Night train to Lisbon suspended by Spanish government
Unfortunately, the night train to Lisbon has been discontinued until further notice. Both on the Sud Express connection from Hendaye (France) and on the Lusitania from Madrid (Spain) to Lisbon.
María José Rallo, Secretary General for Transport and Mobility, announced last week in the Spanish Parliament that the night trains that travelled across the Iberian Peninsula before the pandemic will not resume their journey. The reason: high-speed transport has such competitive travel times that it is no longer justifiable to maintain trains that need one night to connect two cities.
This leaves Portugal more or less cut off from the European rail network. Whether the Portuguese CP can manage the night trains without RENFE is the big question.
A decision we absolutely cannot understand in the "Year of the Railway in Europe". It shows once again the lack of understanding of certain politicians and decision-makers of actual travel movements and wishes. On rail.cc, these two night train connections are among the most requested, as are long-distance train connections to Spain and Portugal in general. It was already a shame to discontinue the night trains from Paris to Madrid and from Zurich to Barcelona.
Hopefully, the realisation will come, because according to our years of expert experience, this decision is absolutely demonstrably wrong!
