A Summary of Major Maintenance and Construction Projects

The vast majority of the work to improve railway lines, which impacts on the frequency and journey times info as per the journey guides, is completed over one Sat/Sun period.
So if you can't find a usual route or a train departure online, it can be worth having a look at the links to the national construction work, which you will find below.
You may then have to translate what you'll find, but it can be worth the effort to discover what's occurring and to glean whether you'll need to take a bus for part of the journey, or whether trains are being diverted.
Alterations to the usual service are often not particularly obvious when looking up the journey on a ticket booking service.

The information included below is a guide to the the more extensive construction projects which are impacting on train services for a week or more.
Therefore these are the projects which are good to be aware of if you're planning a rail pass itinerary and want to avoid any hassle, or are wondering why a typical connection isn't available on multiple dates.

Also worth knowing is that many major construction work projects, which require timetable alterations, aren't confirmed until around two months ahead.

These are the upcoming rail construction projects which;

• last more than a weekend, so also impact on Monday to Friday travel
• affect long-distance express trains
• result in trains being diverted, with longer journey times (which impacts on connections)
• Or, are being substituted by buses for part of the journey.

Innsbruck <> Jenbach

From Jan 7th 2026 to Jan 29th inclusive work is closing a large section of the rail route between Innsbruck and Jenbach.
As a consequence trains taking the Wien - Linz - Salzburg <> Innsbruck - Feldkirch - Bregenz / Zurich route will be replaced by buses for the Innsbruck <> Jenbach part of the journey.
Trains which typically travel Innsbruck - Jenbach <> Worgl - Zell am See - locations east of Zell am See will also be replaced by buses between Innsbruck and Jenbach.

The trains on the Munich / Munchen - Kuftstein - Jenbach <> Innsbruck - Brennero - Bolzano - Verona route will be diverted on to a line typically use by freight trains, so from Jan 7th 2026 to Jan 29th 2026 these trains will not be calling in Innsbruck.

Linz <> Wels

From Feb 19th to Feb 23rd 2026 and from Feb 26th to March 2nd 2026 buses will be substituted for the local and Regional trains on parts of the route between Linz and Wels.

For much of 2026 there will be a series of closures and alterations north of Aarhus, due to the project to electrify the railway between Aarhus and Aalborg.
Most significantly buses replace trains between Aarhus and Randers, which is located along the route, from Wednesday, January 28th until Sunday, April 19th.

(1) Until January 26th approximately one third / 33% of the Intercités trains on the Paris - Brive - Limoges - Toulouse route have been temporarily taken off the timetable due to track reconstruction work.

(2) TGV InOui, Ouigo and Lyria services won't be able to use Paris Gare de Lyon from 9pm on Thursday April 30, 2026 until Sunday May 3rd (gradual resumption of traffic from 2pm).
Some trains will be diverted to depart from and arrive at other stations in the Paris area.

1: Hamburg ↔ Berlin
From Aug 1st 2025 to April 30th 2026
Due to the renovation of the Hamburg - Berlin route, there will be maximum of 1 x express (ICE) train per hour between the two cities and journey times will be extended by around 45 minutes.
The EC trains on the Hamburg - Berlin ↔ Praha route and the Hamburg - Berlin ↔ Budapest route will be turning around in Berlin and won't be serving Hamburg.

2: Hamburg ↔ Hannover
The enhancement project on the Hamburg <> Berlin routes finishes on April 30th, so from May 1st to July 10th, 2026 the work is transferred to the Hamburg <> Hannover route.
The core consequences will be:

• No long-distance trains will be calling in Celle, Uelzen, Lüneburg, Verden and Nienburg
• The ICE trains on the Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) / Wurzburg routes will be diverted between Hannover and Hamburg extending journey times by 45 minutes
• There will be no IC or ICE trains between Hamburg and Bremen during this time.

3: Koln/Cologne ↔ Wuppertal

From February 6 (9 p.m.) to July 10, 2026 (9 p.m.) this route between Solingen and Wuppertal is closed due to reconstruction.
It is used by hourly ICE trains taking a Koln/Cologne - Solingen - Wuppertal - Hagen - Hamm - Hannover - Berlin route, hence during these dates this service will be replaced by ICE trains taking a Hagen <> Berlin route.
Bus connections will be available between Hagen and Wuppertal.

The ICE trains on the other hourly Koln/Cologne <> Berlin route via Dusseldorf and Essen will be unaffected, but the faster 'Sprinter' services between Koln/Cologne and Berlin will be temporarily withdrawn.

4: At Stuttgart
Work towards the opening of the new main station in Stuttgart will be stepped up in 2026.
Therefore from June 26th to September 11th inclusive fewer long-distance trains will be able to use Stuttgart Hbf.
The core consequences will be:

• Only one ICE train per hour between Stuttgart and both Mannheim (routes to the north) and Munich (routes to the south)
• Trains to/from Austria will call at Essingen/Neckar station instead of at Stuttgart Hbf
• There will be no direct trains at all between Stuttgart and Heidelberg, a connection will be required at Vaihingen (Enz)
• Therefore the IC and ICE trains which travel via Heidelberg and typically terminate at Stuttgart, will be terminating at Heidelberg
• The IC Trains between Stuttgart and Zurich will be beginning and ending their journeys at Stuttgart-Vaihingen station.

