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December 2024

Bus l'Hospitalet-Andorra reinstated

Some good news, after a break of some years a bus service has been reinstated from Andorre-l'Hospitalet (the closest station to Andorra) to Andorra La Vella.  It runs twice a day, and will connect with trains including the overnight sleeper from Paris.  The bus is run by Hife, www.hife.es.  I hope it lasts!  If you get any photos or feedback, I'd love to hear.

No more free transfer in Brussels

From 15 December, a Eurostar ticket to Brussels will no longer entitle you to a free transfer by domestic train within Brussels (for example from Midi to Central or Nord).  Another little bit of integration disintegrates.

Changes in the 2025 European timetable

Each year, I compile a list of the significant changes in the European 2025 timetable, which starts 15 December 2024:

November 2024

Budapest-Belgrade partial reopening delayed to 8 December

Direct express trains between Budapest & Belgrade have been suspended since 2019 while the line is completely rebuilt, completion is due for 2026 when trains will link Budapest & Belgrade in just 2h40.  The Novi Sad-Belgrade section reopened in 2022 and the Subotica-Novi Sad section was going to reopen on 24 November 2024, allowing 200 km/h SOKO trains to link Subotica & Belgrade.  It will then be possible to travel from Budapest to Belgrade 3 times a day in around 6h50, with changes of train at Szeged & Subotica.  However, due to an accident with the station canopy at Novi Sad, start of this new service has been delayed until at least 8 December.  Details of the new service are on the Budapest to Belgrade page.

Update:  It didn't start on 8 December, it's postponed yet again, to a date tbc.

Amsterdam>London Eurostars to resume 10 Feb 2025

The new Eurostar terminal at Amsterdam Centraal was due to open in December, but station renovation work has overrun.  The new terminal will open and direct Amsterdam>London Eurostars will resume on 10 February.

Changes in the 2025 European timetable

Each year, I compile a list of the significant changes in the European 2025 timetable, which starts 15 December 2024:

Odds & ends this month

October 2024

Dublin-Belfast Enterprise trains go hourly

From 29 October, the 2-hourly Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast is increased to hourly, a much needed improvement from 8 trains a day to 15.  To do this, not all departures will be operated with the original excellent Enterprise trainsets.  Some will be operated by Irish Rail Intercity Railcars (which also have 1st class and catering) and by Translink class 3000 diesel units which only have 2nd class and no catering.  New trains are to be ordered for this route, but are some years away.

Bashtil station opens in Cairo

A vast modern station opened in Cairo this month called Bashtil, some 7km west of Cairo's historic Ramses station.  It seems to be handling the deluxe sleeper trains to/from Upper Egypt already.  Other trains will no doubt follow, if they haven't already.  I have added it to the Egypt page.

Belfast Grand Central Station opens for trains 13 October

Trains will start using Belfast's swish new Grand Central Station from Sunday 13 October 2024, including the Enterprise Expresses to/from Dublin.  It's next to the site of the former Great Victoria station in downtown Belfast, much closer to the centre than the old Lanyon Place station.

Stuttgart-Venice, Munich-Rome sleepers cancelled until July 2025

The Stuttgart-Venice, Munich-Rome and Munich-La Spezia Nightjet sleepers will be cancelled from 17 November 2024 to 13 July 2025, due to the closure of the Tauern Tunnel for major maintenance.  The Zurich/Stuttgart-Zagreb sleeper will be diverted via Graz and won't call at Lesce-Bled or Ljubljana.  I have added warnings to all relevant sections (if you find a section without a warning paragraph, let me know!

Changes expected in the 2025 timetable

Each year, I compile a list of significant changes expected in the European 2025 timetable, which starts 15 December 2024:

September 2024

Budapest-Belgrade partially reopens 24 November

Direct express trains between Budapest & Belgrade have been suspended since 2019 while the line is completely rebuilt, completion is due for 2026 when trains will link Budapest & Belgrade in just 2h40.  The Novi Sad-Belgrade section reopened in 2022 and the Subotica-Novi Sad section will reopen on 24 November 2024, allowing 200 km/h SOKO trains to link Subotica & Belgrade.  It will then be possible to travel from Budapest to Belgrade 3 times a day in around 6h50, with changes of train at Szeged & Subotica.  Details of the new service are on the Budapest to Belgrade page.  Update:  Now delayed to at least 8 December.

Sales opening for Christmas

The 2025 timetable starts on 15 December all over Europe and booking horizons are never maintained over the timetable change!  Sales of French trains for dates 15 December to 8 January will open 2 October.  German & Austrian trains for dates after 15 December are likely to open around 16 October.

Brussels-Venice sleeper in Feb & March 2025

On various dates in February & March 2025, open-access train operator European Sleeper (www.europeansleeper.eu) will run a sleeper train linking Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Utrecht with Munich, Innsbruck, Verona & Venice via the scenic Brenner Pass.  You'll be able to travel from London to Venice with one easy same-station change in Brussels.  Details are now on a new European Sleeper to Venice page, more info will be added when known.  Booking will open this month.

Gotthard Base Tunnel back to normal

On 2 September, normal service resumed between Zurich & Milan via the Gotthard Base Tunnel.  Trains had been diverted over the old scenic Gotthard line since August 2023 when a freight train derailed inside the tunnel, seriously damaging it.  I have now removed the warning updates.

Changes expected in the 2025 timetable

Each year, I start a list of significant changes expected in the European 2025 timetable, which starts 15 December 2024:

Odds & ends this month

August 2024

LNER abolish Off-Peak fares to more stations: The workaround

In February, UK train operator LNER abolished the flexible, refundable Super-Off-Peak fare between London and Newcastle, Berwick & Edinburgh.  From 1 October they will also abolish it between London and all stations Newcastle to Edinburgh Gateway, inclusive.  The replacement is an inflexible, dynamically-priced Advance 70 Flex fare which is less flexible than the Super Off-Peak fare it replaces and often more expensive.  And if you have to cancel your trip, you lose all your money as the new fare is non-refundable.  On the London-Edinburgh page I show a workaround, by booking to/from Finsbury Park instead of London Kings Cross as Super-Off-Peak fares still exist on this flow, at the same prices as previously applied to/from London.  You can get a much better deal this way!

Tunisia-Algeria trains restored after 30 years

A train service between Tunis and Annaba in Algeria is to be restored this month, after being discontinued in 1995, give or take an abortive attempt to resume in 2003.  It will run 3 times a week, journey time 7 hours, with 1st & 2nd class.  Details on the Algeria page.

Paris-Milan to remain blocked until March 2025

SNCF Infrastructure have now said that the landslide blocking the Paris-Turin-Milan line will not now be cleared and the line reopened until at least March 2025.

Odds and ends this month

July 2024

Gotthard Base Tunnel to reopen fully on 2 September

It's been out of action since the freight derailment last year, with Zurich-Milan trains diverted over the original Gotthard line taking 4h17 instead of 3h17.  Normal service will resume on 2 September.

Tanzania's standard gauge railway starts operations.

The first section of standard gauge railway (SGR) opened in early July between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, with the next section to Dodoma due to open in late July.  Tanzania now has some modern electric air-conditioned trains.  The old metre-gauge trains to Arusha and Mwanza still seem to be running from Dar, but information is hard to get and no doubt the situation is going to change as more SGR opens.

A direct Bangkok-Vientiane train starts 19 July

Existing night train 133/134 between Bangkok and Nong Khai will be extended over the Friendship Bridge to the new station at Vientiane from 19 July.  It will convey 3rd class seats, air-con 2nd class seats and air-con 2nd class sleepers of the ex-Japanese type with bays of 4 berth opening onto a side aisle.  Details are now on the Laos page.

Odds and ends this month

June 2024

Paris-Berlin/'Vienna and Brussels-Berlin Nightjets suspended 12 Aug-25 Oct

ÖBB have given up trying to run the Paris-Berlin, Paris-Vienna & Brussels-Berlin Nightjet sleeper train from 12 August to 25 October 2024, due to the amount of trackwork, mainly in France.  The Brussels-Vienna route (which is normally combined with these other 3 routes) will continue to run.

Operators used to tell the civil engineers when they could dig up the track. Now track has been separated from train operations, infra companies tell operators when it’s convenient to run trains. Is the tail now wagging the dog?  Are infrastructure companies out of control?  It certainly looks like it!

ICE3neo takes over Brussels-Frankfurt

Brand new ICE3neo (class 408) trains have taken over the international routes Brussels-Cologne-Frankfurt and Amsterdam-Cologne-Frankfurt from the problem-plagued ICE3M (class 406).  As well as restoring reliability to these key routes, the new trains have more luggage space, 20 more seats, a restaurant car and (a welcome addition) 8 bike spaces.  Bikes are expected to become bookable later, perhaps from August, when the new trains are bedded in.  I was expecting this to happen gradually between now and December, but it happened over one weekend, 15/16 June, all departures are now ICE3neo.  A big improvement!

Hong Kong-Beijing/Shanghai sleeper trains

The classic Z-category sleeper trains between Hong Kong and Beijing/Shanghai have been suspended since the pandemic.  They ran alternate days, but took around 24 hours.  From 15 June, new high-speed sleeper trains will link Hong Kong to both Beijing and Shanghai on Friday to Monday nights, taking just 1 night.

It's also reported that MTR (the HK transit authority) has ceased booking these international trains, an allocation of places used to be held on both the MTR and Chinese Railways system, now all booking is done on the Chinese system.

Odds and ends this month

May 2024

Odds and ends this month

April 2024

Eurostar to unify classes & fares from November

From November, Eurostar will unify the class names & fare Ts & Cs for its Eurostar-formerly-Eurostar and Eurostar-formerly-Thalys services.  The new class names are Eurostar Standard, Eurostar Plus (with food & drink on cross Channel routes as now) and Eurostar Premier.

A significant improvement is that Eurostar Standard & Eurostar Plus passengers will be able to exchange their ticket without any change fee (just paying any difference in fare) as many times as they like until an hour before departure. Fares will also become refundable (less a £25/€25 fee) until 7 days before departure, currently Eurostar-formerly-Eurostar fares are all non-refundable.

Flixtrain exits Sweden

Open-access operator Flixtrain has summarily quit Sweden, discontinuing the Stockholm-Gothenburg trains it introduced in 2021 with (it seems) very little notice.  It has relocated rolling stock to Germany, citing increasing demand there.  This leaves Swedish national operator SJ and open-access operator MTRX competing on this route.

Snälltåget launches Copenhagen-Stockholm trains from €26

Open-access operator Snälltåget is offering 2 trains a day between Copenhagen & Stockholm from 16 May to 29 September 2024, in competition with established operator SJ (Swedish Railways).  Fares start at just 299 SEK (€26) and the trains feature Snälltåget's classic restaurant car, the Krogen.  I think they find suppressed demand on this route, and I expect we'll see more Snälltåget trains on this route in due course!  I have added them as option 2 in the Stockholm-Copenhagen and Copenhagen-Stockholm sections.

European sleeper reaches Prague!

European Sleeper extended their Brussels/Amsterdam - Berlin sleeper train to Prague on 25 March, and also added much nicer ex-German Railways Autozug 5-berth couchette cars.  The older ex-Slovakian 6-berth cars are likely to disappear completely by 2025.  I rode the inaugural train to Prague, you can see the video here.  The morning run along the beautiful river Elbe between Dresden & Prague makes this a scenic sleeper!  I have added photos of the new cars and the Elbe scenery to the European Sleeper page.

Odds & ends this month

March 2024

Odds & ends this month

February 2024

Odds & ends this month

January 2024

LNER simplified fares trial

LNER - in all other respects one of the best UK train operators - is launching simplified fares from London to Newcastle, Berwick & Edinburgh as a pilot scheme. From early February, only 3 fares will exist on these flows, all one way - which ought to be a good thing.

However, most of us had expected those 3 fares to be fully-flexible, semi-flexible & inflexible, in other words, Anytime, Off-Peak & Advance. LNER's new fares structure is Anytime, Advance & Advance, in other words fully-flexible and expensive, inflexible with a little flex, and inflexible.

The existing £87 London-Edinburgh Super-Off-Peak fare is affordable, refundable, good for any off-peak train all day and can be used on any operator & via any permitted route. Break of journey (stopping off) is allowed and it has a fixed price so you always know what to expect even if you plan to buy on the day.

It's being replaced from February with a new Advance 70 Minute Flex fare that is non-refundable, LNER only, direct route only, dynamically priced, no stopovers allowed and only good for a 2h20 time slot (i.e. your booked train time +/- 70 minutes). That represents a massive reduction in flexibility.

On a Monday in February for example, I'm now seeing £101 Advance fares and £121 Advance 70 Flex fares (no refunds, limited validity, no break of journey etc) on trains where an £87 Super-Off-Peak fare would always have been available (and refundable, break of journey allowed, good for any off-peak train, etc.).  And as the £87 is in effect a maximum, all Advance fares would have cost less than that.

The workaround?  Haymarket is one stop north of Edinburgh and is not included in the pilot. I recommend London-Edinburgh passengers buy a London-Haymarket Super Off-Peak ticket for a fixed-price £87, refundable, good via any permitted route, good for any operator.  The refundability alone might save you hundreds of pounds on a round trip if your plans change unexpectedly.

Similarly, Manors is one stop north or Newcastle and Reston is one stop north of Berwick, you can buy Off-Peak tickets between Manors or Reston and London and legitimately board in Newcastle or Berwick.  At least while this is only a pilot affecting the 3 major stations.

One further thing: This new restrictive fare structure might work (just!) on very long runs such as London-Scotland, where (a) the main competitor is air and (b) people are prepared to plan their lives around the train operator's needs & requirements, rather than the other way round. It's unlikely to work where people need mobility, as in Aylesbury to London or Lewisham to Charing Cross. So even if it's accepted by the public on London-Edinburgh, it can't be rolled out network-wide. There'd have to be two different fares systems, one for long haul and one for short haul routes and maybe a hybrid for medium distances. Which complicates things again, with more split-ticketing opportunities. Whereas Anytime, Off-Peak & Advance (with Advance absent on short flows) would work over all distance ranges.

