Arenaways — the commercial brand of Longitude Holding, in which Renfe Proyectos Internacionales holds a 33% stake — will be responsible for traction on Italian territory for European Sleeper’s new night train linking Milan and Brussels.
The agreement mirrors the arrangement both companies sought for the winter Brussels–Venice night service, where the absence of a signed contract ultimately led the operator to turn to Trenitalia.
The service is scheduled to commence on 9 September 2026 from Milano Porta Garibaldi, operating on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with intermediate calls at Como, several Swiss locations, Cologne, Aachen, and Liège before reaching Brussels.
End-to-end journey time is 17 hours, with northbound departures from Brussels on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Additional stops from December
With the introduction of the 2026–2027 timetable on 13 December, the route will be extended to include Breda and Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium, restoring for the first time in many years a direct overnight link between the Netherlands and Italy without interchange.
In Switzerland, the service will call at Aarau instead of Zürich, located approximately 30 minutes away by regional train.
From 14 December, operating days will be revised: southbound on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and northbound on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Tickets went on sale on 2 June, with fares starting at €29.99 in Budget class (seated), €49.99 in Classic (couchette with bed linen), €99.99 in Comfort Standard and €129.99 in Comfort Plus, the latter including breakfast.
Renfe in Italy
Renfe Proyectos Internacionales acquired its 33% stake in Longitude Holding in November 2024, with the first joint project being the reinstatement of a regional passenger service in Piedmont in January 2025.