5: Berlin

From June 14th to October 1st:

• ICE trains won't be using Berlin Ost
• The trains between Berlin and Poland will be departing from and arriving at Berlin-Gesundbrunnen instead of Berlin Hbf and won't be calling at Berlin Ost.

From October 2nd to December 12th:

• The ICE trains on the Berlin <> Koln route will be diverted on to a longer route between Berlin and Hannover, which will extend journey times by 80 mins; These trains also won't be using Berlin Ost and Berlin-Spandau stations.
• The ICE trains which take a Berlin <> Frankfurt (Main) and beyond route via Kassel, will be diverted on to an alternative route via Erfurt; These trains also won't be using Berlin Ost and Berlin-Spandau stations.
• The trains between Berlin and Poland will be departing from and arriving at Berlin-Gesundbrunnen instead of Berlin Hbf and won't be calling at Berlin Ost.

**6: Munchen <> Nurnberg **

From October 30 (7 a.m.) to December 12, 2026 (11:59 p.m.) the high-speed line between Ingolstadt and Nurnberg will be closed for renewal.
As a consequence a maximum of 2 x ICE trains per hour will be travelling along an alternative route, with journey times extended by around 70 mins.

1: Milton Keynes ↔ Northampton / Rugby (and Aylesbury)

From Saturday 27 December 2025 to Sunday 04 January 2026 work is taking place between Milton Keynes Central and Northampton / Rugby with buses replacing trains.

As a consequence Chiltern Railways will be altering its timetables as follows:

Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December

• An increased / enhanced service will operate between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone
• No trains will run between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and London Marylebone via Amersham

Monday 29 December to Friday 2 January

• An increased / enhanced service will operate between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone
• No trains will run between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and London Marylebone via Amersham
• A shuttle train service will run between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Amersham.

Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 January

• An increased / enhanced service will operate between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone
• No trains will run between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and London Marylebone via Amersham
• Replacement buses will run between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Amersham.

2: London Liverpool Street station

From Saturday 27 December 2025 to Thursday 01 January 2026 work on the lines will require a shut down of Liverpool Street station.
Greater Anglia trains will be turned around at Stratford,

Transfers between Stratford and Liverpool Street will be by the Central line of the Underground as the Elizabeth line will also not be available between Stratford and Liverpool Street.

3: London Waterloo station

Engineering work is taking place in the London Waterloo area, closing various lines from Saturday 27 December to Sunday 4 January.

On Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December, no trains will run between Clapham Junction and London Waterloo.

From Monday 29 December to Friday 2 January, a reduced and amended service will run to / from London Waterloo. The other trains will to start / terminate at other stations

On Saturday 3 January, a reduced and amended service will run between Barnes and Clapham Junction.
Some trains will be amended to start / terminate at Woking / Basingstoke / Clapham Junction instead of at London Waterloo.

On Sunday 4 January, buses will replace trains between Barnes and Clapham Junction.

4: At Cambridge

From Saturday 27 December 2025 to Sunday 04 January 2026 work is being carried out to the south of Cambridge station
Replacement buses will therefore be operating between;

• Royston and Cambridge North covering Thameslink and Great Northern services
• Ely and Stansted Airport covering CrossCountry trains, Cross Country trains will start and begin at Cambridge
• Stansted Airport and Cambridge North covering Greater Anglia trains
• Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds covering Greater Anglia trains

5: Between Preston and Penrith- North Lakes
overlapping with
6: Between Carlisle and Lockerbie

Work is closing the route between Preston and Penrith through Oxenholme, with the following impacts on rail services:

Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 January:

• Trains between London Euston and Glasgow Central (via Nuneaton) will be amended to run between London Euston and Preston only
• Trains between London Euston and Glasgow Central / Edinburgh (via Birmingham New Street) will be amended to run between London Euston and Preston only hourly service will run between Preston and Carlisle (via Settle, not calling)
• Every other hour trains will operate on an alternative route between Preston and Carlisle.
• Every other hour trains will run between Lockerbie and Glasgow Central
• Every other hour trains will run between Lockerbie and Edinburgh
• Buses will operate on a Lancaster - Oxenholme - Penrith - Carlisle route

Wednesday 7 to Saturday 10, and from Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 January:

• 1 x train per hour between London Euston and Preston (via Nuneaton)
• 1 x train per hour between London Euston and Preston (via Birmingham New Street)
• Every other hour trains will operate on an alternative route between Preston and Carlisle.
• Every other hour trains will run between Carlisle and Glasgow Central
• Every other hour trains will run between Carlisle and Edinburgh
• Buses will operate on a Lancaster - Oxenholme - Penrith - Carlisle

Sunday 11 January:

As above, except the trains also won't be using London Euston station, instead there will be an hourly train between Rugby and Preston (via Birmingham New Street)

Monday 5 to Wednesday 14 January:

On the Manchester <> Edinburgh / Glasgow route operated by TransPennine Express, an hourly train service will run between Manchester Airport and Oxenholme Lake District.
A replacement bus service will also operate between Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle, calling at Penrith North Lakes.
Trains from / to Liverpool Lime Street will start / terminate at Preston.