Temporary service Paris-Milan

From 10 January there will be an afternoon Paris-Milan TGV and an afternoon Milan-Paris TGV. Before you get too excited, the line via Modane is still blocked by the landslide that occurred on 27 August last year, this train is presented as a direct train but is in fact a TGV, a bus transfer around the blockage between St Jean de Maurienne and Oulx, then another TGV.  But it's something!  I have added details to the Paris-Milan page.  You can also travel via Switzerland, without buses.

Odds & ends this month

December 2023

Budapest to Belgrade possible by train

Well, almost.  The Budapest-Belgrade main line remains closed for major upgrading until at least 2025 and all direct fast trains remain suspended.  But a new local service started in December between Szeged in Hungary and Subotica in Serbia.  Combined with a local train between Subotica and Novi Sad on a parallel local line then a fast train from Novi Sad to Belgrade, it's possible for the determined train traveller to get from Budapest to Belgrade with a few hours for lunch in Subotica.  Almost, because there's still a 10-minute one-stop bus replacement between a station on the outskirts of Novi Sad and Novi Sad station.  It's maybe not the best inter-capital train service in Europe, but with the Zagreb-Belgrade train still suspended, this is apparently the best service between western Europe and Belgrade that Serbian railway brains can come up with.  See the Budapest to Belgrade page.

New Vilnius-Riga train

For the first time in years, a direct daily passenger train will link the capitals of Lithuania and Latvia, starting 27 December.  See the Vilnius-Riga page.

Bangladesh: New railway to Cox's Bazaar

A new railway opened on 1 December, linking Cox's Bazaar (Bangladesh's premier beach resort) to the rest of the network.  There's a direct overnight train from Dhaka to Cox's Bazaar, but as far as I can see it only ha s seats, not sleeping berths.  It serves Chittagong, but a 4am!  More trains may be added in due course.

Cape Town-Jo'burg & Durban-Jo'burg resume!

The Shosholoza Meyl sleeper train from Cape Town to Johannesburg, suspended during the pandemic then hit by vandalism of the rail network, finally resumes from 6 December, initially once a week.  Durban-Jo'burg has already resumed.

New faster timetable in Southern Thailand

Following completion of a double-tracking project, trains between Bangkok and southern Thailand have been retimed and speeded up, sometimes by two hours or more.  This includes the sleeper between Bangkok and Padang Besar in Malaysia.

European timetable changes from 10 December

The annual European timetable change takes place on 10 December, here's a summary of the most significant changes in the 2024 timetable.  Most of these new services are now shown on the relevant pages of this website:

  • Top news is that two new Nightjet sleeper trains will start, Brussels-Berlin & Paris-Berlin, initially 3 times per week, due to become daily in October 2024.

  • The Brussels-Vienna Nightjet sleeper will be rerouted to serve Munich Ost and Salzburg, as east of Mannheim it will be combined with the train from Paris.  The whole Paris/Brussels<>Vienna/Berlin service group is due to become daily in October 2024, when further New generation Nightjet trains release more conventional stock from other routes.

  • New generation Nightjet trains will go into service on Hamburg-Vienna and Hamburg-Munich/Innsbruck, with Vienna-Venice, Stuttgart-Venice, Vienna-Rome, Munich-Rome to follow in October 2024.  The new trains release the necessary conventional cars to add the new routes above.

  • In April 2024, the first new-generation railjet trains with all-new interiors will replace the old locomotive-hauled EuroCity cars on the Munich-Innsbruck-Verona-Bologna/Venice Brenner Pass route, with more to follow in October.

  • A second direct Vienna-Berlin ICE with be added leaving Vienna at 06:13 (the current one leaves at 10:13), and both Vienna-Berlin ICEs will extend to Hamburg.  Together with the Vienna-Prague-Berlin railjet and the Vienna-Berlin Nightjet, there are four direct trains between Vienna and Berlin when a few years ago there were, for a while, none.  This new train makes Vienna-Copenhagen possible in a day, with 1 easy change.

  • The Warsaw-Vienna sleeper Chopin will be extended beyond Vienna to Linz, Salzburg & Munich, although this means that the westbound train will then serve Vienna at an unholy 04:49!

  • A second Vienna-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Vienna at 16:10, arriving Krakow 21:34.  It makes Zurich to Krakow possible in a single day (for example), with one easy change in Vienna.

  • A second Berlin-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Berlin at 16:52, arriving Krakow 23:54.  Brussels to Krakow and Amsterdam to Krakow become possible in a single day, in both directions.  Which also means you can leave London on any evening Eurostar, stay overnight in Brussels and reach Krakow the next day, a useful option.  Krakow is a tourist hotspot that used to have appalling international rail connections, it's been great to see how these have been transformed.

  • The Berlin-Vienna Nightjet & Berlin-Budapest sleeper will be rerouted via Dresden & Prague rather than Poland.  This means a later departure from Berlin (19:21 instead of 18:52) and a welcome earlier arrival in Berlin northbound (08:15 instead of 09:55).

  • The direct Frankfurt-Milan EuroCity train will switch from an Astoro to a new Giruno train and will be routed via the Gotthard in both directions (at present it runs via the Gotthard in one direction and the Lötschberg in the other).

  • Iryo will run 2 direct trains per day between Barcelona and Cordoba, Seville, in competition with Renfe's two daily existing trains, doubling the service on this route.

  • Hamburg-Copenhagen trains are increased from 3 to 5 per day all year round and 7 in high summer (in 2023 it was 3 all year, 5 in summer).  However, direct Hamburg-Aarhus trains are dropped in favour of connections out of the Hamburg-Copenhagen service (possibly the right decision, at least from visitors/tourist/passenger volume point of view.  Sorry Aarhus!).

  • There's major engineering work on the line from Oradea to Cluj in Romania. The 2 daily Budapest-Cluj trains are cancelled and the morning Budapest-Brasov train will convey a portion via Alba Julia to Cluj.  The Vienna-Cluj sleeper is diverted via Alba Julia instead of Oradea, taking over 2h longer.

Odds & ends this month

  • I've revised the Belgrade-Sofia page, as even the Dimitrovgrad-Sofia train, supposedly only suspended for a week or two due to trackwork, has not resumed.  I now show Belgrade-Nis by train, Nis-Sofia by bus.  How the once-mighty Orient Express main line has fallen...

  • Interrail reservation fees for Thalys-now-Eurostar services have increased.

  • Reservation fees for the Bernina Express have increased, quite significantly, for 2024.

  • The Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB) joins Interrail/Eurail from 10 December, so trains from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen & Grindelwald are now covered by these passes.

  • The Cafe 1e Klas at Amsterdam Centraal is now open 7 days a week, no longer closed on Mondays (Elvis will be pleased)

November 2023

No direct Amsterdam-London Eurostars July-Dec 2024

The Eurostar terminal at Amsterdam Centraal will close for 6 months while the station is refurbished and a new larger Eurostar terminal built in one of the under-track passageways. London to Amsterdam Eurostars will continue to run direct, but in the Amsterdam to London direction, Eurostars will run Amsterdam-Brussels (with no check in), you'll alight at Brussels, go through the check-in process and re-board a Eurostar for London.  Just as they did before the terminal originally opened, in fact. The current terminal can only process 250 passengers for a 900-seat train, the new terminal will be able to check in up to 650 passengers.

European timetable changes from 10 December

The annual European timetable change takes place on 10 December, here's a summary of the most significant changes in the 2024 timetable.  Most of these new services are now shown on the relevant pages of this website:

  • Top news is that two new Nightjet sleeper trains will start, Brussels-Berlin & Paris-Berlin, initially 3 times per week, due to become daily in October 2024.

  • The Brussels-Vienna Nightjet sleeper will be rerouted to serve Munich Ost and Salzburg, as east of Mannheim it will be combined with the train from Paris.  The whole Paris/Brussels<>Vienna/Berlin service group is due to become daily in October 2024, when further New generation Nightjet trains release more conventional stock from other routes.

  • New generation Nightjet trains will go into service on Hamburg-Vienna and Hamburg-Munich/Innsbruck, with Vienna-Venice, Stuttgart-Venice, Vienna-Rome, Munich-Rome to follow in October 2024.  The new trains release the necessary conventional cars to add the new routes above.

  • In April 2024, the first new-generation railjet trains with all-new interiors will replace the old locomotive-hauled EuroCity cars on the Munich-Innsbruck-Verona-Bologna/Venice Brenner Pass route, with more to follow in October.

  • A second direct Vienna-Berlin ICE with be added leaving Vienna at 06:13 (the current one leaves at 10:13), and both Vienna-Berlin ICEs will extend to Hamburg.  Together with the Vienna-Prague-Berlin railjet and the Vienna-Berlin Nightjet, there are four direct trains between Vienna and Berlin when a few years ago there were, for a while, none.  This new train makes Vienna-Copenhagen possible in a day, with 1 easy change.

  • The Warsaw-Vienna sleeper Chopin will be extended beyond Vienna to Linz, Salzburg & Munich, although this means that the westbound train will then serve Vienna at an unholy 04:49!

  • A second Vienna-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Vienna at 16:10, arriving Krakow 21:34.  It makes Zurich to Krakow possible in a single day (for example), with one easy change in Vienna.

  • A second Berlin-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Berlin at 16:52, arriving Krakow 23:54.  Brussels to Krakow and Amsterdam to Krakow become possible in a single day, in both directions.  Which also means you can leave London on any evening Eurostar, stay overnight in Brussels and reach Krakow the next day, a useful option.  Krakow is a tourist hotspot that used to have appalling international rail connections, it's been great to see how these have been transformed.

  • The Berlin-Vienna Nightjet & Berlin-Budapest sleeper will be rerouted via Dresden & Prague rather than Poland.  This means a later departure from Berlin (19:21 instead of 18:52) and a welcome earlier arrival in Berlin northbound (08:15 instead of 09:55).

  • The direct Frankfurt-Milan EuroCity train will switch from an Astoro to a new Giruno train and will be routed via the Gotthard in both directions (at present it runs via the Gotthard in one direction and the Lötschberg in the other).

  • Iryo will run 2 direct trains per day between Barcelona and Cordoba, Seville, in competition with Renfe's two daily existing trains, doubling the service on this route.

  • Hamburg-Copenhagen trains are increased from 3 to 5 per day all year round and 7 in high summer (in 2023 it was 3 all year, 5 in summer).  However, direct Hamburg-Aarhus trains are dropped in favour of connections out of the Hamburg-Copenhagen service (possibly the right decision, at least from visitors/tourist/passenger volume point of view.  Sorry Aarhus!).

  • There's major engineering work on the line from Oradea to Cluj in Romania. The 2 daily Budapest-Cluj trains are cancelled and the morning Budapest-Brasov train will convey a portion via Alba Julia to Cluj.  The Vienna-Cluj sleeper is diverted via Alba Julia instead of Oradea, taking over 2h longer.

Odds & ends this month

  • Caledonian Sleeper opened its own lounge on platform 1 at London Euston, available to passengers in Club, Caledonian Double and accessible rooms.  Until now, sleeper passengers had to use the Avanti West Coast first class lounge.  I visited it a couple of days later courtesy of Caledonian Sleeper, photos are now on the Cal Sleeper page.

  • The Gotthard Base Tunnel is likely to remain partially closed beyond January 2024, which was the timeframe originally stated. Many/most trains could continue being diverted over the old Gotthard route until spring or summer 2024.  A bonus, in some ways!

October 2023

Jakarta-Bandung high-speed line opens

High-speed trains called (wait for it) Whoosh now link Halim (on the outskirts of Jakarta) with Tellaguar on the outskirts of Bandung in 46 minutes at up to 350 km/h (217 mph), the fastest trains in the world.  However, as a taxi from Jakarta to Halim takes 48 minutes and a taxi into Bandung 52 minutes, the overall journey isn't that much faster than the classic 3 hour trip between city centre stations!  See the Indonesia page.

New London-Paris operator to compete with Eurostar

News of the month, to put it mildly, is that new startup operator Evolyn plans to run London-Paris trains from 2025 in competition with Eurostar.  See www.railwaygazette.com/high-speed/evolyn-to-launch-paris-london-trains-in-competition-with-eurostar/65100.article.  It has since turned out that new trains have not been bought, only preliminary work connected with them has been agreed.  There is virtually nil chance they'll start by 2025, that timeframe is far too ambitious with new trains to gain approval.

Paris-Turin-Milan line to be blocked until summer 2024

Timetable changes from 10 December 2023

The annual timetable change is due on 10 December, and it's time to start a running summary of the expected changes, positive and negative:

  • New Nightjet sleeper train routes will start, Brussels-Berlin & Paris-Berlin, initially 3 times per week, becoming daily in October 2024.

  • New generation Nightjet trains will go into service on Hamburg-Vienna and Hamburg-Munich/Innsbruck, with Vienna-Venice, Stuttgart-Venice, Vienna-Rome, Munich-Rome to follow in October 2024.  The new trains release the necessary conventional cars to add the new routes above.

  • Brussels-Vienna Nightjet sleeper will be rerouted to serve Munich Ost and Salzburg, combined with the train from Paris.  To become daily in October 2024.

  • In April 2024, the first new-generation railjet trains with all-new interiors will replace the old locomotive-hauled EuroCity cars on the Munich-Innsbruck-Verona-Bologna/Venice Brenner Pass route, with more to follow by October.

  • A second direct Vienna-Berlin ICE with be added leaving Vienna at 06:13 (the current one leaves at 10:13), and both Vienna-Berlin ICEs will extend to Hamburg.  Together with the Vienna-Prague-Berlin railjet and the Vienna-Berlin Nightjet, there are four direct trains between Vienna and Berlin when a few years ago there were, for a while, none.

  • The direct Frankfurt-Milan EuroCity train will switch from an Astoro to a new Giruno train and will be routed via the Gotthard in both directions (at present it runs via the Gotthard in one direction and the Lötschberg in the other).

  • The Berlin-Vienna Nightjet & Berlin-Budapest sleeper will be rerouted via Dresden & Prague rather than Poland.

