The Guardian reported that a twice-weekly local service from the northeastern Polish city of Białystok to Kaunas in Lithuania was introduced on July 1. The service is now being upgraded to Intercity status, with daily departures from the southern Polish city of Kraków and the capital Warsaw to Lithuania, the newspaper said.
The British daily outlined the details of the service: "The train leaves Kraków at 4.01am, when sensible travellers should really still be asleep. The Warsaw departure is at 7.35am, giving late-afternoon arrivals in Kaunas and Vilnius. One curiosity of the new service is that an easy cross-platform change of train is necessary at Mockava, a small station just inside Lithuania, where passengers switch from the Polish train to a Lithuanian one. It’s a guaranteed connection and there are through fares. A one-way ticket for the nine-hour journey from Warsaw to Vilnius starts at 120 złoty (about £22)."
The Guardian also recommended overnight trains between Stuttgart and Venice and between Munich and Genoa.
It said: “Night trains have been in the spotlight this past year or two. A collective determination to curb flying has driven demand for overnight trains, but there’s another key factor. The pandemic encouraged us all to rethink how we value personal space, and suddenly the possibility of a comfortable overnight journey in a private compartment holds special appeal, be it a solo or twin-occupancy sleeper or a couchette compartment for a whole family."
(mk/gs)