7: Between Leeds and York

This route will be closed until Sunday 25 January 2026 with buses replacing most trains.
Some CrossCountry trains on the locations south and west of Birmingham - Birmingham - Sheffield - Leeds - York - Newcastle - Edinburgh route will be diverted on to a longer route between Leeds and York.
Other services won't serve locations to the north of Leeds

The TransPennine Express trains on these routes

• Liverpool - Manchester - Leeds - York - Newcastle
• Manchester Airport - Manchester - Leeds - York - Middlesbrough - Redcar
• Manchester - Leeds - York - Scarborough
  won't be operating between Leeds and York.

8: Between Edinburgh and Inverkeithing

From 17 January 2026 to Sunday 25 January 2026 the line is closed between Edinburgh and Inverkeithing, due to work to electrify the railway for future improved Fife local services.

As a result both LNER and Scotrail services travelling between Edinburgh and Aberdeen via Dundee will be diverted on to an alternative much longer route.

9: At Swansea

From Monday 26 January 2026 to Friday 06 February 2026 trains won't be able to use Swansea station, replacement buses will be available to/from both Port Talbot Parkway and Llanelli.

(1) From Sat 17 January 00:45 to Tue 27 January 01:00 work on the railway around Schiphol Airport will have the following impact:

• Buses replace trains between Schiphol Airport and Leiden.
• Trains using the high-speed line between Rotterdam and Schiphol may have journey times extended by up to 15mins.
• Journey times between Amsterdam Centraal and Schiphol will also be extended.
• The ECD services on the Lelystad - Amsterdam Zuid - Amsterdam Schiphol - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Bruxelles route will only be available between Rotterdam and Bruxelles.

(2) From 29 January 04:00 to Mon 16 February 05:00 hours all trains between Den Haag Centraal and Gouda will be diverted on to a longer route, which will increase journey times by up to 30 mins.

Until June 30th 2026 València Joaquín Sorolla station is closed due to expansion works so all trains are being diverted into Valencia Nord station.

These are the upcoming major works on the railway lines, that will be impacting on international railway routes over sustained periods of time.

From February 7th 2026 until December 12th 2026, Deutsche Bahn will be enhancing the railway in south-east Germany which links Nuremberg to Passau via Regensburg.
Hence between during this time these ICE routes won't be available;

• Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels- Linz - Vienna
• Berlin - Halle - Erfurt - Nuremberg - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels - Linz - Vienna; this service will be switched to a Berlin - Halle - Leipzig - Erfurt - Nuremberg - Munich - Kufstein - Worgl - Innsbruck route.

From Feb 7th to July 10th the services which will be available are:

• One ICE train per day taking a Munich - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels - Linz - Vienna route.
• One ICE train per day which will take a Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Ingolstadt - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels Linz - Vienna route.
• One ICE train per day which will take a - Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz - Mainz Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Ingolstadt - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels Linz - Vienna route.
• One ICE train per day which will take a - Dortmund - Essen - Dusseldorf - Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz - Mainz Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Ingolstadt - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels Linz - Vienna route.

This is around half of the usual service.
Note that trains travelling via Nurnberg will be diverted on to a longer route via Ingolstadt.

From July 11th to December 12th the services which will be available are:

• One ICE train per day taking a Cologne - Frankfurt Airport - Frankfurt (Main) - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Regensburg route
• One ICE train per day taking a Hamburg - Hannover - Kassel - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Regensburg route
• Two EC trains per day taking a Munich - Simbach ↔ Wels - Linz - Vienna route.

The Nightjet trains on the Amsterdam ↔ Vienna and Hamburg ↔ Vienna routes will still be available, but will be diverted.

This route is to be unavailable from May 30th 2026 to July 27th 2026

The trains which use it include the EC services on these two routes:

(1) Basel - Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig ↔ Domodossola - Stresa - Milan
(2) Geneva - Lausanne - Sion - Brig ↔ Domodossola - Stresa - Milan

From July 27 to August to September 3rd 2026 the regional Tilo train service on the hourly Locano - Lugano - Chiasso ↔ Como - Milano route will be having to turn around in Como so won't be serving Milano.

From August 24h to September 3rd 2026 the route between Como and Milano will be completely closed, so the EC trains on the routes between both Zurich and Luzern and Milano will also be unable to arrive at and depart from Milano.

From October 2nd to December 12th 2026 the trains on this route will be impacted by works on the line between Hannover and Berlin.
Instead of trains every two hours on a Amsterdam - Amersfoort - Deventer - Osnabruck - Hannover - Berlin, there will be trains every four hours between Amsterdam and Hannover, with only two of these trains in each direction per day travelling beyond Hannover from / to Berlin.