A Summary of major 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.

1: The Tauern Railway

A key rail route in Austria, the Tauern Railway, is to be closed for more than six months, for construction work until July 27th.
The Tauern Railway is the main railway route in south-west Austria, as it links Salzburg with Villach and Klagenfurt, but until March 2nd the plan is for express buses to replace trains between Bischofshofen and Spittal-Millstätter.
Though trains will be able to travel beyond Bischofshofen to provide a direct service between Salzburg and the other key destination along the route, which is Bad Gastein.

So until June 27th there will be no trains operating between Bad Gastein and Spittal-Millstätter.
The long distance services which typically travel the length of the Tauern Railway are on these two routes.

1. Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart - München Hbf - Salzburg ↔ Bischofshofen - Bad Gastein - Spittal-Millstätter - Villach - Klagenfurt
2. Wien Hbf - St Polten - Linz - Salzburg ↔ Bischofshofen - Bad Gastein - Spittal-Millstätter - Villach - Klagenfurt
   A key function of these trains to/from Wien Hbf is to provide a direct link between both Wien and Linz with Bad Gastein, but during the work these trains will be turned around in Salzburg.

There will be EC trains operating a Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart - München Hbf - Salzburg ↔ Bischofshofen - Bad Gastein service, but until June 27th there will be no direct trains between Salzburg and the resort towns on the Worthersee between Villach and Klagenfurt.
The trains taking the Wien - Leoben ↔ Klagenfurt - Villach route are unaffected and it looks as though more of them will have their journeys extended beyond Villach to/from Spittal-Millstätter.

What will be impacted by the work on the Tauern Railway are the daytime rail journeys which link Germany, Salzburg and other destinations in western Austria with Slovenia and Croatia.
The trains on the Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart - München Hbf - Salzburg ↔ Bischofshofen - Bad Gastein - Spittal-Millstätter - Villach - Klagenfurt route typically connect at Villach with trains taking a Villach ↔ Lesce-Beld - Ljubljana - Zidane Most - Zagreb - Vinkovici route.

2: Innsbruck ↔ Bregenz

From April 23 (8:30 a.m.) to April 29th (03:00 a.m.) due to construction work west of Ötztal train station long-distance trains will be suspended on part of the route between Innsbruck and Bregenz.
A replacement rail service with buses will be set up, but connections cannot be guaranteed and bicycles cannot be transported.
This route is taken by Railjet (RJX) trains on the Bregenz - Feldkirch - St Anton Landeck-Zams ↔ Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Wien / Vienna route.

3: Vienna / Wien ↔ Salzburg

Due to construction work, long-distance trains will run with modified travel times between Vienna Hbf and Salzburg Hbf from May 12, 2025 to June 5, 2025.
The night trains and long-distance trains will be diverted between Vienna Hbf and St. Pölten Hbf .
Some long-distance trains cannot run and connections cannot be guaranteed.
Due to the construction work, there may be some restrictions when booking seat reservations.

On Mondays to Fridays until April 5th the IC trains on the De Panne - Gent-Sint-Pieters - Antwerpen-Centraal route will only run between De Panne and Antwerpen-Berchem station.
Other trains will be available between Berchem and Centraal stations, but connections in and out of the EC trains to / from Rotterdam can be made at Antwerpen-Berchem.
The IC trains on the Oostende - Brugge- Gent-Sint-Pieters - Antwerpen route will seemingly still be arriving at and departing from both Berchem and Centraal stations.

Over these weekends, the TGV InOui services which typically depart from and arrive at the Gare de l'Est in Paris, will instead be diverted to Paris Gare Du Nord - with different timings to the norm:

• February 15 and 16.
• February 22 and 23,
• March 1 and 2,
• March 8 and 9.

1: Koln / Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz
Until June 5th, 2025 (11:59pm)
Long-distance trains between Koblenz and Cologne will be diverted to the right bank of the Rhine with travel times extended by up to 15 minutes.
Affected long-distance routes:

• (Hamburg) - Dortmund - Koln - Koblenz - Mainz - Karlsruhe - Freiburg - Basel - Zurich / Interlaken by EC train
• Hamburg) - Dortmund - Koln - Koblenz - Mainz - Frankfurt Flughafen - Heidleburg - Stuttgart / Karlsruhe by ICE train
• Hamburg) - Dortmund - Koln - Koblenz - Mainz - Frankfurt Flughafen - Frankfurt (Main) - Nurnberg - (Passau) - Linz - Wien / Vienna - by ICE train
• Berlin - Hannover - Hamm - Koln - Bonn by ICE Sprinter
  Until June 5th these services and other long-distance trains will not be calling in Bonn Hbf, Andermatt and Remagen
  Trains will be stopping in Bonn-Buel instead of Bonn Hbf - and most of the diverted trains will be using Koln Messe-Deutz station instead of Koln HBF.

