Dutch railway company NS is looking into the option of bringing back night trains from Amsterdam to Zurich, website Treinreiziger.nl reported on Tuesday.

The last night trains to Switzerland were scrapped in 2016 following a ‘dramatic’ drop in passenger numbers, due to the advance of budget airlines. However, demand is now increasing again, as more passengers say they want to travel in an environmentally-friendly way.

‘We are now assessing all the facts,’ a spokesman for NS said. ‘We are also looking at what is available in terms of trains and personnel, and the financial side.’

The aim, Treinreiziger.nl said, is to provide night trains all year round, not just for in the winter months.

This December, night train services between Amsterdam, Munich, Innsbruck and Vienna are due to start up again.

The Dutch government is injecting €6.7m into the project up to 2024 as part of efforts to encourage people to take the train as an alternative to flying.

Research by the ministry’s Institute of Mobility Policy (KiM) in July 2019 concluded that there is a strong case for the reintroduction of overnight services from the Netherlands to other European countries.