GoVolta to start operating open-access trains
posted on 11th Dec 2025 09:13
During a press conference at Breda on 8 December 2025, Dutch private train operator GoVolta has announced the start of its first open-access international train services on 19 March 2026: one between Amsterdam and Berlin and another one linking Amsterdam and Hamburg. The first train to run is departing from Amsterdam Centraal on 19 March, heading for Berlin, the first train from Amsterdam to Hamburg will depart on 20 March 2026.
The trains will make a go-and-return from and back to Amsterdam on the same day. The Amsterdam - Berlin train will run three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday), while the three times a week Amsterdam - Hamburg will run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The frequency of both services will be turned into a daily service on a moment to be determined during summer 2026.
The Amsterdam - Hamburg service will call at Amersfoort Centraal, Deventer, Hengelo and cross the Dutch - German border at Bad Bentheim. Before arriving to Hamburg, the train will call at Bremen Hbf. Terminus station is Hamburg-Harburg. The Amsterdam - Berlin train services will call at Amersfoort Centraal, Deventer, Hengelo, Bad Bentheim, Osnabrück Hbf, Hannover Hbf and terminate at Berlin Gesundbrunnen. In summer 2026 the terminus will change to Berlin Spandau.
GoVolta is a company established by Hessel Winkelman and Maarten Bastian. Both entrepreneurs have been active in railways for some years already and are particularly interested in developing low-cost, comfortable international train services. In the past they have established the company Green City Trip, which was purchased by Dutch night train operator European Sleeper recently.
Green City Trip organised and operated charter night train services from the Netherlands to various destinations in Europe, such as to Praha, bringing passengers to the destination where they could stay several nights in a hotel and taking them by night train back to the Netherlands. Now both entrepreneurs opt for daytime train services instead of night trains.
Maarten Bastian, one of the GoVolta-founders states: “We have noticed that many people would like to travel by train, however ending up by choosing for airplane or car as train travel is too expensive and/or too complicated. GoVolta we will make it very simple: affordable train tickets and always a guarantee for a seat. Additionally, we offer full service city trips. So you can book directly too at the same time, the only difference is that passengers will board a train instead of an airplane.”
Hessel Winkelman adds: “We want that, traveling from Amsterdam, it is as natural to travel by train as to go by plane for destinations like Hamburg, Berlin and Paris. If we set it up well -regarding price, comfort and reliability - many people will prefer to travel by train. After Netherlands we would like to built up a network in Europe, so GoVolta can expand to become the low-cost train company for international train travel in Europe.”
Tickets and fares
The GoVolta founders informed after one hour of press conference that online ticket sale went ‘live’ at the start of the press meeting and already counted 452 sold tickets. Fares start from 10 EUR, but GoVolta indicates that average fares will be around 30 EUR for a single trip on the entire route. About 10 % of the seats will be offered at 10 EUR, the rest will be offered based in the marketing way as in airliners. This applies also to luggage: two pieces of hand luggage are for free, for large luggage has to be paid an extra fee.
GoVolta offers “seat maps” of the coaching stock so passengers can choose and make reservations for their preferred seats. A new thing is that people can make a reservation of, for example, a 2 + 2 face-to-face seating arrangement. For enjoying more leg space and to chose a perspective in direction of traveling with view forward or backward, GoVolta offers the opportunity to ‘buy off’ the opposite seats for a small extra. This is called XL Duo Seat.
Purchasing tickets can be made in the internet on the GoVolta website. Furthermore, there are other channels for ticket sale, such as various ticket purchasing through ticket sales of other railway undertakings as DB, retailers, travel agencies and other internet ticket suppliers. This applies also to combined train ticket and hotel offers. NS is not supporting GoVolta in ticket sales.
In the Netherlands the GoVolta train is only accessible for international passengers. Cabotage on Dutch territory is not possible as it has been forbidden by law. The Public Transport Act (Wet Personenvervoer 2000) stipulates that public transport is only allowed when having a concession by the competent public transport authority, in casu, given the route, the Dutch state which has granted the Main Line Network Concession to NS, having the exclusive right, a matter which is disputed at the European Court of Justice.
Rolling stock and operations
GoVolta has purchased Type I10 second-hand coaches from SNCB. When starting operations, GoVolta will have 11 coaches available: two first class (Comfort class with a 1 + 2 seating arrangement) and eight second class coaches (Economy class with 2 + 2 face to face seating arrangement in an open compartment) plus one lounge coach for food and drinks. In seats there are 132 in Comfort Class and 688 in Economy Class, totalling 820. Soon more coaching stock will be added to the fleet.
Plans and ambitions
GoVolta, aiming on economic train travel and offering a sustainable alternative to other transport modes, plans to start its own open-access train service between Amsterdam Centraal and Paris Gare du Nord, not running via high speed lines, but instead via the ‘classic route’ with border crossing at Roosendaal. The route via Belgium and in the North of France is still to be elaborated. Choices have to be made whether to go via Brussels, Mons, Aulnoye-Aymeries and Creil, or to go via Gent (Ghent) and Lille to Paris Gare du Nord. This train service is to start in December 2026.
For the long term GoVolta aims on similar services between Amsterdam and Frankfurt, to Basel and München, Brugge (Bruges) and København. Applications for checking economic equilibrium have been already submitted to the Netherlands regulatory body for railways, i. e. ACM (Autoriteit Consument en Markt, Authority for Consumers and Market). In the end, as is the ambition of GoVolta, an international train network is to be created.
Quintus Vosman