2: Köln Hbf from February 23 (4:25 p.m.) to February 24, 2025 (4:25 a.m.)
The main station in Cologne will be closed completely during this time.

• Most ICE , IC and EC trains will stop instead at Cologne Messe/Deutz,
• international trains to/from Amsterdam or Brussels stop in Cologne Ehrenfeld.
• Some trains are cancelled between Cologne and Düsseldorf / Wuppertal / Siegburg / Bonn.

3: At Stuttgart Hbf

• February 22nd (1:30 am) to March 3rd (4 am)
• March 8th (1:30 am) to March 24th (4 am)
  During these dates fewer ICE trains will be able to call at Stuttgart Hbf due to construction work and some services will be cancelled completely, particularly between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe.

4: Until February 28th (4 am) at Hanau
Work on the railway junction at Hanau will result in the ICE services on the Berlin-Göttingen-Frankfurt Airport route will only be travelling between Berlin and Fulda (hence until Feb 28th there will be no direct trains between Frankfurt Airport / Flughafen and Berlin).

5: from March 8th to March 22nd in Hamburg
Between these dates Hamburg can still be reached from all directions by long-distance trains, but the following changes will be in place:

• ICE trains to and from Kiel will be turning around in Hamburg and won't be operating between Hamburg and Kiel.
• The ICE and EC trains to and from Hamburg won't be using Hamburg-Altona and Hamburg-Damtor stations, they will be turning around at Hamburg Hbf.
• The direct trains between Hamburg and Westerland (Sylt) will be much reduced
• There will be a reduced service between Hamburg and Berlin, Hanover, Frankfurt and southern German

6: Berlin ↔ Rostock ↔ Warnemünde
Work on the main route between Berlin and the north is having the following impacts:

• Until March 7th the route will be closed between Rostock and Waren(Müritz) hence the IC trains on the Dresden - Berlin - Warnemünde / Rostock will only be available between Berlin and Dresden: And the ICE trains between Berlin and Warnemünde / Rostock will be diverted on to a longer route via Schwerin.
• From April 5th to November 29th: All trains between Berlin and Warnemünde will only operate from/to Rostock Central Station, alternative local transport service will be provide between Rostock and Warnemünde.

7: Mannheim ↔ Stuttgart ↔ from April 17 to June 6
Due to the renovation of Freudenstein Tunnel the high-speed line between Mannheim and Stuttgart will be closed during these dates.
As a consequence:

• the ICE service on the Mannheim - Stuttgart - Munich route will be reduced to 1 x train per hour.
• these hourly trains will be diverted on to a longer route between Mannheim and Stuttgart with journey times being extended by around 40 minutes.
• According to the OBB website, the EC trains between Germany and Salzburg which typically travel between Frankfurt and Munich, will be turning around in Munich and won't be calling at any station north of Munich

8: Karlsruhe ↔ Basel
from Good Friday, April 18 (9 p.m.) to Sunday, April 27 (11:15 p.m.)
Construction work will be impacting on this route between these dates, but details are awaiting confirmation.
The impacted ICE routes are:

• Basel - Freiburg -Karlsruhe - Mannheim - Frankfurt Flughafen - Koln - Dortmund - Hamburg
• Zurich - Basel - Freiburg -Karlsruhe - Mannheim - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Kassel - Hannover - Hamburg
• (Interlaken - Bern) - Basel Basel - Freiburg -Karlsruhe - Mannheim - Frankfurt (Main) Hbf - Kassel - Berlin

9: Hannover ↔ Koln / Cologne
A bridge is being worked on Herford and as a consequence:

• Until June 6th some of the ICE trains on the Hannover ↔ Koln / Cologne route won't be calling in Bielefeld and Hamm.
• From June 7th to August 8th no ICE trains on these routes will be calling in Bielefeld and Hamm; And the additional trains Aachen / Cologne-Dortmund-Bielefeld-Hanover-Berlin will be cancelled.

10: Hamburg ↔ Berlin
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.

1: Fort William ↔ Mallaig
From March 1st to March 6th, the northern most section of the The West Highland Line will be closed for renovation.
Replacement buses will substitute to the trains.

2: Newquay
Due to improvement works connected to the Mid-Cornwall Metro Project, the branch line which serves Newquay will be closed from from Monday 24 February to Sunday 23 March.
Buses will replace trains with most calling at all affected locations, but some buses will be non-stop between Newquay and the junction station at Par.

