Car-carrying night trains in Europe that still run

Car-carrying night trains, where your car rides on a wagon behind the sleeping cars, have become rare in Europe. Deutsche Bahn and SNCF both gave theirs up years ago. A handful still run: ÖBB inside Austria, two German operators out of Hamburg and Düsseldorf, the Prague to eastern Slovakia train, the Optima Express from Austria to Turkey, and VR in Finland. This list gives the operator, the route and the season as each operator publishes them, checked 16 October 2026.

The trains that still run

• ÖBB Nightjet (Austria): the Nightjet car and motorcycle page now offers a single destination country, Austria. The Austria page has directions to three loading stations: Vienna Hauptbahnhof, Graz Hauptbahnhof and Feldkirch. Vehicle tickets go on sale six months before departure, and every passenger also needs a personal ticket.
• Urlaubs-Express (UEX), Germany: in winter 2026/27 the UEX car train runs from Hamburg to Munich, with cars loaded at Hamburg-Altona and München Süd, on travel days from December 2026 to March 2027. For summer 2027 UEX names five terminals, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Lörrach, Munich and Villach, with travel dates from May to October 2027.
• BTE AutoReiseZug, Germany: a non-stop train between Hamburg-Altona and Lörrach, near Basel. BTE lists 20 travel days in winter 2026/27 and 108 in summer 2027, and says all days up to October 2027 can be booked.
• České dráhy with ZSSK (Prague to Slovakia): the night trains EN 443 and EN 442 carry cars and motorcycles between the Praha-Michle car terminal and Košice, Humenné and Poprad-Tatry, and ZSSK lists the same trains. On the ČD car train page the Košice service runs daily. Humenné does not run from 8 October to 16 November 2026 because of works at Košice station. Poprad-Tatry runs only on a few dates this autumn, and ČD says regular service on that leg will not return in December 2026 or in 2027.
• Optima Express (Optima Tours): a car train from Villach in Austria to Edirne in Turkey. On the Optima timetable train 141 leaves Villach about once a week from 25 April to 10 November 2026, at 21:59, and reaches Edirne around 11:34 two days later. Train 154 returns from Edirne between 28 April and 13 November 2026.
• VR (Finland): car-carrying night trains to Lapland. We cover the Kolari train, the car loading and the prices in our guide to the night train from Helsinki to Kolari.

How the operators differ

The operators sell and schedule their trains in different ways.

• Who sells what: UEX is sold by Train4you and BTE by BahnTouristikExpress in Nuremberg, each through its own booking site. ÖBB sells vehicle tickets online, at ÖBB counters, through its customer service and through travel agencies. Optima Tours is based in Munich.
• Seats without a car: BTE says that from December to April you can also travel between Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Freiburg and Lörrach without a vehicle. UEX also runs ski trains to Tirol and the Salzburg region in winter.
• Timetable status: UEX calls its published timetables non-binding and for planning only. The binding times are in the travel documents. BTE and ČD say the same about their times.
• Season: the ČD train to Košice is the only one marked as daily. UEX, BTE and Optima run on set travel days only.

Size limits and loading

ÖBB's car and motorcycle FAQ says that in general only cars no higher than 158 cm and no wider than 200 cm can be carried, and that ÖBB customer service can advise on exceptions for taller cars. If your car is taller than 158 cm, you must state the extra height when booking, and depending on the destination the maximum is 205 cm or 196 cm, depending on the roof width. Vehicles with pop-up roofs or camper hardtops are not accepted. Only closed ski carriers are allowed, ski bags are not.

Loading at ÖBB usually starts one to two hours before departure, and you drive the car onto the wagon yourself while the staff secure it. Nobody may stay in the car during the journey, including animals. Motorcycles, cars taller than 158 cm and cars with non-metallic roofs have to be there when loading starts.

ÖBB's refund rules for vehicle tickets: free cancellation up to 15 days before the first day of validity, then half the fare back until the day before (ÖBB states a minimum of 15 euros), and nothing from the first day of validity.

Which ones are gone

• Deutsche Bahn: announced in July 2014 that it would phase out its car trains step by step by 2017, Handelsblatt reported.
• SNCF: the Autotrain service was to make its last journey on 14 December 2019, according to the Journal du Dimanche, after years of falling demand.
• ÖBB outside Austria: the Nightjet car pages no longer list any destination abroad, and ÖBB's page for cars on the Vienna to Split EuroNight now returns "page not found". We have not found an ÖBB statement giving the year each foreign car route ended, so we do not give one.
• ČD to Poprad-Tatry: see above. Regular car service to the High Tatras will not return in December 2026 or in 2027.

If you know of a car train we have missed, you can tell us. It is checked by an editor before anything is shown.

Read more: More night train guides