  • Warsaw-Vienna sleeper Chopin to be extended beyond Vienna to Linz, Salzburg & Munich (but westbound, will then serve Vienna at an unholy 04:49).

  • A welcome second Vienna-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Vienna at 16:10, arriving Krakow 21:34.  It makes Zurich to Krakow (for example) possible in a single day, with one robust change in Vienna.

  • An equally welcome second Berlin-Krakow EuroCity train will be introduced, leaving Berlin at 16:52, arriving Krakow 23:54.  Brussels to Krakow and Amsterdam to Krakow become possible in a single day.  Which also means you can leave London on any evening Eurostar, stay overnight in Brussels and reach Krakow the next day, a useful option.

  • Iryo will run 2 direct trains per day between Barcelona and Cordoba, Seville, in competition with Renfe's two daily existing trains, doubling the service on this route.

Odds & ends this month

  • The foreigners reservation office at Cairo main station now finally takes credit cards.

  • It's reported that Eurostar has now officially signed up to the AJC, Agreement for Journey Continuation, which has to be good news for passengers with missed connections.

  • I've overhauled an updated the Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome & Naples station pages following a recent trip.  I've also completely overhauled the Frecciarossa, Italo pages and added Trenitalia Intercity and Intercity Notte pages.

  • The Glacier Express page has been rewritten with new photos of a recent journey and a new video added.

September 2023

Paris-Turin-Milan line still blocked, until November or longer

  • On 28 August, a huge landslide blocked the Paris-Modane-Turin-Milan line in the Maurienne valley in the French Alps.  Initially, it was thought the blockage would last several days, it could now be up to 2 months with rumours of much longer.  Paris-Milan TGVs & Frecciarossas are cancelled until further notice.  See the landslide on video.

  • Alternative routes:  Paris-Geneva then Geneva-Milan; Paris-Basel then Basel-Milan; Paris-Zurich then Zurich-Milan (the Gotthard Base Tunnel is blocked by a freight train derailment until January 2024 so Zurich-Milan trains are taking an extra hour, diverted over the old scenic Gotthard line).  You could also go Paris-Nice-Ventimiglia-Genoa.

Change at the border for Zagreb

From this month until further notice, the Vienna-Zagreb EuroCity train Croatia is no longer direct, a cross-platform change is required at Villach.  The reason appears to be chronic late running coming westbound from Croatia, ÖBB has decided to split the train in two so as not to delay the Austrian part.  Not ideal for through passengers, of course!  I have amended key pages, but not every place where the Croatia is mentioned.

25% off European Sleeper, exclusive to seat61...

I'm delighted to offer seat61 visitors an exclusive  25% discount on the European Sleeper between Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Berlin:  If you click the links to www.europeansleeper.eu and book tickets between 14 September & 15 October for travel between 21 September & 21 December, 25% will be knocked off the fare at the checkout stage before you pay. 

An opportunity to visit Berlin:  There's Oktoberfest in Berlin, 15 September–28 October;  Festival of Lights, 6-15 October; Autumn Carnival 22 September–16 October.  Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag...

Berlin-Stockholm becomes daily all year

The SJ EuroNight sleeper train from Hamburg to Stockholm, introduced in September 2022, has been a great success, often leaving fully-booked.  It was extended to/from Berlin over the summer, and will now run to/from Berlin all year round - which also means it now uses Hamburg Hbf (not Altona) all year round.  I have updated all relevant pages accordingly.  See www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/sjs-stockholm-berlin-overnight-service-goes-year-round.

Timetable changes from 10 December 2023

The annual timetable change is due on 10 December, and it's time to start a running summary of the expected changes, positive and negative:

August 2023

Paris-Turin-Milan line blocked for several weeks

Holland Norway Line goes into administration

Eurostar ski train winter 2023/24

Gotthard Base Tunnel blocked

Trenitalia orders new sleeper trains

Nightjet expansion plans

Odds & end this month

July 2023

No Eurostar ski train this winter

Odds & end this month

June 2023

Renfe to relaunch Spain-France AVEs in July.

In December last year, SNCF (French Railways) pulled the plug on the 9-year Renfe-SNCF cooperation.  SNCF has continued to operate 2 Paris-Barcelona TGVs on its own, entering Spain without Renfe involvement, but Renfe (Spanish Railways) was caught unawares and had no choice but to cancel its Barcelona-Lyon and Madrid-Barcelona-Avignon-Marseille AVEs which it operated into France with SNCF help.  After getting a licence for France and training its own crews, Renfe will resume Barcelona-Lyon AVEs from 13 July on Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon, and Madrid-Barcelona-Marseille AVEs from 28 July, also on Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon.  Both should become daily from September.  Fares start at €29, lower for some shorter routes.  Naturally, these AVEs will no longer be bookable as SNCF-Connect.com just as the Paris-Barcelona TGVs are no longer bookable at Renfe.com - more fragmentation!  But they'll be bookable through Thetrainline and Raileurope.com.

New old trains for Hamburg-Copenhagen...

From 16 June, delayed from April, ex-German Railways intercity cars replaced the Danish IC3s on Hamburg-Copenhagen trains.  It means a significant and much-needed increase in capacity on that route, and it means an electric locomotive replaces diesel engines running 'under the wires', two worthwhile improvements.  These second-hand IC cars are only needed until brand new trains built by Talgo are delivered to DSB (Danish Railways).

Odds & end this month

May 2023

The Deutschland Ticket is go...

Germany's new €49-per-month commuter ticket covering regional trains across Germany went live from 1 May.  You can use it for a month as a railpass if you like, I have now researched the options for buying one for just 1 month as a non-German, info and advice are now on the Deutschlandticket section on the Train travel in Germany page.

Odds & end this month

April 2023

Ankara-Sivas YHT high-speed trains start

Three high-speed YHT trains now link Ankara with Sivas on a new line that also dramatically shortens the distance.  As a result, a 10-hour journey by classic train is cut to 2h33.  The line from Sivas to Samsun has also reopened, with a daily train restored after over 7 years.

Japan Rail Passes price increase

It's reported that Japan Rail Passes will increase in cost significantly from October 2023, with all passes increasing by a whopping 68%, for example from ¥29,000 to ¥50,000 for a 7-day pass.  The price increase will probably drive many tourists to using flights or buses instead of trains.  I have added a paragraph to the Japan Rail Pass section on the Japan page.

Kunming to Vientiane starts 13 April...

With China slowly opening up post-pandemic, a daily international train started between Kunming & Vientiane on the Laos-China Railway on 13 April, see the Laos page.

Odds & ends this month

March 2023

Venice Simplon Orient Express cut back in 2024?

It seems 2023 will be the last season in which VSOE passengers leave London by British Pullman, get ferried through the Channel Tunnel by road coach and board the Continental train at Calais.  From 2024, the VSOE will only operate between Paris Gare de l'Est and Venice, with connections to/from London provided by Eurostar.  This is due to increasing unreliability of the continental train in northern France, and (I believe) ongoing problems with post-Brexit border checks affecting the timekeeping of the bus through the Tunnel.  A great shame.  So catch it in 2023 if you can, see the Venice Simplon Orient Express page.

End of the Holland-Norway ferry...

The relatively new Holland-Norway Line ferry running 3 times a week from Eemshaven in the Netherlands to Kristiansand in Norway has had problems with its harbour facilities in Eemshaven.  From mid-April to 1 June 2023 it will move temporarily to Cuxhaven in Germany, after which it will move permanently to Emden in Germany.  Emden is not far from Eemshaven as the crow flies, but it's across the Ems estuary and a pig to reach by rail, requiring a longish international journey south then north.  It will be easier to go to Kiel and take the daily Color Line ferry direct to Oslo.  I have removed it from the UK-Norway page, I'm not yet sure whether I will delete this ferry service completely from seat61, as an unnecessary distraction from main routes.

Odds & ends this month

February 2023

Eurostar's situation in 2023

Eurostar report that demand for leisure travel is already back to 100% of its pre-pandemic level, whilst business travel has reached 80%-85%.  However, Brexit border checks - an extra 15 seconds to stamp each non-EU traveller's passport - has reduced capacity at St Pancras by as much as 30%.  As a result, Eurostar are running fewer trains compared to 2019 and they have limited the number of seats sold on some trains to avoid overloading check-in facilities at St Pancras - for example, on some peak departures only 550 seats are being sold on a 900-seat train.  Overall, Eurostar say they are providing only 70% of the capacity they provided pre-pandemic.  This means they're having to maximise yield from the seats they can sell (in plain English, higher fares) rather than continuing their original strategy of volume & growth.

Eurostar plan to increase the number of passport control lines from 7 to 9, and will convert part of the arrivals hall into additional check-in space.  They plan to trial an 'online check-in' later this year, and to automate as much as possible of the new ETIAS (European visa) arrangements when they come in, probably now in 2024.  They hope that these measures will restore capacity to what it was before the double disasters of the pandemic and Brexit.  Until then, their direct services to Disneyland Paris and to Lyon, Avignon & Marseille will not operate, nor will their trains call at Ebbsfleet or Ashford.

January 2023

Bangkok's new station finally opens

Bangkok's shiny new Krung Thep Aphiwat Central station finally opened on 19 January, and all long-distance trains now start/terminate there instead of the classic Hualamphong station, opened in 1916 and located far more centrally, 7km to the south.  I have now updated the Train travel in Thailand page to reflect the change.  I have also found that the long-standing Bangkok-Ko Samui combined train+ferry tickets and Bangkok-Phuket/Bangkok-Krabi combined train+bus tickets seem to have disappeared.  I have had to re-think & revise the booking arrangements for those journeys.

New Nightjets from December 2023

It's reported unofficially that the 3-per-week Brussels-Vienna Nightjet is set to become daily from the timetable change in December this year, combined with a new daily Nightjet from Brussels to Berlin (this is in addition to European Sleeper 's new Brussels-Berlin train starting in May), so yes, TWO sleeper trains Brussels-Berlin!). 

The existing 3-per-week Paris-Vienna Nightjet (which is often fully-booked weeks ahead) is also set to become daily, combined with a new daily Nightjet from Paris to Berlin, swapping portions with the train from Brussels somewhere in Germany, possibly Mannheim (2 origins & 2 destinations forming an X).

Of course, all this is all predicated on ÖBB's new generation Nightjets entering service between Vienna/Munich & Italy as scheduled, releasing the necessary Comfortline sleeping-cars & couchette cars for these new & expanded trains. ÖBB won't confirm all this officially until later this year

AVE trains Barcelona-Lyon/Marseille to resume in 2023

It now seems likely that Renfe will resume the direct AVE services between Barcelona & Lyon and between Barcelona, Avignon & Marseille during 2023, although no firm start date has been given.  They have obtained a safety certificate and will start crew training in January.  It's not clear if the schedule will be the same as previously.  These trains were withdrawn at the timetable change on 11 December 2022 after Renfe & SNCF ended their 9-year cross-border co-operation agreement.  SNCF has continued running the two daily Paris-Barcelona TGVs without Renfe's help, but Renfe had been unable to run the AVEs without SNCF's help.

Odds & ends this month

December 2022

European sleeper announces start date...

Open-access start-up European Sleeper have announced the date for their inaugural Brussels/Antwerp/Rotterdam/Amsterdam to Berlin sleeper train: 25 May 2023.  Initially running 3 times a week, it'll have easy connections from London by Eurostar, too.  I have added a page with all the details we currently know, London/Brussels/Amsterdam to Berlin by European Sleeper.  Extension to Dresden & Prague is planned from December 2023.

Egypt decides to charge foreigners more...

The Egyptian government has decided to charge non-Egyptians 300%-400% more for train tickets as from 15 December 2022.  Instead of buying the same tickets at the same prices as anyone else, foreigners must now go to the special foreigners booking office at Cairo station and pay $20 for a ticket to Alexandria instead of the equivalent of $5, and up to $45 for a ticket to Luxor.  Details are now on the Egypt page.

Changes from this year's 11 December timetable change...

As every year, I will compile a list of significant known or expected changes to train services with the Europe-wide timetable change on 11 December.  So far:

Odds & ends this month...

November 2022

Dover-Calais & foot passengers from January...

Only one company took foot passengers on the once-important Dover-Calais route, P&O.  It seems they will now stop taking foot passengers from January 2023.  It's not clear whether this is permanent or temporary, but it's clear Dover is a disaster area for ferry travel, you should choose another ferry route, such as Newhaven-Dieppe, even if you live in Kent!  Update:  It now seems foot passengers will continue to be carried, although as before, only on designated sailings (3 per day).  I am unclear whether this was a storm in a teacup caused by foot passenger places not being loaded for 2023, or a decision which was rescinded.

Changes expected in this year's December timetable change...

As every year, I will compile a list of significant known or expected changes to train services with the Europe-wide timetable change on 11 December.  So far:

Odds & ends this month...

October 2022

Odds & ends this month...

September 2022

Iryo to launch Madrid-Barcelona trains from 25 November...

A consortium of Air Nostrum & Trenitalia called Ilsa will launch train service between Barcelona & Madrid from 25 November, in competition with Renfe's AVE, Avlo & Ouigo.  Branded Iryo, it will use a version of Trenitalia's Frecciarossa 1000.  Tickets on sale from 18 September at iryo.eu.  If you ride the new service and get photos, please let me know!

Hamburg-Stockholm sleeper train launched on 1 September...

On 1 September, the first SJ EuroNight sleeper train ran from Hamburg Altona to Stockholm Central, opening up easy travel between all of western Europe and Stockholm - with connections for Helsinki.  I was on board the inaugural train.  The launch was not without teething problems, the AB32 sleeping-cars are still not ready for the new service, some MUn type sleeping-cars were available but they (and the seats cars) were denied certification by the Danish authorities.  The train has therefore started with just couchettes, with a sleeping-car to be added later.  However, the staff were great, couchettes clean and comfy, and the inaugural train reached the Swedish capital right on time.

Hamburg-StockholmSJ EuroNight at Hamburg Altona   6-berth couchette on the Hamburg-Stockholm SJ night train

The inaugural Hamburg to Stockholm SJ EuroNight train in Hamburg on 1 September 2022. The author rode this first departure...