3: Between Castle Cary and Yeovil
From Monday March 10th to Friday March 14th buses replace trains
The affected routes are:

• GWR services, Gloucester - Bristol - Bath - Westbury - Castle Cary ↔ Yeovil - Dorchester - Weymouth
• South Western Railway services, Salisbury - Westbury - Castle Cary ↔ Yeovil

4: TransPennine Route Upgrade work from Monday 17 to Friday 21 March
Engineering work for the TransPennine route upgrade is taking place between Leeds and Mirfield, closing all lines.

• TransPennine Express trains on the Manchester ↔ Redcar and Liverpool ↔ Newcastle routes will be diverted on to a longer via Wakefield Kirkgate.
• TransPennine Express trains which usually operate Liverpool ↔ Hull will run between Leeds and Hull only.
• Northern train services between Leeds and Manchester Victoria / Wigan Wallgate via Dewsbury will be diverted on an alternate route via Halifax and Bradford Interchange
• Buses will replace train services between Leeds and Brighouse / Huddersfield, calling at all stations via Dewsbury.

5: On the Cambrian Coast route
From Monday March 17th until 09:00 on Friday March 21st and then from 18:00 on Friday March 21st to the end of Saturday 29 March 29th, the Cambrian Coast Railway will be closed west of Newton, with replacement buses operating on two routes:

• Newtown - Aberystwyth via Machynlleth
• Machynlleth ↔ Pwllheli

Then from Sunday March 30th to end of Wednesday April 2nd

• Trains will operate between Birmingham International and Shrewsbury
• Buses will operate between Shrewsbury and Machynlleth
• Trains will run between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth
• Trains will run between Machynlleth and Pwllheli

Easter weekend disruption April 18th to April 21st:
The following lines will be closed over the Easter weekend:

• Buses will replace trains between Cambridge and Ely, and between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds from April 18th to April 21st
• Engineering work is taking place between London Euston and Watford Junction / Milton Keynes Central / Northampton, closing various lines; From Saturday April 19th to Monday April 21st inclusive.
  As a result Avanti West Coast services will not be available between London Euston and Milton Keynes.
• from April 19th to April 21st the route through Stockport station will be closed; CrossCountry will be replacing trains with buses on two routes, Stafford - Stoke-on-Trent - Macclesfield and Stoke-on-Trent - Macclesfield - Stockport.
• Rail replacement buses will run between Amersham and Aylesbury Vale Parkway.

Due to infrastructure improvement works on the Pisa - La Spezia line, the following changes are currently ongoing:

• Frecciargento trains from Rome to Genoa, via Florence, will be subject to timetable changes with travel times extended from Tuesday 7 January to Sunday 30 March.
• Frecciargento trains from Genoa to Rome, via Florence, will be subject to timetable changes with travel times extended from Tuesday 7 January to Wednesday 30 April.
• Frecciabianca trains from Rome to Genoa - Milan - Turin, via Grosseto, will be subject to timetable changes with travel times extended from Tuesday 7 January to Sunday 30 March.
• Frecciabianca trains from Turin - Milan - Genoa to Rome, via Grosseto, will be subject to timetable changes with travel times extended from Tuesday 7 January to Wednesday 30 April.
• Intercity trains on the Naples - Sestri Levante, Rome - Ventimiglia, Milan - La Spezia/Livorno/Grosseto, Milan - Reggio Calabria, Turin - Salerno routes are subject to timetable changes on departure, including early departures, and on arrival, with lengthening of travel times.
• Intercity Night trains on the Turin - Salerno/Reggio Calabria routes are subject to timetable changes on departure, including early departures, and on arrival, with lengthening of travel times.
• Regional trains on these routes

1. Pisa - La Spezia - Savona
2. Florence - La Spezia,
3. Parma/Pontremoli - La Spezia,
4. Milan/Bergamo - Pisa/Livorno via Pontremolese
5. Borgo Val di Taro/Pontremoli - Pisa/Florence
   are are subject to route limitations, cancellations and lengthening of travel times.

Barcelona ↔ Tarragona (the city centre station)**

Until March 2nd the railway through the Roda de Berà tunnel will be closed for repair work and the trains which take this route link Barcelona with the central station in Tarragona.

Buses will be replacing trains between Sant Vicenc de Calde and Tarragona.
So a key service which will be impacted are the Regional Express trains which typically take the Barcelona - Tarragona - Reus route.

Unaffected by the works are

• trains travelling between Barcelona and Sitges
• the Euromed and Torre Orro services on the Barcelona - Camp De Tarragona - Castello - Valencia and beyond routes

Though the IC trains which typically take Barcelona - Sant Vicenc de Calde - Tarragona - Castello - Valencia and beyond routes have seemingly been withdrawn while the work takes place.

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

Due to construction work Tauern Valley route in southern Austria, the night trains on these routes are to be suspended from November 17, 2024 to July 13, 2025.

