound train runs via Göteborg, leaving Stockholm at 17:10. RDC describes the service as year-round.
Malmö route from 2028
European Sleeper plans three departures a week from both Brussels and Malmö at about 19:00, arriving at about 10:00 the following morning. The cooperative is raising EUR 2.5m in bonds from its members this autumn. RDC already supplies night train coaches for European Sleeper’s Paris–Berlin service and for its Brussels–Milan train, due to start on 9 September, according to co-founder Chris Engelsman.