6-berth couchettes.

Larger photo.
Couchettes in day mode on the Hamburg-Stockholm train   Hamburg-StockholmSJ EuroNight at Padborg

Couchettes in day mode, en route to Stockholm.  Larger photo.

The inaugural train from Hamburg to Stockholm calls at Padborg, just after entering Denmark.

New Nightjet sleeping-cars shown to press...

The first cars for 33 new ÖBB Nightjet sleeper trains were shown to the press on 6 September at the Siemens factory in Vienna.  I was delighted to be invited.  The cars on show were a sleeping-car with 9 standard 12-bed compartments all with shower & toilet plus one deluxe compartment with extra space, and a couchette car with 3 conventional 4-berth compartments and 28 innovative 'minisuites', a train version of a Japanese capsule hotel.  The first deployment will be autumn 2023 between Vienna/Munich and Italy, where new Italian fire regulations make the new cars necessary.

New Nightjet train under construction

New sleeping-car at the Siemens factory in Vienna.  The author was present when the first new cars were shown to the press.
1 or 2 bed sleeper on new generation nightjet   Individual 'minisuites' on new generation nightjet

1 or 2 bed sleeper on new Nightjet train.

  

Individual 'minisuites' on new generation Nightjet.

Changes expected in this year's December timetable change...

As every year, I will compile a list of significant known or expected changes to train services with the Europe-wide timetable change on 11 December.  So far:

Odds & ends this month...

August 2022

No Disneyland Eurostar from June 2023...

Eurostar has now confirmed that it won't run the traditional direct London to Disneyland train after 6 June 2023, in spite of resuming it post-pandemic in 2022.  They say this is due to recovery from the pandemic and implementation of new EU entry systems in 2023, they will be concentrating on their core services.

No Ebbsfleet or Ashford stops for Eurostar in 2023...

Eurostar has now confirmed that its trains will not call at Ebbsfleet or Ashford in 2023, either. And 2024/2025 are looking doubtful.  I have updated relevant pages to show this.

Changes expected in this year's December timetable change...

As I do every year, I will compile a list of significant known or expected changes to train services with the Europe-wide timetable change on 11 December.  So far:

Odds & ends this month...

July 2022

Eurostar increases minimum check-in times...

The minimum check-in for Eurostar has been 30 minutes since it started in 1994.  Brexit is now beginning to bite, and the extra checks are adding to check-in time.  Eurostar has now officially changed the minimum check-in time to 45 minutes at Paris Nord, Brussels Midi, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  It remains 30 minutes at London St Pancras and LIlle. They recommend you arrive between 90 & 120 minutes if you can.  I am progressively updating all the many places on this site that I mention the 30 minutes!

Sale!  Buy the European Rail Timetable for £2.09...

The winter 2021/2022 European Rail Timetable is now available with 90% off, at just £2.09 + p&p.  Hold that knee-jerk reaction to a timetable only good until June, remember that most railways set their timetables for the whole year from December to December with only minor tweaks in June, so this edition remains relevant for the rest of this year (and a pretty good guide to next year).  In fact, if you've ever wondered what's in the ERT or how useful it might be for your future travels, now's the time to try it for, well, not quite free, but pretty close...  See www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.

Rogue French region pulls out of Interrail & Eurail schemes

International tourists using the popular Interrail & Eurail passes are no longer welcome in the Sud-Provence-Alpes-Côte-d-Azur region this summer as rogue transport operator @TERSUD_SNCF unilaterally pulled out of the Interrail/Eurail Schemes as from 1 July.  Routes on which international travellers are no longer welcome include all @TERSUD_SNCF TER regional trains on the Lyon-Marseille & Marseille-Toulon-Cannes-Nice-Monaco-Ventimiglia. Interrail & Eurail remain valid on TGVs serving these routes (with reservation).  Even the Eurail organisation itself appears to have been caught out by this sudden action, as Interrail & Eurail passes have been valid on ALL SNCF trains for 50 years. Until this rogue operator can be dealt with, international travellers are strongly advised not to include the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in their travel plans.

Update 5 July:  Decision reversed!  A tweet by Renaud Muselier, President of the Region Sud, assures people that Interrail will be accepted after all on all TER Sud trains.  We're just awaiting confirmation via the Eurail organisation, but it looks as if the bad publicity has worked, and the decision has been reversed.

Odds & ends this month

June 2022

Paris-Portbou sleeper cut back to Cerbère due to Adif stupidity...

For over a century, French trains from Paris have terminated at Portbou on the Spanish side of the border, for onward connections to Barcelona.  Northbound, connections are made at Cerbère on the French side.  Spanish infrastructure operator Adif has now insisted that every train driver on Spanish rails speaks a high standard of Spanish.  This might be reasonable for the majority Spanish trains, but for French trains going a mere 1km into Spain to terminate at Portbou, this is excessive and clearly impractical.  So the Paris-Portbou sleeper has had to be cut back to terminate at Cerbère, with worsened onward connections to Girona & Barcelona.

It's even more stupid when you realise that the French trains run on the standard-gauge line into Portbou, with Spanish trains on  a separate Iberian-gauge track.

The only saving grace, avoiding everyone having to take a taxi 3km to Portbou, is that a few years ago, some Portbou-Barcelona regional trains were extended to start at Cerbère.

Had this happened in the UK, a risk assessment would have been carried out and there would doubtless have been a dispensation where the benefit of the new rule was clearly outweighed by the damage it does.  Someone needs to talk sense into Adif, clearly a passenger-hostile organisation working against international cross-border rail travel.  If we're not careful, the same issue may affect the few remaining connections to/from Portugal.

Odds & ends this month...

May 2022

Lo-cost 'Izy' Brussels-Paris TGVs to end in July...

Thalys has announced that their lo-cost subsidiary Izy will cease operations on the Paris-Brussels route from 10 July.  In future, all Paris-Brussels services will operate under the Thalys brand.

Eurostar & Thalys merge...

Eurostar & Thalys have merged through the creation of Eurostar Group with a 100% stake in both Eurostar and Thalys.  SNCF (French Railways) owns a 55.75% stake in Eurostar Group, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) a 19.31% stake (the former British stake sold by the UK government) while SNCB (Belgian Railways) owns an 18.5% interest.  The new company will have its headquarters in Brussels.

The media has waxed lyrical about new trains between London and Germany.  In fact, I imagine the initial aim is to reduce overheads, although we could then see better through ticketing and timetable co-ordination between Eurostar & Thalys services.  However, I'm not expecting through trains between London & Germany any time soon, this is not likely to be a short or even medium term result of the merger.

New Greece-Cyprus ferry starts June 2022...

Finally!  After a gap of some 20 years, a ferry service will start up in June 2022 between Piraeus in Greece and Limassol on Cyprus, weekly or twice weekly in summer.  I makes UK-Cyprus possible in 5 days, in comfort, see the London to Cyprus page.  Let's hope it becomes popular and expands its season...

Odds & ends this month...

April 2022

New Hamburg-Stockholm sleeper train to start 1 September...

Tickets went on sale on 27 April for SJ's new Hamburg-Stockholm sleeper train.  It will leave Hamburg Altona 21:55 and arrive Stockholm Central at 09:55.  Southbound, it will leave Stockholm Central at 17:34 and arrive Hamburg Altona at 06:30.  It will offer seats, 4 & 6 berth couchettes, and refurbished ex-ÖBB AB32 sleeping-cars with 1 & 2 bed compartments with washbasin, plus a few deluxe 1 & 2 bed compartments with shower & toilet.  Tickets can be bought at www.sj.se or (interestingly) www.oebb.at - the latter will book through journeys between Stockholm and stations in Germany and Austria.  I will add this new train to seat61 in due course.  See SJ press release.

SNCF's Carte Avantage & DB's Bahncard...

I've added a section about SNCF's Carte Avantage to the Train travel in France page, and a section about DB's Bahncard to the Train travel in Germany page.  I'm not a fan of what economists call a 'two-part tariff', I find expecting potential customers to look up prices, find them expensive, waste time researching various discount cards and performing calculations, then check prices all over again to be a confusing and unnecessary distraction.  I believe that train operators (like airlines) should simply show their 'best price' up front, first time.  But as things stand, these cards can make sense for visitors making multiple journeys, so I have given a run-down.

New Zealand's trains to return in September...

After fears that their carriages would be redeployed on expensive multi-day 'land cruises' for rich tourists, Kiwirail have announced that the Auckland-Wellington Northern Explorer and (Wellington-) Picton-Christchurch Coastal Pacific will resume from late September, with tour packages 'alongside'.  See www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/northern-explorer/plan/service-alerts. The best news I have had all day!

New Westbahn trains from Munich to Salzburg & Vienna...

From 8 April, private open-access operator Westbahn has extended up to 6 of its swish double-deck Vienna-Salzburg trains to/from Munich, with attractive fares, in competition with DB/ÖBB railjets.

Success for Trenitalia's Paris-Milan Frecciarossas...

It's reported that Trenitalia has achieved an incredible 87% average load factor on its Paris-Lyon-Turin-Milan Frecciarossa trains which it launched in December to compete with SNCF's long-established Paris-Milan TGVs.  75% of passengers are making an international journey, with Paris-Turin and Lyon-Milan the most popular.  60% of passengers book their tickets a month or more in advance.

Travel continues to open up...

Last month, the UK dropped all inbound Covid testing requirements and even dispensed with its Passenger Locator form.  Most countries in western and central Europe have also dropped testing requirements for vaccinated travellers, so travel around most of Europe is now almost back to normal, bar the need to fill in the occasional locator form.  Eurostar is ramping up services towards pre-pandemic levels.  See the COVID-19 information page for advice on current European travel requirements and how to check them.

Outside Europe, other countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia & Thailand are opening up to tourists again, albeit with some testing required.

Odds & ends this month...

March 2022

P&O:  How to render a respected brand toxic in hours...

With all the trappings of a coup in some third-world state, on 17 March, Dubai-owned P&O Ferries made all 800 British seafaring staff redundant without warning via a 3-minute Zoom video, replacing them with cheap agency staff.  All sailings have been suspended without notice for up to 10 days, leaving passengers stranded without warning, see www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60779001.  The firm's behaviour has been described as 'appalling' - you may wish to reconsider using P&O Ferries.  It seems that employment contracts based in Cyprus or possible Jersey (depending on what source you believe) allowed them to circumvent normal employment law.  Note that P&O Ferries are unconnected with P&O Cruises, despite sharing a historic name.

Travel has got easier...

The UK, France, Belgium and Italy have now all dropped Covid testing requirements for entry.  Poland and the Netherlands remain the main countries still requiring testing.  I've re-written the COVID-19 information page to reflect this.  And as of 18 March, the UK abolishes its passenger locator form, too.

Odds & ends this month...

February 2022

Renfe-SNCF to end co-operation from the end of 2022...

Renfe-SNCF will end its loss-making joint operation of TGV & AVE trains between France and Spain using the Perpignan-Barcelona high-speed line, from the end of this year.  It remains to be seen what will happen to the Paris/Lyon/Marseille-Barcelona services.  Article in French.

Belgium drops Covid test & quarantine requirement...

From 18 February, Belgium will remove the requirement for even vaccinated travellers from the UK to have a Covid test and undergo quarantine on arrival.  The NHS app with QR code and completing the Belgian arrival form will be sufficient.

France drops Covid test requirement...

From 12 February, France no longer requires any Covid test to enter from the UK, for vaccinated travellers.  The NHS app with QR code and health declaration & passenger locator form will be sufficient.

Britain abolishes 'day 2' Covid test on return to UK...

From 11 February UK travellers will no longer need a 'Day 2' Covid test on their return to the UK (The pre-return test was dropped a while ago).  So if you're vaccinated, all you need is a simple antigen test less than 48h before entering France or Italy, 24h before entering the Belgium or Netherlands.  No test needed for Germany or Switzerland.  Belgium has some self-isolation rules, but not for transit in less than 48h.  There is talk of France dropping the need for a test, too.  So travel is becoming easier...

Odds & ends this month...

January 2022

Oui.sncf has been rebranded as sncf-connect.com...

SNCF (French Railways) has rebranded its website for the third time.  Having changed the long-standing voyages-sncf.com to oui.sncf only a few years ago, oui.sncf has today (25 January) changed to sncf-connect.com.  The new site seems to lack a journey planner, until you realise that there is just one field, for your destination.  If you switch it to English, it puts all times in the old-fashioned 12-hour clock, which does my head in.  Sometimes, I wonder what SNCF is on...

European Rail Map, 3rd edition published...

The European Rail Timetable people have published a 3rd edition of their European Rail Map, the best out there.  Compared the 2nd edition, it updates progress with various high-speed lines in Spain, France, Germany.  Buy online at www.europeanrailtimetable.eu.

Odds & ends this month...

December 2021

Paris-Turin-Milan Frecciarossas to start on 18 December...

It's been put back and put back, but it's finally about to happen...  Trenitalia will launch two daily Frecciarossa 1000 trains between Paris, Turin & Milan in competition with SNCF's existing 3 daily TGVs.  This means there'll be a choice of operator on the key route from London & Paris to Italy, and it'll help keep fares low, too.  Unlike the TGVs, the Frecciarossas will run via Lyon Part Dieu, opening up a hitherto untapped market between Italy and Lyon, and they'll go head-to-head with SNCF on it's premier route, Paris to Lyon.  See Paris-Milan times, fares and info.  I will add these Frecciarossas as an option on the UK to Italy page and other pages in due course.

New China-Laos Railway open from 3 December...

The new Chinese-built 160 km/h railway from the Chinese border through Luang Prabang to Vientiane opened on 3 December.  There will be 2 services daily between Vientiane & Luang Prabang with 1 extended to Boten on the Chinese border.  There will be no cross-border trains as yet due to Covid-19, but post-pandemic trains will link Kunming with Vientiane and it'll be possible to travel from Europe to Bangkok & Singapore by train without the bus across Cambodia.  Details are now on the Laos page.

