The first vehicles will be deployed on the long-distance route from Milan to Sicily, which crosses the Strait of Messina on Europe’s last remaining passenger train ferry.

The European Sleeper offers seated, couchette and sleeping carriages (Credit: European Sleeper) For all their romanticism and charm, night trains remain a niche mode of transport.

Only an average of six new carriages per year were ordered between 2001 and 2017, meaning it would take 250 years to replace the continent’s nearly 1,500 dedicated night train carriages with ...