Berlin startup Nox Mobility will launch its first night train on 23 March 2027, running between Hamburg and Munich three times a week in each direction. The route stops at Bremen and Augsburg, turning an overnight trip into a genuine alternative to a domestic flight.
The twist is that every passenger gets their own 'Nox Suite'. It's not a private bedroom, but it's more than a standard seat: a large chair with a table for working or eating, room for bulky luggage, power outlets, and enough space to unfold into a lounge position beside the window with two metres to stretch out overnight. True private sleeping cabins, the 'Nox Rooms' for one or two people, won't arrive until 2029 — a slower rollout than the company originally promised when it unveiled plans in 2025.
The timetable is aimed squarely at business travellers and rail fans who hate wasting daytime hours. Heading south, the train leaves Hamburg at 9:22 pm, calls at Bremen at 10:30 pm, reaches Augsburg at 7:35 am and pulls into Munich at 8:14 am. Northbound, it departs Munich at 9:20 pm, stops in Augsburg at 9:51 pm and Bremen at 7:20 am, and arrives in Hamburg at 8:27 am. Fares start at €65 one-way — competitive with a budget flight plus a hotel night, which is exactly the pitch. Co-founder Thibault Constant has said a Nox night should bundle what used to take three separate bookings: transport, accommodation and your morning at the destination.
Munich is just the beginning for the young operator. Nox has talked about linking 100 European cities by 2035, with Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Budapest and Rome all on its wish list. If it delivers, it would add real momentum to Europe's night train revival, filling gaps where daytime high-speed rail is too slow and flying is the only quick option.
For anyone travelling between northern and southern Germany, this is worth bookmarking. You leave after dinner, get a workspace and a lie-flat-ish seat all to yourself, and step off in Munich or Hamburg ready for the day. Whether three weekly departures and a premium seat-cabin hybrid will tempt people out of the sky is the big question — but at €65 entry price, it's an easy experiment.
