The classification and name were brought into use in May 1993.[1] Unlike the equivalent day-running counterparts
EuroCity and
InterCity trains, the EuroNight trains tend to run during the
nighttime and are equipped with various
cars for accommodating sleep services. Nearly all EuroNight trains require reservations and additional fare supplements in addition to the regular cost of a ticket from the destination to the arrival point. These supplements vary in price depending on whether the traveler wishes to sit in a regular seat, a
couchette "lying bed", which offers a padded, felt bed with a blanket and small pillow, or a
sleeping bed, which allows a mattress bed with full bedding (sheets, comforters, pillows).
Nearly all EuroNight services are international and jointly operated by
national rail companies sharing cars on a route. EN trains are the standard night-train service for
Western and most
Central European nations. They are distinct from the older D-Nacht services, many of which still operate in Central and
Eastern Europe. EN trains have criteria that rail companies must match in order to receive EN designation; the numbering format is EN 999; many routes also have accompanying names derived in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Operating carriers
The following carriers currently have designated cars and
train conductors who work the EN lines. Many railway companies share cars on the same train line between routes; for example, EN 235 between
Vienna and
Rome share cars of both the
ÖBB and
Trenitalia.
Austria's
ÖBB (introducing in December 2016 its
Nightjet-Services)
Deutsche Bahn operated the additional
City Night Line hotel-quality night services between
Germany,
Italy, the
Czech Republic,
Switzerland, and
The Netherlands. Two of those, the Kopernikus and the Canopus, were designated EuroNight trains as EN 458/459. Deutsche Bahn terminated all of its own night train services by December 2016.[3]