Together on the night route: SJ and RDC sign cooperation agreement for the EuroNight
From 13 December 2026, the EuroNight will operate under a new partnership between SJ and RDC.
SJ and RDC Deutschland have signed a cooperation agreement for a joint night train service between Stockholm and Hamburg as well as Berlin. The companies have worked together in night train services to Germany since 2022 and are now deepening their cooperation by sharing responsibility for, and the economic risk of, the service. SJ is responsible for sales and for production in Sweden and Denmark; RDC is responsible for production in Germany and provides the rolling stock. From the timetable change on 13 December 2026, the SJ EuroNight will run three times per week in each direction – for the time being with one rotation per week to and from Berlin and two rotations to and from Hamburg.
How the partnership came about
SJ had announced that it would discontinue international night train services to Germany after state support from Sweden for the route was withdrawn. Despite strong demand, the high production costs make it difficult to operate the service sustainably in the long term without support. Since September 2026, however, RDC has continued the service on its own commercial responsibility as RDC EuroNight with three departures per week from Sweden and Germany, thus keeping the direct connection alive. Both sides have now agreed to pool their strengths again and operate the joint EuroNight Stockholm-Hamburg- Berlin together once more.
„The demand for international rail travel is high, and we want to further develop the opportunities to travel by train between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. Together with RDC, we can resume the EuroNight and at the same time create better conditions for stable and sustainably viable long-term operations. Hamburg is also an important hub for passengers continuing on to other parts of Europe“, says Jonas Abrahamsson, CEO of SJ.
„In recent months we have shown that this night train works – thanks to dedicated teams at RDC and SJ and passengers who value it. Together with SJ, we are now putting the service on a shared footing: each partner contributes what it does best and takes on its share of the economic risk. On this basis, we want to offer a reliable night train connection between Scandinavia and Germany in the long term“, says Markus Hunkel, CEO of RDC.
The offer from December 2026
The „new“ SJ EuroNight will start on 13 December 2026 with the transition to the 2027 timetable under the joint banner of SJ and RDC. Tickets for journeys up to and including 31 January 2027 are already available now at www.nachtexpress.de and www.nattexpressen.se. Journeys from 1 February 2027 will soon be available again on www.sj.se, via the SJ app and in DB Navigator or at www.bahn.de. Tickets already booked remain valid.
For questions about the EuroNight Stockholm–Hamburg–Berlin, passengers can contact customer service at info@nachtexpress.de.
