Yesterday evening, the ALLRAIL member operator European Sleeper launched the first ever passenger rail service between Prague and Brussels.

Furthermore, it is a night train, with both sleeper coaches (both couchettes & private compartments) and standard class seating.

Last but not least, it is Open Access 100% commercially driven, meaning that this train operates without PSO taxpayer subsidy.

The Single European Railway Area (SERA) can be a cause of our common prosperity – and introduce new cross-border rail options.

Here we see an example of what could happen across Europe if there were to be a genuine single market, namely:

• Entrepreneurs who start a new cross-border passenger rail service that has never been offered before

ALLRAIL’s Policy Officer Salim Benkirane is a strong proponent of European integration. He is on the first train from Prague, which will arrive in Brussels in just over one hour from now.

He says: “next month, it will be 20 years since the Czech Republic (CZ) entered the EU. Therefore, it is great to be on the first-ever direct rail service between CZ and Belgium, the country that hosts the EU Commission and the European Council.”

ALLRAIL advocates for a faster harmonisation of the fragmented EU Member State railway systems. This is so that a genuine Single European Railway Area can come about and enable more new cross-border services like that of European Sleeper.

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