European timetable changes in December...

The significant changes from 12 December have now been updated throughout seat61.com.

Timetables change across Europe at 24:00 on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Here's a round-up of the major changes expected so far, I have already incorporated these significant changes into the information on this site.

November 2021

European timetable changes in December...

Timetables change across Europe at 24:00 on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Here's a round-up of the major changes expected so far, I have already incorporated these significant changes into the information on this site.

October 2021

Lumo launches...

Lo-cost London-Edinburgh operator Lumo ran its inaugural train for press & media on 21 October, with ;public service starting on 25 October.  With fares from £14.90 and a promise of 60% of tickets £30 or less, the service aims firmly at the lo-cost airlines.  I travelled on Lumo's press & media preview train on 21 October 2021, see the video here.

Odds & ends this month...

September 2021

Eurostar ski train to run again in winter 2021/22 (sort of)

The Eurostar ski train from London to Moutiers & Bourg St Maurice didn't run in winter 2020/21.  However, 1 Ski train per week will run in winter 2021/22, Friday nights overnight southbound, Saturdays by day inbound.  It's being financed by Compagnie des Alpes which owns many of the resorts  It will be sold as the TravelSki Express.  In effect it's a charter train this winter, which means it won't be sold as ticket-only, but as part of ski packages sold at www.TravelSki.com.  I'll post more details when known, on the Ski by Train page.

European timetable changes in December...

Timetables change across Europe at 24:00 on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Here's a round-up of the major changes expected so far:

Lumo is go!  London-Edinburgh from £14.90...

Open access operator Lumo will offer 2 trains per day with fares from £14.90 when it starts on 25 October.  By early 2022 they'll be running up to 5 trains per day each way, with 60% of fares under £30.  It's aimed fairly and squarely at easyJet & Ryanair passengers, and I've added basic info on the London to Edinburgh page.  I'll be watching this project with great interest - pass the popcorn!

Eurostar increases service as travel resumes...

Eurostar are increasing London-Paris to 5 train per day each way until November, London-Brussels to 3 trains per day.  Vaccinated UK travellers can now visit many countries fairly freely, including France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and passing through Belgium in less than 48h is not a problem either.  Entering Italy requires a negative Covid test in the 48 hours before arrival.  I explain the arrangements for travel to mainland Europe on the COVID-19 information page.

Odds & ends this month...

August 2021

Paris-Barcelona TGVs cut to 1 per day, so switch to the sleeper!

While Spain was in lockdown, only the morning TGV operated between Paris & Barcelona.  Fair enough.  When borders opened, I expected the afternoon TGV to be restored permanently, but it seems it will only run until 30 August, presumably due to reduced demand, leaving just one TGV per day between Paris & Barcelona even with borders open.  That leaves the Perpignan-Barcelona high-speed line as an expensive white elephant with just 2 trains a day (the other train still running is the Barcelona-Lyon AVE).  The morning 10:14 Paris-Barcelona TGV leaves too early for connections from London or Amsterdam, and arrives too late to connect with the afternoon 15:50 AVE from Barcelona to Cordoba & Seville.  Time to switch back to the night trains?  I have added a Paris to Barcelona by sleeper train page explaining how to take the French sleeper trains from Paris to the Spanish border at Portbou or Latour de Carol, and a connecting local train to Barcelona.  I've then added journey options using this route between London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg & Berlin and Barcelona, Seville, Valencia & Alicante.

Changes to Copenhagen-Oslo ferry...

The DFDS overnight cruise ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo will now call at Frederikshavn in northern Denmark, to replace Stena Line's Frederikshavn-Oslo ferry which is discontinued.  Unfortunately, this means leaving Copenhagen at 14:15 rather than 16:30, breaking the connection with the first train of the day from Hamburg to Copenhagen.  It'll still be possible to go Hamburg to Frederikshavn with 2 changes, and make the late-night departure from there to Oslo.  Southbound, the ferry leaves Oslo at 14:15 instead of 16:39, so connections to Hamburg & the rest of Europe are maintained.

Can you help with photos?

When I first started Seat 61 20 years ago, I fondly thought I could travel around and get all the photos I needed myself.  I've finally accepted that I can't do it all myself.  Even when I do get photos, rebranded colour schemes, new trains and refurbished interiors often render my own photos out of date.  So if you use this site, find it useful, and have any photos which might help future travellers follow in your footsteps, please get in touch.  There are a few specific photos I'm lacking, more information on the photo request page.

Settle & Carlisle, England's most scenic railway...

I'm delighted that I've finally added a page about England's most scenic railway, the Settle & Carlisle line.  With a great history as well as fabulous scenery, it makes for an excellent day out, or you can build it into your next train trip between London & Scotland.  I was able to add that page after a press preview trip on the wonderful Staycation Express, a charter train that's building on the S&C's position as a tourist attraction.  See the Settle & Carlisle video.

Karawanks Tunnel work completed, Munich-Zagreb sleeper resumes...

The work in the Karawanks Tunnel between Austria & Slovenia was completed on 31 July.  The Munich-Zagreb sleeper has resumed, the Zurich-Zagreb sleeper is no longer diverted and will resume calling at Ljubljana.  I have removed the warnings on the various affected pages.

July 2021

Hope for a direct Madrid-Lisbon daytime train?

It's reported that Renfe is now proposing a Madrid-Lisbon daytime train, 06:35 from Lisbon arriving Madrid 15:00, 15:30 from Madrid arriving Lisbon 21:55, to replace the Lusitania Trenhotel sleeper service that has been suspended since March 2020 and which Renfe will not restore.  These timings would allow same-day connections to/from Barcelona. 7h20 isn't fast, but it could be speeded up when Madrid-Badajoz high-speed line opens in 2024.

Renfe's new fare types & classes in Spain...

Renfe (Spanish Railways) have adopted a completely new fares structure for all its long distance trains starting this month, and they've also changed the terms they use for classes.  Gone are the long-standing Turista & Preferente, Renfe now offers Standard & Comfort class.  For an explanation of the new setup, see the fares & classes section on the Train travel in Spain page.  I have revised the How to use Renfe.com section, updated the Train travel in Spain page and (I think) changed all the terminology used for Spanish classes & ticket types throughout the site.  If you find any stray mentions of 'Turista' or 'Promo fares' let me know!

Odds & ends this month...

June 2021

Thello Paris-Venice & Nice-Milan definitively dead...

Finally, they say as much on their site.  As from July, the Thello sleeper train between Paris & Venice and the day trains between Nice & Milan are permanently discontinued.  Thello wasn't the best sleeper train in the world, but it was the only one on a major route with high demand and distances more suited to sleepers than high-speed trains.  This leaves a massive gap in the market.  As for terminating all Italian trains from Milan and Genoa at Ventimiglia on the border, 55 minutes short of Nice where everyone wants to go, is crazy, and (frankly) an indictment of European rail policy.  See the announcement at www.thello.com/en/traffic-information...

Now you can book online from Warsaw or Krakow to Prague!

Until now, the Czech Railways (CD) website www.cd.cz would happily sell you an advance-purchase ticket from Prague to Krakow or Warsaw from as little as €19, one-way or round trip, but only in the outward direction.  That was because you needed to print out the ticket and have it stamped by a Czech station or conductor before entering Poland.  The Czech staff have access to the CD sales system so could verify it as genuine, Polish conductors would only accept tickets if they'd been verified & stamped by CD staff.  So www.cd.cz couldn't sell tickets for the Poland to Prague direction.  And you couldn't buy them online from Polish Railways (PKP Intercity) either, as PKP have been utterly negligent in not enabling online sale of any international train tickets from Poland, other than to Berlin.  So until now you couldn't buy a Warsaw or Krakow to Prague ticket online at all, at any website, anywhere.

This also in effect made rail travel far more expensive:  Overseas visitors travelling from Krakow to Prague couldn't go online and buy a cheap €19 advance-purchase fare a week or two before they reached Poland, they had to buy at the station when they got to Poland when all the cheap advance tickets had sold out.  A full-flex ticket bought on the day costs €70.  Now CD has enabled online sales in both directions, problem solved (no thanks to PKP).  Phew...

A Zurich-Rome sleeper may start in Spring 2022...

It's reported that the Zurich-Rome sleeper planned for December 2022 may start earlier than that.  Departure from Zurich around 20:00, arrive in Rome around 09:15. Departure from Rome around 19:00, arrival in Zurich around 07:30.  It will consist of 2 Trenitalia sleeping-cars and 5 Trenitalia couchette cars, staffed by the same contractor who staffs Trenitalia's domestic sleepers.  See this article (in German) at www.aargauerzeitung.ch.

Odds & ends this month...

May 2021

Sleeper trains return to Amsterdam from 24 May...

The Vienna/Innsbruck/Munich to Amsterdam Nightjet train starts running from 24 May, the extension from Dusseldorf to Amsterdam postponed from the year by covid-19.  It's due to be joined by a new Amsterdam-Zurich train from December.  The train number - Nightjet 420 - is causing a few titters, I had to look up cannabis culture to understand why - see this Twitter thread.

Major rail reorganisation in Britain...

The long-awaited Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail was published on 20 May.  It's 'game over' for franchising, a new government organisation to be called Great British Railways will be formed out of what's now Network Rail and this will set fares, plan services and generally run the network.  Trains will still be run by private companies, but as mere contractors, not franchisees.  Fares are to be simplified, flexible season tickets introduced and digital tickets rolled out across the network rather than by operator.  The report can be downloaded here, The report can be downloaded here.  My interpretation of it can be seen on Twitter here.  More standardisation, less fragmentation?  Probably.  Less innovation and no Chiltern-style investment as it all now needs to come from government?  Possibly.  We shall see.

Flixtrain starts Stockholm-Gothenburg trains...

Low-cost train operator Flixtrain started services between Stockholm & Gothenburg on 6 May 2021, initially 2 services each way on weekdays, 3 per day at weekends, fares from €12.99, www.flixtrain.com/train/gothenburg.

Brussels/Amsterdam to Warsaw sleeper?

It now appears that a Brussels & Amsterdam to Warsaw portion will eventually be added to European Sleeper's Brussels & Amsterdam to Prague sleeper referred to in April's news.  This comes from a track access application in Poland.

Vladivostok-Korea-Japan ferry back in action - sort of...

DBS Ferry suspended its weekly sailings of the ferry Eastern Dream between Vladivostok, Korea & Japan in November 2019, and discontinued them permanently in February 2020.  However, Duwon Shipping has now taken over the Eastern Dream, and a weekly service started operating from Vladivostok again, in September 2020.  The Korean port is now Pohang, just north of Busan, and in Japan they are using Maizuru, on the north coast opposite Kyoto.  The ferry is currently only carrying freight due to the pandemic, but it's expected that passengers will be carried when border restrictions end.  More information.

Further update:  A further Korean media article from February 2021 reported that this service had closed down again.  However, my correspondent reports that it is indeed currently still operating, at least between Vladivostok & Korea if not to Japan, and without passengers due to the pandemic.  It may resume in full after the pandemic, we'll see.

April 2021

New classes & fares structure in Spain...

Renfe will be playing around with its classes yet again from June.  Having changed Turista, Preferente & Club to Turista, Turista Plus & Preferente, from summer 2021 Turista will become Standard and Turista Plus/Preferente will become Comfort.  A new fares structure will be introduced with 3 fare types, Basic (the cheapest), Choose (the most flexible) and Premium, (all-inclusive), more about this here:  www.euroweeklynews.com.

New sleeper train from 2022:  Brussels/Amsterdam to Berlin & Prague!

A new company started by two Dutch/Belgian entrepreneurs plans to run a sleeper train from Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam & Amsterdam to Berlin, Dresden & Prague.  European Sleeper (www.europeansleeper.eu) anticipates running their first train in April 2022, initially 3 times a week with daily operation the ultimate goal.

My guess at rough timings is Brussels dep. 19:00, Amsterdam dep. 23:00, Berlin arr. 06:00, Dresden 08:15, Prague 10:30.

And westbound, Prague dep. 18:30, Dresden dep. 21:00, Berlin dep. 23:00, Amsterdam arr. 06:00, Brussels arr. 09:45.

This is based on information that the train will arrive Berlin around 06:00 and leave around 23:00 westbound.  It's thus clear that Berlin is a prime objective of this new train, unlike its predecessor the Amsterdam-Prague/Warsaw City Night Line which passed through Berlin at 4am, too early for most travellers, and left Berlin between midnight & 1am westbound.  Antwerp & Rotterdam are also interesting inclusions - as far as I can recall, Rotterdam hasn't had a sleeper train since Hoek of Holland lost its sleepers in the 1990s.

European Sleeper's masterstroke is to have partnered with established Czech open-access operator Regiojet (www.regiojet.com) who will be providing rolling stock (couchette cars & seats cars, but no sleeping-cars) and hauling the train in Germany & the Czech Republic.  SNCB will provide haulage in Belgium, their haulage partner in the Netherlands is yet to be announced. 

The seats cars will include Standard, Standard (Astra), Relax and Business classes, see Regiojet classes here.  I would speculate that the couchettes will be used as 4-berth sleeping compartments, with sole occupancy available for 1-3 people at less than the cost of 4 tickets, as has been Regiojet's practice on their successful Prague-Croatia sleeper train, but all such details have yet to be announced.  It's possible some couchette cars will be used as 'pseudo-sleeping-cars with full bedding, set up with 1, 2 or 3 bunks on one side of the compartment, a sofa on the other side, as that is what Regiojet do on their Prague-Slovakia night train.  Regiojet own some cars capable of carrying bikes, but it's not known if such cars will be included in this train.

The full Regiojet on-board service will be provided, meaning complimentary Illy coffee & bottled water, free WiFi and extensive at-seat menu, hopefully at Regiojet's Czech prices.  I believe that partnering with Regiojet gives great credibility to this new service, and sorts on-board service and ticket distribution at a stroke.  Let's see if European Sleeper & Regiojet can together replicate the success of Regiojet's Prague-Croatia sleeper.

