The European rail timetable into 2026

The annual European timetable update gives an opportunity to amend, introduce and withdraw routes, hence the summary of the key changes below.

As more changes become apparent they will be added - SMTJ has yet to have an opportunity to study the new timetables for multiple countries in which more minor changes are likely, including France, Italy and Spain.

Also due to needs to wait for both new trains to enter service and for long-term enhancement projects to be completed, some of the most exciting new journey opportunities won't be available until later into 2026 - despite that, they have still been included below.

The most impactful changes are:

• Direct trains taking a Prague ↔ Copenhagen route via Berlin and Dresden. (April)
• A doubling of the number of trains travelling between Hamburg and Copenhagen/ København
• Direct trains between Zurich and Firenze / Florence.
• A new railway line in Austria, which transformms how trains can be taken to and from Graz.
• A daily direct Railjet connecting Vienna and Trieste.
• More departures and routes to be taken by ICE trains both within and to / from Germany.
• The return of the train service on the Munich - Salzburg ↔ Ljubljana - Zagreb route.
• The restoration of direct trains between Basel and Lausanne.
• More and faster trains on the London - York - Newcastle - Edinburgh route.

Not all station calls have been included in the summaries.

The Hamburg - Padborg ↔ Kolding - Odense - Ringsted - København / Copenhagen route is to be transformed in stages on the new timetable.

From January 16th

The plan is for new trains to fully take over the services which operate between Hamburg and Copenhagen - as from this date they are designated as ECE services on the timetable.
These new trains are already operating on a few departures as the final trial prior to their full launch.

From May 1st

Two brand new Comfort Jet trains per day will be taking a Praha/Prague - Decin - Bad Schandau - Dresden - Berlin - Hamburg - Padborg ↔ Kolding - Odense - Ringsted - København / Copenhagen route.
These two trains per day in each direction will be additions to the Hamburg ↔ København timetable.
They will provide the locations in Denmark with direct daytime trains to/from Berlin, Dresden, Bad Schandau, Decin and Praha/Prague.

From June 14th

A third Comfort Jet train will be added, but it will travel overnight.
Heading south it will travel from København / Copenhagen to Bad Schandau, but going north it will travel from Praha to København.

There will also be two additional ECE trains added to the Hamburg - Padborg ↔ Kolding - Odense - Ringsted - København / Copenhagen route, providing an unprecedented ten trains in each direction between Hamburg and the Danish capital!

The plan is for the EuroNight train, which will convey sleeper cabins, couchette compartments and seats, to take this route:
Basel-SBB - Freiburg (Breisgau) Hbf - Karlsruhe Hbf - Mannheim Hbf - Frankfurt (Main) Süd) - Hamburg Hbf, - Padborg ↔ Kolding -Odense - Hoeje Taastrup for central Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport ↔ Malmo has been cancelled due to a vote in the Swiss parliament to not grant the necessary subsidy

From May 4th, the train operator Snälltåget is launching a daytime service with a restaurant car on a Hamburg ↔ Stockholm route.
The end to end journey time will be around 11 hours.

However, calling at København H, the main station in the Danish capital would extend the time, so instead the train will call at København Syd - this station is connected to the city centre by local S-Tog trains and the Copenhagen Metro.
Other station calls include Kolding, Odense, Malmö, Lund, Linköping, Norrköping, which will also provide new direct links by train between multiple Danish and Swedish locations.

At last Firenze / Florence has a restored direct train from and to Switzerland, as the existing Zurich ↔ Bologna EC service will be extended at its southern end.
The train's other station calls nclude Bellinzona, Lugano and Como, so they will also gain a direct rail link with Florence.

Heading south the train will typically depart Zurich shortly after 14:30 and arrive into Firenze S.M.Novella station at 21:30 / 9:30pm - in time for connections on to Pisa and Rome.

Heading north the departure from Florence / Firenze is typically after 07:45am and the arrival into Zurich HB station is typically before 15:30 / 3;30pm - with conveniently timed connections on to Koln / Cologne and Stuttgart.

Krakow has gained another connection with Germany as two new daily EC trains are taking a Leipzig - Katowice - Krakow route, with one of the trains in each direction having its journey extended beyond Krakow to/from Przemysl.

Connections are available at Leipizg with trains to/from Frankfurt, Hannover, Magdeburg, Nurnberg, Stuttgart and other locations in Germany which lack direct trains to and from Poland.

The Polish rail operator, PKP, operates a long standing sleeper train service named the 'Chopin' that links both Budapest and Wien/Vienna to Warszawa / Warsaw; the trains to/from the Austrian and Hungarian are joined together / separated at Bohumin, a junction station in Czechia.

A few years ago the journey taken by the service to and Wien was extended to and from Munchen/Munich on a route which also calls in Salzburg and Linz.

In Poland the 'Chopin' train had taken a route to/from Warszawa / Warsaw which calls in Krakow.
However, the 'Chopin' train has now been diverted on to as faster more direct route which avoids Krakow.

But Krakow isn't to be deprived of its link by direct night trains to/from the likes of Budapest, Munchen, Salzburg, Linz and Wien, as a new night train service named the 'Carpatiato has been added to the timetable.