• Stuttgart - München - Salzburg ↔ Udine - Venice
• München ↔ Verona - Milano Rogoredo - Genova - La Spezia
• München ↔ Firenze - Roma

Due to construction work, trains EN 414 and EN 40414 will not be able to run between Zagreb Glavni kolodvor and Zurich HB or Stuttgart Hbf from 16 to 17 April 2025 to 28 to 29 April 2025
In the opposite direction trains EN 40237 and EN 40465 will not be able to run from 17 to 18 April 2025 to 29 to 30 April 2025.

Due to the ongoing reconstruction of the France to Luxembourg route within Luxembourg, the Paris ↔ Luxembourg TGV trains will be turned around in Thionville over the following weekends:

• November 30 and December 1, December 7 and 8, then December 14 and 15:
• January 11 and 12, January 25 and 26
• February 1st and 2nd, February 8th and 9th, February 15th and 16th
• March 15 and 16, March 22 and 23, March 29 and 30

June 27 to August 24, 2025
The ICE trains travelling on the Amsterdam - Koln - Frankfurt route will be diverted north of Koln / Cologne, so journey times will be extended by around 30 minutes.
Cancelled stops: Düsseldorf Hbf, Duisburg Hbf, Oberhausen Hbf and Arnhem Centraal
Replacement stops: Mönchengladbach-Hbf, 's-Hertogenbosch and in Venlo (only in the direction of Frankfurt)

Due to construction work, some long-distance trains will not be able to run between Linz/Donau Hbf and Summerau Bahnhof from May 16, 2025 to May 26, 2025.
There will be a rail replacement service bus service,
Due to the construction work, there may be some restrictions when booking seat reservations.

Due to a landslide traffic is interrupted in both directions between Modane and St-Michel-Valloire.
This route is taken by the TGV and Frecce trains on the Paris - Lyon ↔ Torino - Milano route and by TER trains on the Lyon ↔ Modane route.
All trains which usually take this route are therefore currently cancelled, but it has been confirmed* that the TGV services, operated by SNCF. will resume on March 31st - with the Frecce services, operated by Trenitalia, returning on April 1st.

Regional trains between Wien / Vienna and Bratislava usually depart hourly in two different routes:

• to Bratislava hl.st, the city's main railway station, via Marchegg, which is route REX8
• to Bratislava Petrzalka station, which is located on the south bank of the River Danube, which is route, REX6

However, until July 5th, due to construction work by the Slovak Railways (ZSR), trains on line REX8 can't be used between Marchegg station and Bratislava hl.st - A rail replacement service with buses will be set up for some trains between Marchegg and Bratislava.
During this time journeys between Vienna and Bratislava will mainly only be possible by using route REX6 - Though the Railjet train on the Zurich ↔ Bratislava route will be calling at both Bratislava hl.st and Bratislava Petrzalka.

Due to construction work on April 16 / 17th and April 28 / 29th the Zurich / Stuttgart to Zagreb train is cancelled entirely - and in the reverse direction from Zagreb, it will not be available on April 17 /18th and April 29 /30th.

From April 23 (8:30 a.m.) to April 29th (03:00 a.m.) due to construction work between Ötztal train station and Bludenz train station or Sargans/Zurich no long-distance trains will be able to operate between these locations.
A replacement rail service with buses will be set up, but connections cannot be guaranteed and bicycles cannot be transported.
This route is taken by:

• Railjet (RJX) daytime trains on the Zurich - Sargans - Buchs - Feldkirch - Landeck-Zams - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Wien - Budapest / Bratislava
• The EC 'Transalpin' daytime train on the Zurich - Sargans - Buchs - Feldkirch - Landeck-Zams - Innsbruck - Zell am See - Radstadt - Seltzhal - Graz route
• It looks as the night trains departures between Zurich and Budapest, Graz, Prague via Linz, Wien / Vienna and Zagreb will be cancelled from April 23rd to April 28th,

From May 16th to May 26th due to construction work, some long-distance trains cannot run between Linz/Donau Hbf and Summerau with a replacement rail service which presumably will require additional connections - and will impact on the availability of booking seat reservations.

From April 17 to June 6 the EC trains between Germany and Austria via Salzburg will be turning around in Munich and won't be serving any station north of Munich.

From February 15th to March 6th the IC services on the Budapest ↔ Cluj-Napoca route will be replaced by buses between Zalau Nord and Cluj-Napoca

From Friday February 21st at 21:00 until Sunday March 2nd at 23:59 buses replace trains between Arnhem in The Netherlands and Emmerich in Germany.
The ICE trains on the Amsterdam ↔ Frankfurt (Main) route will be diverted and won't be calling in Dusseldorf, Duisburg and Arnhem, but will instead be calling at Monchengladbach and Venlo.