Update:  Requested timings have been spotted on a Czech infrastructure website.  These suggest Oostende depart 18:04, Bruges 18:19, Brussels Midi 19:16, Amsterdam 21:59, Berlin Hbf arrive 05:51, Dresden 07:41, Prague 09:56.  And yes, the train will now serve Oostende, Bruges & Ghent as well as Brussels!  Westbound, Prague dep. 19:10, Dresden dep. 21:27, Berlin dep. 23:20, Amsterdam arr. 06:01, Brussels Midi 08:44, Bruges 09:41, Oostende 09:56.

You wait years for a Brussels-Berlin sleeper then 3 turn up at once...

Literally within an hour of today's European Sleeper's announcement, another company founded by Belgian entrepreneurs announced plans for a Brussels/Liege-Berlin night train.  Moonlight Express (moonlightexpress.eu) also plan an April 2022 start, apparently separately from European Sleeper, and of course ÖBB plan a Brussels/Paris-Berlin/Vienna Nightjet from December 2023, possibly with their new Nightjet trains being built by Siemens.  I've been told European Sleeper and Moonlight Express have indeed been talking to each other about the obvious overlap.

Moonlight Express will be all-sleeping accommodation (no sit-up-all-night seats) and will feature a bistro car.  It will leave Brussels around 20:00 and arrive Berlin around 08:00, using classic lines.  It will have both couchettes and sleeping-cars, leased from RDC, see www.rdc-deutschland.de/rdc-asset-gmbh.  It too will initially run 3 times a week, starting April 2022, with Eurostar connections to/from London.  RDC-Deutchland is also supplying couchettes & sleeping-cars for SBB's Amsterdam-Zurich sleeper from December 2021, I would speculate that Amsterdam-Zurich might nab RDC's MUn sleepers (enough for 2 per train plus spare) with Moonlight Express getting RDC's AB33 ex-T2s sleeping-cars also enough for two per train, though it could be the other way round!

With Brussels-Vienna already on the books and a Brussels-Copenhagen being tendered and due to start from August 2022, Brussels is indeed looking like a night train hub, with Eurostar connections from London...

March 2021

Prague-Vienna & Prague-Budapest trains diverted...

From 6 April 2021 for a couple of years, Prague-Vienna and Prague-Bratislava-Budapest trains are being diverted via the slower route through Havlíčkův Brod while their normal route through Česká Třebová is upgraded.  This adds 25 minutes to the journey.  I have now updated the timings on this site - I think I have found them all, let me know if I've missed one!  The Vienna-Berlin Vindobona and Budapest-Berlin Hungaria now by-pass Prague Hlavni, making up the time lost by the slower route, so end to end timings aren't affected.

Seat61.com is 20 years old today...

Has the internet really been around that long?  I registered the domain name seat61.com 20 years ago today, on 21 March 2001.  Only because I had managed to get a webpage online and thought it would be fun.  I never expected it to become my full-time job, which it did in 2007.  Read more about how & why I started 61 on the About me page.

Train travel in Egypt...

I have just thoroughly overhauled and improved the Train travel in Egypt page, thanks to photos taken by Koen of paliparan.com.  Not only did I enjoy following his visit to Egypt on Twitter, he has generously allowed me to use some of his photos to illustrate Cairo Ramses station and the different types of Egyptian train, and it inspired me to dig deeper into a subject that is not always well covered on the internet.  I now explain how to use 3rd part apps on your smartphone to find train times, given the shortcomings of the Egyptian National Railways website which only shows air-con express trains, and only major stations.  I have pored over photos & videos to explain the layout and platform arrangements of Cairo station.  That page is now what I hope is the best guide to Egyptian train travel on the net - well, that's what I've aimed at, anyway!

February 2021

Return of the Paris-Nice Train Bleu...

President Macron wants eco-friendly night trains to return, and he's promised to restore the Paris-Nice and Paris-Biarritz/Hendaye/Lourdes/Tarbes Intercité de nuit.  It seems the Paris-Nice Intercité de nuit, the train originally called the Train Bleu, may return as early as 29 March 2021.  Watch this space!

Odds & ends this month...

January 2021

Updating European train times for the 2021 timetable...

With multiple lockdowns in various countries, I've more or loess given up trying to keep up with day to day changes in train service (let alone travel restrictions!), instead I'm concentrating on overhauling and improving all the European pages for when travel resumes.  With no urgency to get the timetable update done quickly this year, I'm taking my time so please bear with me, Seat 61 should emerge an even better guide to train travel once we can all travel again, particularly the city to city pages where I am adding missing routes and extra options.

December 2020

Though with multiple lockdowns in various countries, I have given up trying to keep up with this for the next month or two...

Covid-19:  A strange Seat 61 timetable update...

On Seat 61 I aim to show the 'clean' timetable so people can plan their journeys, often without a specific date in mind and often beyond the period for which trains are open for booking.  The 'clean' timetable is the normal timetable that usually applies on any given day, all other things being equal.  The 'dirty' timetable is the actual timetable for each specific date in the year with alterations due to engineering work, flood, fire, landslip or strike, some known way in advance, some applied short term.

The line between 'clean' and 'dirty' is already blurred, for example long-term repair work in the Karawanks Tunnel this year means the Munich-Zagreb sleeper is cancelled until July, and the Zurich-Zagreb sleeper is diverted not calling at Ljubljana and a later arrival in Zagreb.  Such long-term planned work effectively becomes part of the 'clean' timetable and I attempt to show this on Seat 61.  However, Covid-19 alterations have taken the quest for the 2021 'clean' timetable to a whole new level...

The German, Austrian and Czech railways make it easy for me in much of central Europe.  The Germans load timetable data for the whole year (13 Dec 2020 to 11 Dec 2021) which I can see using their all-Europe online timetable at bahn.de/en - even beyond the 60/90/120/180 day period for which European trains are open for booking.  Furthermore, they load the complete normal timetable, then remove any trains they aren't running due to covid-19 for the actual period they think they won't be running them, in other words the next 2-3 months.  So by looking at dates from around April onwards I can see the 'clean' timetable without covid-19 service reductions - assuming of course I check that I've picked a 'typical' date to look at, not an odd one with a temporary alteration!

The French Railways make it difficult.  Their own website only shows trains up to their booking horizon 92 days from now.  Using bahn.de/en I can see what they have loaded into MERITS, but they only load data until July.  And they are only loading the trains they plan to run during the pandemic, so even if I look in July all I can see is one morning Paris-Barcelona TGV as that's all that's running now, even though I know perfectly well that the 'clean' timetable has 2 trains each way all year and 2 additionals in summer.  So on Seat 61 I'm still going to show 2 TGVs each way for 2021, with a question mark over the additionals, and have had to assume that the timings of the missing afternoon TGV remains as per 2020.

Similarly, Trenitalia seem to have a very odd morning service from Milan to Bari at the moment (important on Seat 61 for ferry connections to Greece & Albania).  An 07:05 Intercity taking 10 hours?  Really??  Where's the fast 07:35 Frecciarossa?  Looks to me like a covid-19 temporary timetable.  But looking a little further ahead I see no morning trains at all which means the data is almost certainly still incomplete, knowing that Trenitalia often loads random blocks of trains at a time with whole parts of the day's service missing.  And looking even further ahead, trying to find a post-pandemic normal timetable, there are no trains at all, so that doesn't help.  In Spain, the situation is similar, with trains such as the afternoon San Sebastian to Madrid Alvia missing due to covid-19 but no way to find the 'clean' timetable that the current reduced service is reduced from.

So...  I am over half way through updating the site for 2021, in readiness for an end or at least easing of this awful pandemic at some point.  I have already integrated the known major changes for 2021, such as the extension of the Dusseldorf-Munich/Innsbruck/Vienna Nightjet to Amsterdam. the Brussels-Vienna Nightjet 3 times a week, and the new faster more frequent service between Zurich & Munich (and not forgetting the Karawanks tunnel closure!).  I have implemented most of the easy-to-confirm timing changes for Germany/Austria/Czech/central Europe, thanks to Bahn.de/en.

However, for France, Italy, Spain I have had to make a lot of assumptions that the 'clean' timetable for 2021 remains similar to previous years.  And of course data for the extremities - Belgrade-Sofia, Bucharest-Istanbul, Warsaw-Vilnius - almost never appears before the timetable change date in any case, so they always get confirmed last, often after the new timetable period has already started!  There's also a big question mark over Nice-Milan, where the media is full of reports of Thello's demise, but Thello trains  have now appeared in the booking system for dates after 13 December, which is good, but Thello themselves are steadfastly refusing to say anything about what's happening.

The excellent printed European Rail Timetable often helps here.  But the winter edition has been deferred until January.  I wonder if they've had similar problems?

Finally, Eurostar:  I'm not even sure they've bothered compiling a 'clean' timetable for 2021, they having a tough time of it and making up a timetable week by week, in lockdown running just 1 train per day to Paris and 1 to Brussels & Amsterdam.  So I've made it easy for myself, and left the 2020 Eurostar timings as the 'clean' timetable for 2021, anticipating that a revived post-pandemic timetable will be broadly similar to that.

Fingers crossed that we'll all be able to do at least some travelling in the second half of 2021!

Timetable change in December:  What are the major changes?

As usual, the timetable changes across Europe on the 2nd Saturday in December.

Odds & ends this months...

November 2020

Though with multiple lockdowns in various countries, I have given up trying to keep up with this for the next month or two...

Timetable change in December:  What are the major changes?

As usual, the timetable changes across Europe on the 2nd Saturday in December.

Odds & ends this month...

October 2020

Timetable change in December:  What are the major changes?

As usual, the timetable changes across Europe on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Bookings for dates after the timetable change will open on 13 October for German trains, around the same time for Austrian trains, on 21 September for Thalys, and probably around that time for French trains. Significant changes expected from 13 Dec include:

- Sleeper trains return to Amsterdam!  The nightjet sleeper from Dusseldorf to Munich, Innsbruck & Vienna is extended to start in Amsterdam, every day.

- The Brussels-Vienna nightjet is increased in frequency from 2 per week to 3.  However, there won't be a Brussels-Munich/Innsbruck portion any more.

- The Berlin-Wroclaw-Katowice-Krakow EuroCity train Wawel is finally reinstated.

- Zurich-Munich EuroCity trains will be replaced by bullet-nosed ETR610 trains, frequency will be doubled to 6 trains per day each way & journey time cut to 4 hours, with further cuts in journey time to come.

- Zurich-Milan EuroCity trains have journey time cut from 3h40 to 3h17 by the new Ceneri Base Tunnel, with frequency increased from 6 trains per day to 10.

- 3 additional Vienna-Budapest train pairs means departures every hour, no longer any gaps during the day.

- Thello day trains Nice-Milan look set to be withdrawn, so you'll need to change at Ventimiglia and buy two tickets.

- It's looking like the Belgrade-Sofia direct train won't run in summer 2021.

Thello set to withdraw Nice-Milan trains...

Thello is unlikely ever to resume its Paris-Milan-Venice sleeper train, and has now said it is likely to withdraw its Nice-Genoa-Milan daytime trains from 2021 too.  That means going back to French TER trains running from Nice to Ventimiglia and Trenitalia Intercity trains running Ventimiglia-Genoa-Milan, making everyone change trains at the border and buy two tickets.  This is utterly crazy - if European train operators cannot get their act together, they don't deserve to succeed.  It remains to be seen if this also means the end of the planned Milan-Paris daytime Frecciarossa trains, which have been on test in France.

Odds & ends this month...

September 2020

The travel situation is explained on the COVID-19 information page.  Trains are running pretty normally in much of Europe, but there are restrictions for UK & other travellers.

Timetable change in December:  What are the major changes?

As usual, the timetable changes across Europe on the 2nd Saturday in December.  Bookings for dates after the timetable change will open on 13 October for German trains, around the same time for Austrian trains, on 21 September for Thalys, and probably around that time for French trains. Significant changes expected from 13 Dec include:

- Sleeper trains return to Amsterdam!  The nightjet sleeper from Dusseldorf to Munich, Innsbruck & Vienna is extended to start in Amsterdam, every day.

- The Brussels-Vienna nightjet is increased in frequency from 2 per week to 3.  However, there won't be a Brussels-Munich/Innsbruck portion any more.

- The Berlin-Wroclaw-Katowice-Krakow EuroCity train Wawel is finally reinstated.

- Zurich-Munich EuroCity trains will be replaced by bullet-nosed ETR610 trains, frequency will be doubled to 6 trains per day each way & journey time cut to 4 hours, with further cuts in journey time to come.

- Zurich-Milan EuroCity trains have journey time cut from 3h40 to 3h17 by the new Ceneri Base Tunnel, with frequency increased from 6 trains per day to 10.

- 3 additional Vienna-Budapest train pairs means departures every hour, no longer any gaps during the day.

Interrail & Eurail global passes go mobile...

From 21 September, Interrail & Eurail global passes are available as 'mobile' passes which sit in an app on your smartphone - as well as in classic printed form. No postage costs or delivery delay with a mobile pass! FAQs are here: www.interrail.eu/.../interrail.../mobile-pass-faq.  A key requirement is to connect the app to the internet at least every 3 days to update it and keep the pass valid. I doubt this is a big deal. But the timezone thing, where a midnight to midnight pass day is always measured in Central European Time even when you're in a country where CET-1 or CET+1 applies - a thing I think only applies to these new mobile passes - looks like it might cause some fun & games! They launched a mobile version of the single-country pass for Italy a little while ago, so have been gaining experience with that. This is the most important pass, the global one covering all the participating countries. And don't ask me why a pass covering much of Europe is called 'global'. It just is, OK?!

Regiojet's summer Prague-Rijeka night train a massive success...

Regiojet’s Prague-Rijeka night train has been a massive success: 60,000 passengers have been carried, 90% occupancy on a 500-passenger train.  This one train has achieved a 6% market share of all travel between the Czech Republic and Croatia.  10% of passengers were to or from Bratislava, 90% to or from the Czech Republic.  It’ll return in summer 2021 with a longer season starting from May.  See press article (in Czech).

Odds & ends this month...

 

August 2020

I'll continue to update the train travel situation on the COVID-19 information page.  We can now travel freely to much of Europe...

At last!  Direct Amsterdam to London Eurostars to start from 26 October.

Eurostar have been running direct eastbound trains from London to Amsterdam since April 2018, but have been unable to operate direct eastbound trains from Amsterdam to London because the necessary agreements were not in place to do border formalities and Tunnel security in Rotterdam and Amsterdam Centraal.  This was due to be resolved and direct westbound Eurostars start on 30 April this year.  However, coronavirus intervened and this was postponed.  I'm glad to say that inwards Amsterdam to Lon don Eurostars will finally start from 26 October, with border formalities undertaken in the new Eurostar terminal at the end of platform 15 at Amsterdam Centraal and in the new Eurostar terminal at Rotterdam Centraal.

Sleeper trains return to Amsterdam in December!

It's now confirmed that with the December timetable change ÖBB (Austrian Railways) will extend its Dusseldorf-Munich/Innsbruck/Vienna Nightjet to start in Amsterdam, also calling at Utrecht and Arnhem.  In more good news, the twice-weekly Brussels-Munich/Innsbruck/Vienna Nightjet will become 3 times a week.  On the days it doesn't run, the 11:04 London to Amsterdam Eurostar will allow one-change connection with the Amsterdam Nightjet instead.

It's also reported SBB (Swiss Railways) are planning to reinstate an Amsterdam to Zurich sleeper, from December 2021.

ÖBB has 13 7-car sleeper trains on order from Siemens, to replace older cars that don't meet stringent new Italian regulations, releasing good-quality existing cars for other routes including increased capacity and possible new routes.  ÖBB have now been allowed to order 20 more such trains, and their CEO has said he'd like to run a Vienna-Paris sleeper from 2024.

Meanwhile, the Swedish government is pressing ahead with a tender for a new sleeper train from  Malmo & Copenhagen to Cologne and possibly Brussels to start from August 2022.

How risky is a train journey?

Preliminary research by @RSSB_rail suggests chance of getting COVID-19 from a train journey is just 1 in 11,000. That's without factoring in face coverings.  It also seems that air-con carriages are better than non-air-con ones. See my Twitter feed, twitter.com/seatsixtyone.

Regiojet extends Prague-Vienna trains to Budapest...

Two Regiojet trains per day from Prague to Vienna have been extended to Budapest from 31 July, in competition with the existing trains run by the national rail operators.  Fares from Prague to Budapest from €16, Vienna to Budapest from €9.  I've updated the relevant pages to show this new cheap option.

 

July 2020

I'll continue to update the train travel situation on the COVID-19 information page.  We may soon be able to travel...

Brits can now travel abroad!

From 10 July (or even from 4 July, if you don't plan to return to the UK before 10 July), UK nationals can freely visit France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland. even for tourism, without restriction.   Eurostar is running (albeit with a reduced but increasing service) and most European train services are almost back to normal.  For details of what's changed, what you can now do, and what trains are and aren't running, see the COVID-19 information page,

Eurostar increases fares, but with new flexibility...

Eurostar fares from London to Paris & Brussels increased from 1 July from their long-standing cheapest rates of £46 one-way, £58 return to a new cheapest fare of £52 one-way & £78 return.  I have now updated seat61 to reflect that.  However, until the end of this year, all Eurostar fares can be changed to another departure or date with no change fee (just the difference in fare) up until 14 days before departure.  This is to give people more confidence booking during the pandemic.

No direct Eurostar to the South of France in 2020 or 2021...

Eurostar have said it will not run it's direct train from London to Lyon, Avignon or Marseille either this year or (more surprisingly) next year.  They cite the difficulty of running a longer-distance train without catering and with compulsory mask wearing during the pandemic.

Regiojet's Prague-Bratislava-Ljubljana/Rijeka sleeper train a rip-roaring success...

Regiojet's new overnight train from Prague & Bratislava to Ljubljana & Rijeka has surprised even the operator themselves.  30,000 tickets were sold to Czech holidaymakers within days of tickets going on sale, and many departures are now sold out - and that's with 560-seat/berth trains.  Regiojet have reacted by increasing departures from 3 times per week to every day.  See www.railjournal.com/regions/europe/regiojet.

 

June 2020

Russia & Belarus sign visa agreement...

At long last, Russia & Belarus have agreed that from 1 July 2020 they will recognise each other's visas.  You'll be able to get a Russian visa, and this will also cover you for entering and crossing Belarus to reach Moscow.  First, this removes the current technical illegality of travelling to Russia via Belarus - it had been officially illegal, but tolerated (mostly) if you used the direct Russian trains from Paris-Berlin, Warsaw or Prague to Moscow.  Second, you'll now only need one visa not two, removing the a major hassle of obtaining a second visa to cover transit through Belarus.

Trans-Siberian changes from July...

In the midst of the COVID-19 disruption, Russian domestic trains are still running and a significant change will affect Moscow-Vladivostok train 1/2, the famous Rossiya, from July 2020.

Train 1/2 Rossiya has always been the fastest train between Moscow & Vladivostok, taking 7 nights.  Currently it only runs every two days and there is a second slower train between Moscow & Vladivostok, train 99/100 running every day, making around 70 more station stops than the Rossiya and taking 8 nights.  Train 99/100 has been gradually re-equipped with the very latest cars, and from 9 July 2020 this slower train 99/100 will be renumbered 1/2 and become the Rossiya, whilst the former faster train 1/2 will be renumbered 61/62 and become nameless.

So travellers now have a choice between riding the famous Rossiya, train 1 westbound & train 2 eastbound with daily departures and the latest rolling stock, but taking 8 nights, or riding nameless train 61/62 running only 3 days a week with slightly older rolling stock, but with 70 fewer stops, taking only 7 nights from Moscow to Vladivostok and saving a whole day & night.  Personally, I'd take the Rossiya, for the name as well as the hot shower in every car!

 

April 2020

Coronavirus update...

Since 17 March, the UK Foreign Office advises against all non-essential travel from the UK to anywhere globally, see www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.  Everyone is advised to stay at home...

Most European & worldwide countries are now in lockdown, with no international trains and reduced domestic trains.  Only EU citizens are allowed to enter the EU.

To check which countries have closed their borders, which countries require you to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival & so on, see www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

With everywhere affected worldwide, I won't be putting individual warning notes on all 367 pages on this site, so for real time info in a very fluid situation, please check the website of the relevant train operator or ask your ticket retailer.

Tip:  If you run an enquiry on the relevant journey planner (the one you'd normally use to buy tickets for that particular route or train), if you see prices and can buy tickets then it's running, if it says cancelled or doesn't show up, it isn't running.  You'll find  a more detailed list of what's running and what's not here.

Eurostar is still running a skeleton service between London and Paris/Brussels, just 1 or 2 services a day for essential travel by UK/EU residents only.  No direct trains to/from Amsterdam.

Brittany Ferries has suspended all sailings UK-France. DFDS has suspended their Newcastle-Amsterdam ferry.

Many European cross-border trains suspended.  Reduced train service in most European countries.

Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Canada, USA all running drastically reduced train services, cross-border trains (including Trans-Siberian trains between Russia, Mongolia & China all suspended until further notice.

 

March 2020

Coronavirus update...

From 17 March, the UK Foreign Office advise against all non-essential travel from the UK to anywhere globally, see www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Many European & worldwide countries are now in lockdown, with no international trains and reduced domestic trains.  Only EU/UK citizens are allowed to enter the EU.  To check which countries have closed their borders, which countries require you to self-isolate for a fortnight on arrival, and so on, see www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

With everywhere affected worldwide, I won't be putting individual warning notes on all 367 pages on this site, so for real time info in a very fluid situation, please ask your ticket retailer and/or check the website of the relevant train operator. 

Tip:  If you run an enquiry on the relevant journey planner (the one you'd normally use to buy tickets for that particular route or train), if you see prices and can buy tickets then it's running, if it says cancelled or doesn't show up, it isn't running.  You'll find  a more detailed list of what's running and what's not here.

Odds & ends this month...

 

February 2020

Irun - Vigo Camino de Santiago...

The long-established Camino de Santiago intercity train between Bilbao/Irun and Vigo/A Coruna is to be withdrawn from 3 March 2020 due to asbestos being found in the vehicles used on this service.  It's now the only remaining conventional locomotive-hauled train in Spain, all others being high-speed train, or electric or diesel multiple units, or articulated Talgo/Altaria trains.  It's not clear if Renfe have any intention of replacing it with alternative stock, either immediately or even in due course.  Update:  It now seems the train will be replaced with an articulated Talgo train, with two classes and a cafeteria.  As such, it'll be an improvement, although the train will run Irun & San Sebastian to Santiago & A Coruna, with a separate connection from Bilbao and a connection to Vigo.

South Africa halts trains...

The rail safety authority has issued a directive which has forced Shosholoza Meyl to halt all long-distance trains in South Africa, including Shosholoza Meyl and Premier Classe.  It's supposed to be temporary, but not clear how long this will last.

Corona virus halts trains...

Trans-Siberian trains to & from China, the Hanoi-Nanning train, and all trains between Hong Kong and mainland China are all halted temporarily this month due to the Corona Virus.

DBS ferry Vladivostok-Korea-Japan ceases...

The ferry linking Vladivostok with South Korea and Japan has ceased operation, reportedly permanently.  To reach Japan you now need to divert via Beijing and one of the Chinese ports - of would do, were it not for the Corona Virus at the moment.  This is not the first time this ferry has ceased operations.  FESCO, which I travelled with in 1998 and which started life under the USSR, gave up, to be replaced a while afterwards by this DBS ferry.  It's always possible some ferry with be resurrected in due course, but not in the immediate future perhaps.

Direct Amsterdam-London Eurostars start 30 April!

Eurostars have been running direct trains from London to Amsterdam for almost 2 years now, but in the inwards direction passengers have had to take a Thalys from Amsterdam to Brussels, go through normal Eurostar check-in at Brussels Midi, then take a Eurostar from Brussels to London.  Agreements with Dutch, Belgian and UK authorities are now in place for passport and check-in to happen in the Netherlands, and Eurostar have finally announced that direct Amsterdam to London trains will start on 30 April, with Rotterdam to London journeys possible from 18 May as they still have some work to do on the Eurostar terminal at Rotterdam Centraal.  Tickets go on sale from 11 February.  There will be two direct Amsterdam to London Eurostars per day, soon rising to three, then four and hopefully from December 2020, five.  I rode the press preview train on 4 February, taking just over 4 hours city centre to city centre.

Brussels-Vienna/Munich/Innsbruck sleeper train is go...

The first direct Nightjet sleeper train from Brussels to Vienna, Munich & Innsbruck left on 20 January, with the Man in Seat 61 on board (but of course!).   This excellent new train is initially twice a week, Monday & Thursday from Brussels, Sunday and Wednesday in the other direction, and not in July & August, but it should become daily all year from the timetable change in December when an Amsterdam portion should also start.

Odds & ends this month...

 

January 2020

Eurail & Interrail pass changes...

The Eurail team based in Utrecht have made more positive changes to the range of Eurail passes (for overseas visitors) and Interrail passes (for European residents).

 

December 2019

New high-speed line opened to the Great Wall of China...

The new Beijing North to Zhangjiakou high-speed line opened on 30 December, with an underground high-speed station at Badaling for the Great Wall.  I've yet to add any detail, as none of the English-0language booking sites yet list Badaling Changcheng or show these new trains, but this will come in due course.  I still think a turn-up-and-go trip on the historic line is a nicer experience, but why not go one way out and back the other?  See the Great Wall of China page.

Rail & Sail services to Belfast via Cairnryan slashed to one a day...

Stena Line has withdrawn two out of three daily round trips by its transfer bus between Ayr and the ferry terminal at Cairnryan, which means that the three daily rail & sail services between Scotland and Belfast are cut to just one a day.  Half a dozen ferry departures still operate daily, frequent trains still run between Glasgow and Ayr, yet these journey opportunities disappear for the lack of an Ayr-Cairnryan transfer bus to link train with ferry.  At a time more people want to avoid flying, this is unacceptable.  The remaining one service a day can be seen on the Northern Ireland page.

New timetable from 15 December 2019...

As always, all European timetables change at midnight on the 2nd Saturday in December.  I have started updating this site, although some information will remain to be updated until nearer the time.  Here's a list of significant changes...

Odds & ends this month...

 

November 2019

DBS ferry Vladivostok-Korea-Japan in danger?...

One report suggests this ferry service won't run from now until February 2020, and may not even resume then.  This is allegedly down to worsening Korea-Japan relations.  It will still be possible to use the Trans-Siberian to reach Japan, but this will mean going via Beijing and Shanghai, with an extra visa required.

Loco2 rebranded as Raileurope.com...

At 06:00 on 5 November, Loco2.com rebranded as Raileurope.com.  Same system, same connectivity, same excellent support staff in London.  Not to be confused with Raileurope.com in the USA & Canada, or Raileurope 4A serving Asia, Africa, Australia, South America.  It's all explained here...

New timetable from 15 December 2019...

As always, all European timetables change at midnight on the 2nd Saturday in December.  I have started updating this site, although some information will remain to be updated until nearer the time.  Here's a list of significant changes...

Odds & ends this month...

 

October 2019

End of DB First Class Lounges from 15 Dec 2019.

Not really the end, of course, but it may as well be.  From 15 December, you can no longer access DB first class lounges with any form of advance-purchase Sparpreis or Supersparpreis 1st class fare, only the most expensive full-flex Flexpreis 1st class fares.  Which really just restricts them to German businessmen. I will try to show an alternative 'lounge' at main interchange points in the form of a cafe, bar, restaurant in or near the station that can be used between trains.

DB Sparpreis London to be discontinued from January 2020.

DB (German Railways) is being forced to discontinue its Sparpreis London through tickets between London and Germany, Basel & Salzburg, originally from November 2019, now with a stay of execution until mid-January 2020.  DB say this is due to Eurostar 'changing its systems' so it is unable to access the necessary seat reservations on Eurostar.

This means that journeys between London and Germany can no longer be made on through tickets from €59.90 (or €69.90 for longer journeys such as London Munich or Berlin).  Instead, you'll need a normal Eurostar ticket London-Brussels from £44 one-way or £58 return then a Sparpreis Belgium fare from Brussels to Germany (Brussels-Cologne from €19, Frankfurt from €29).

The increase in cost will be much more significant that these cheapest prices suggest for those passengers booking weeks rather than months ahead.  That's because Eurostar raise their own fares very sharply as departure date approaches, whereas although the Sparpreis London fares rise too, they rise much less sharply, so travel to Germany remains affordable and competitive with flights.

Not only will this increase the cost of train travel to Germany, it affects passenger rights if one of the tight 20-minute connections in Brussels is missed.  With a through ticket, passengers have a cast-iron right to later onward travel at no charge if there's a delay and missed connection, including the right to a hotel if the last train of the day is missed.  With separate tickets there is no such cast-iron protection, only the Railteam Promise (which doesn't include provision for a hotel if the last train is missed) and Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC) apply, which are commercial arrangements between operators rather than actual passenger rights.  Indeed, I believe Eurostar isn't even a signatory to the AJC, it has just said it will apply it in practice.

The EU Transport Committee is in the final stages of agreeing changes to passenger rights to provide protection for missed connections for passengers making through journeys even with separate tickets, yet European train operators are lobbying hard against it passing the final stage into law.  Here we see operators circumventing existing passenger rights by discontinuing through tickets and forcing people to buy separate ones.  The improvement in passenger rights to cover separate tickets is desperately needed if the rail network is to continue to be a network, and it multi-stage multi-operator journeys are not to become too risky.

DB have said they are working with Eurostar to make ticket buying as easy as possible from November onwards, and to agree arrangements for those connections in Brussels.  Eurostar have said that they are committed to this market and hope to work out a solution with DB.  I certainly hope something sensible emerges.  This is a massive backward step for international train travel.

Caledonian Sleeper's old trains bow out...

The old Mk3 sleepers of 1980s vintage finally bowed out on 8 October. From 9 October, Caledonian Sleeper finally introduced its new Mk5 sleeper trains on its Highland route, meaning both its Lowland and Highland trains are entirely composed of the new vehicles.  See the Caledonian Sleeper page.

Hoek of Holland metro finally operational...

The metro train service between Hoek van Holland and Schiedam Centrum is finally operational as from 30 September, as the project to convert the heavy rail line to light rail is completed.  The temporary replacement bus service which has been running for two years will continue for a month as a backup, and will then be withdrawn.  I have updated the UK-Netherlands page and the Harwich-Hoek sections on the UK-Germany, UK-Austria pages and so on.

Passholder reservations on Nightjet sleepers now possible online...

I'm delighted that Eurail & Interrail pass reservations can now be made online at the Austrian Railways website.  I have added instructions here.

Odds & ends this month...

 

September 2019

New extra-large suitcase rules in Japan from May 2020...

From May 2020, new 'extra large luggage' rules will apply to the Tokaido, Kyushu & Sanyo shinkansen lines.  Passengers with very large suitcases over 160 linear centimetres (linear cm = length + width + depth) will have to reserve a place for their suitcase at the same time they reserve their shinkansen seat.  This will be free of charge, but there'll be a 1000 yen ($9) fine if they don't.  This won't affect backpacks (or for that matter any bag I personally ever travel with), just the largest oversize cases.  I have added a warning to the Japan page.  More info at www.tsunagujapan.com/large-suitcases-shinkansen-policy.

New page:  The Canadian...

The first output from my trip to Canada in August, I have added a new page dedicated to the Toronto-Winnipeg-Vancouver Canadian, replacing an all-too-brief section within the Canada page.  As always, feedback and comments are gratefully received.

The trip to Canada has now also allowed me to significantly improve the Rocky Mountaineer page and New York to Toronto section of the Canada page.

Raileurope.com to rebrand as Rail Europe in November...

Raileurope.com was bought by SNCF (French Railways) some time ago and they have now announced that it will be rebranded as Rail Europe from 6 November 2019.  More specifically, it will reappear as Raileurope.com, in German as Raileurope.de, Spanish as Raileurope.es and Italian as Raileurope.it.

There may be some confusion, as Raileurope.com will remain the website of Rail Europe Inc. based in New York serving the US and Canadian markets which is another separate SNCF subsidiary.  Raileurope-world.com and Raileurope.com.au will remain the websites of yet another separate SNCF subsidiary, Rail Europe 4A based in Paris and serving Asia, Africa, Australia and South America (hence the 4A).  Americans, Canadians, Africans, Asians & Australians who want to continue to enjoy Raileurope.com's features, facilities & capabilities will have to use Raileurope.com and avoid being diverted elsewhere.

Unfortunately, a £4.95 booking fee has now been introduced.  It applies to your whole basket, not to each ticket, so it will pay to do all your tickets as one payment.  It will take me some time to weed out every mention of 'no booking fee or mark-up' on this site whenever I mention Raileurope.com, please bear with me!

The Ankara-Tehran Trans-Asia Express resumes!

It was suspended in 2015 due to security concerns in eastern Turkey but now it's back.  The weekly Trans-Asia Express between Ankara and Tehran resumed in August 2019, and is now shown on the Iran page.

Odds & ends this month...

 

July & August 2019

Follow me on Twitter for another epic journey on 11 August...

On 11 August I'll be setting off from London Waterloo and travelling 7,032 miles for a cup of tea.  You'll be able to follow my progress on Twitter (It'll be a jolly good cup of tea...)

A new dawn for train travel in Cuba?...

This weekend (14 July) the first tranche of brand-new Chinese-built trainsets go into service on all major long-distance routes in Cuba, with air-conditioning and cafeteria.  Journey times have been cut with fewer intermediate stops, and frequencies increased.  More new cars will arrive in 2020 and 2021.  New timetable & fares shown on the Cuba page.

Paris-Milan TGVs stopped by landslide...

Paris-Turin-Milan TGVs are cancelled until (probably) 15 August due to a mudslide near Modane blocking the line.  SNCF are offering postponement or refunds.  What people really want is diversion, but this means new tickets!  The route to Milan via Lausanne or Basel is open.  Update:  Line reopened & trains are running again from 23 July.

Istanbul - Ankara sleeper train reinstated...

After a gap of some years, the Ankara Express sleeper train is reinstated between Istanbul & Ankara.  It will run from Halkali through the Marmaray tunnel, best boarded at Istanbul Söğütlüçeşme station.  It has TVS2000 sleeping-cars (1 & 2 bed compartments) and pullman reclining seats.  See the Train travel in Turkey page.

Odds & ends this month...

 

June 2019

New train from Turkey to Tehran...

The weekly train from Van to Tabriz with an elderly couchette car introduced in June 2018 has been replaced by a weekly direct train between Van & Tehran with first class 4-berth sleeping-cars and catering.  Details now shown on the Iran page.  This restores direct service between Turkey & Tehran for the first time since the Trans-Asia Express was suspended in 2015.

Bangkok-Aranyaprathet trains extended to the Cambodian border...

In Thailand, the morning and afternoon local trains between Bangkok & Aranyaprathet have been extended 5km to the new station at Ban Klong Luk on the border with Cambodia, just 200m walk from the Thai border checkpoint.  This saves the 100 baht tuk tuk ride from Aranyaprathet to the border post, and presumably will save tourists being driven to agency offices and overcharged for Cambodian visas!  The Cambodia page has been updated.

High-speed trains start running to Granada...

After engineering work that has lasted since 2015, high-speed trains to Granada have finally started, with several daily AVE trains between Madrid & Granada, and one per day Barcelona-Granada, leaving Barcelona at 06:50 westbound and Granada at 15:35 eastbound.  I have updated most of the relevant pages, including the UK to Spain by train page.

Odds & ends this month...

 

May 2019

TCDD introduce the Turistik Dogu Express

From 29 May, TCDD Turkish Railways introduce the "Turistik Dogu Express" from Ankara to Erzurum & Kars 3 times a week, all-sleeping-car + restaurant car, in addition to the original daily Dogu Express, which becomes reclining seats & couchettes only.  This is in response to the popularity of the original Dogu Express, which passes spectacular scenery in Eastern Turkey. After the journey was publicised in the Turkish press it became a rite of passage for young Turks, booked up almost as soon as booking opened.  The new Turistik Dogu Express will include a couple of longer stops for off-train visits. Fare TL 400 (£51/€59) single occupancy, TL 250 (£32/€37) per person for two sharing. Bargain!  See the Train travel in Turkey page.

Major speed-up in Greece...

From 20 May 2019 there's a massive speed-up in Greece as line upgrades kick in.  Athens-Thessaloniki (2 biggest cities in Greece) is slashed from 5h20 to 4h10, indeed southbound one morning train will take 3h57.  Fare €45 in 2nd or €55 in 1st class.  It's just a shame that the tortuous mountain part (with the viaducts blown up by SOE in WW2) is now by-passed. Though there will still be great views of Mt Olympus from the train!

New weekly Ankara - Tbilisi - Baku train to start in August...

The new railway between Kars in Turkey and Tbilisi in Georgia was formally inaugurated in October 2017, but passenger service has not yet started.  It's now been announced that a new new direct sleeper train will start running once a week between Ankara, Tbilisi & Baku from August 2019.  The train will have 4-berth economy sleepers, 4-berth comfort sleepers, 1 & 2 bed sleepers with en suite toilet & shower, and a restaurant car.  These cars have been built by Stadler in Switzerland and are now in Azerbaijan on test.  Fares & timetable will be posted on the Caucasus page when known.

Odds & ends this month...

 

April 2019

Belgrade-Greece train will run in summer 2019...

The Belgrade-Skopje-Thessaloniki overnight train, cancelled indefinitely in October 2018, will run from 14 June to 15 September 2019.  I've updated the UK-Greece page, Trains from Athens and Trains from Belgrade pages to show this.

New Caledonian sleeper trains at last...

The all-new Caledonian Sleeper trains finally go into service on Sunday 28 April on the lowlander train between London and Edinburgh/Glasgow.  I'll be on board the first run from London to Edinburgh, getting photos and information for this site!

Thailand-Cambodia rail link inaugurated...

Officials from Thailand and Cambodia have formally inaugurated the cross-border railway between Aranyaprathet in Thailand and Poipet in Cambodia.  However, passenger service is only likely to start by the end of the year.

March 2019

Open air viewing cars on KiwiRail temporarily closed...

The open-air viewing cars on KiwiRails TranzAlpine, Northern Explorer and Coastal Pacific have been closed due to passengers leaning out.  Not sure why this is suddenly and issue after decades, but see www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/tranzalpine.

Marmaray Line opens...

It's reported that suburban trains in Istanbul were due to start running on 10 March between Halkali, Sirkeci, Pendik and Gebze.  If so, this makes getting to and from Halkali (for trains to Sofia/Bucharest) and Pendik (for train to Ankara and Konya) much easier.

High-speed trains to/from Ankara using Eryaman station...

High-speed YHT trains between Istanbul & Konya and Ankara are using Eryaman station 25km west of Ankara while signalising systems are replaced.

Odds & ends this month...

  • In New Zealand, it was planned to restore the Picton-Christchurch Coastal Pacific to running all year round.  This clearly hasn't happened, so I have updated the New Zealand page to show it as running late September to late April, i.e. New Zealand summer months only.

  • In Morocco, most conventional express trains have been branded Al Atlas and tickets now come with a seat reservation automatically included in both classes.  Until now, 2nd class tickets didn't guarantee a seat, as 2nd class seats were all unreserved.

February 2019

Trip to Hong Kong & China...

I made a flying trip to Hong Kong and China last week, day 1 checking out the Star Ferry (after last going on it 27 years ago) and the Kowloon-Guangzhou intercity through train, returning on the new high-speed link on an MTR Vibrant express.  Day 2 riding the Hong Kong to Beijing high-speed G80 train, 1516 miles in 8h56 (plus 17 minutes late!).  Day 3 riding the rails from Beijing to the Great Wall at Badaling.  The first output is a complete guide to visiting the Great Wall by train, see here.

Odds & ends this month...

  • Thetrainline.com are migrating to Thetrainline.com and are now charging a booking fee to non-Europeans based on the IP address you browse with.  If you live outside Europe, either use a VPN to browse with a European IP address or simply use Raileurope.com instead who charge no fees to anyone.  I was quite shocked at this - I couldn't understand why some overseas travellers were saying there was a fee until I used my new VPN to test it!

  • Thanks to traveller Art O Cathain I'm now able to show photos of the new Eksekutif Luxury class available between Jakarta & Surabaya on the daytime and overnight Argo Bromo Anggrek.

January 2019

Engineering work affects Budapest-Belgrade...

Work on rebuilding this dead straight but incredibly slow line for 200km/h operation continues, with Russian & Chinese support.  The ultimate goal is a 3½ hour journey time, so we're told.  From 1 February probably until December (although one optimistic report says until April, and another 'for 6 months') the normal two daytime trains and one sleeper train are reduced to one daytime train, with switches of train at Kelebia and Novi Sad.  I have put warning notices on the London to Serbia & London to Bulgaria pages, and on the Trains from Budapest, Trains from Belgrade, Trains from Sofia, Trains from Vienna & Trains from Munich pages, but may not manage to get a warning on every relevant page for example Lisbon to Belgrade or Stockholm to Belgrade!  Update:  It now seems there will be no train or even bus between Novi Sad & Belgrade.  Better divert via Zagreb-Belgrade, which is unaffected.

Q&A with the Man in Seat 61 in the Daily Telegraph...

I wrote a Q&A for the travel section of the UK's Daily Telegraph, published on 11 January:  www.telegraph.co.uk/.../man-in-seat-61-interview.

Interrail & Eurail passes simplified & extended for 2019...

The Interrail & Eurail pass ranges are streamlined and aligned with each other for 2019.  The Interrail pass range for European residents and Eurail pass range for overseas visitors now virtually mirror each other in coverage, available pass periods, reservation requirements and even pricing.

Odds & Ends this month...

 

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