On departures to/from Budapest, Munchen, Salzburg, Linz and Wien it is attached to the 'Chopin' train.
Then at Bohumin station some additional manoeuvres are required so that the 'Carpatiato' train can travel to/from Krakow.

Plus the 'Carpatiato' service travels on beyond Krakow to and from the cities of Rzeszow and Przemysl - plus connections are likely to available in Przemysl with trains to from Lviv and Kyiv, though this is still to be confirmed.
Hence the 'Carpatiato' train will now be travelling on these routes:

• Budapest - Bratislava ↔ Krakow - Rzeszow - Przemysl
• Munchen - Salzburg - Linz - Wien ↔ Krakow - Rzeszow - Przemysl

The Railjet trains which travel between Wien / Vienna and Venezia / Venice are now taking a new route via Graz though they maintain their station calls in Klagenfurt and Villach.

A new Railjet service is now taking a Wien / Vienna - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach ↔ Udine - Trieste route
Heading south it will usually depart Wien Hbf before 07:00 and will be typically scheduled to arrive shortly after 13:30 (1:30pm).

In the opposite direction it will usually leave Trieste after 14:20 and arrive in Wien / Venice shortly after 21:00 (9pm).
It now provides the only direct link between Wien / Vienna and Trieste, as the EuroCity service which had been taking a Wien - Graz ↔ Maribor - Ljubljana - Trieste route, is now only available between Wien and Ljubljana.

Hence on the new timetable the easiest Ljubljana ↔ Trieste journeys involve a transfer between trains in Villach - With the easiest / fastest end-to-end connections usually available when departing Ljubljana at around 07:50 and 19:25; And from Trieste they will typically be available shortly before 05:45 and after 14:35.

ICE trains are now taking a new Frankfurt (Main) - Heidelberg – Stuttgart - Ulm – Augsburg – Munich ↔ Salzburg – Bad Gastein - Klagenfurt – Villach – Graz route.

Plus an additional daily ICE train is taking a Munster - Essen - Dusseldorf - Koln - Messe/Deutz - Siegburg/Bonn - Frankfurt Flughafen - Mannheim – Stuttgart - Ulm – Augsburg – Munich ↔ Salzburg – Bad Gastein - Klagenfurt – Villach – Graz route.

Two of the Czech Railjet trains per day in each direction on the current Praha - Brno - Breclav ↔ Wien - Graz route now have their journeys extended south of Graz to/from Villach via Klagenfurt.

As a result direct journeys are available between the Worthersee, the most popular summer holiday destination in Austria, and Czechia - Plus connections will be available in Villach with trains to/from Bad Gastein, Ljubljana and Spittal.

Despite having a proximity closer than any other European capital cities Bratislava and Wien / Vienna are linked by regional trains, which are in effect extensions of the Viennese suburban rail network.
The only exception was the daily extension of one of the Railjet services which take the Zurich ↔ Wien route.

However, four additional express trains (EC trains) per day in each direction are now connecting the main stations in Wien and Bratislava in only 47mins.
The trains are taking a a Wien Westbahnhof - Wien Meidling - Wien Hbf - Bratislava hln route.

More than 99% of the European rail routes which were withdrawn as result of the pandemic have already resumed, but the long-standing direct EC train between Munich and Zagreb was an exception - a connection had been required in Villach.

So it's great to see that the direct train has now restored to the timetable, heading south it will typically depart Munchen Hbf shortly after 10:15 and from Salzburg shortly after 12:05.
It will also depart from Villach at 14:45 where a connection will usually be available with a Railjet train that departs Venezia-Santa Lucia shortly before 10:00.

The train has also restored direct rail links between both Munich / Munchen and Salzburg with locations in Slovenia including Ljubljana and Lesce-Bled.

From September 12th 2026 two ICE trains per day in each direction will be taking a brand new Antwerp - Brussels Airport - Leuven - Liege ↔ Aachen - Koln/Cologne route!

The daily Berlin ↔ Paris service by ICE train has been diverted on to a new route between Frankfurt and the German capital.
It cuts 20 mins off its journey time despite new station calls in Erfurt and Halle; plus it also calls at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf instead of at Frankfurt (Main) Sud.
Its departure times in each direction have also been significantly altered - it now typically departs shortly after 11;00, so on Monday to Friday a connection is typically available from the first Eurostar of the day from London.

Night trains

Though the Nightjet service on the Paris ↔ Berlin has been discontinued, despite being launched only two years ago.

However, European Sleeper train has announced that it will be launching a Paris ↔ Berlin overnight service from March 2026.

The Lausanne - Geneve ↔ Lyon - Avignon - Marseille service by TGV Lyria train is to be expanded.
It will return as a daily service in July and August, but what's new is that in April, May, June, September and October it will also be available on Thursday to Monday.

Unfortunately what stands out on the new timetable is the withdrawal of some night train services / routes.

The Nightjet trains on the Paris ↔ Berlin and Paris ↔ Wien via Munich and Salzburg routes are discontinued from December 13th 2025; Though as mentioned above, trains operated by European Sleeper, will be taking a Paris ↔ Berlin route from March 2026.

Another Nightjet route which has been withdrawn is the Milano - Verona ↔ Wien service.

Also taken off is the overnight service by IC train on the Rostock - Berlin - Halle - Erfurt - Nuremberg - Regensburg - Passau ↔ Wels - Linz - Vienna route.
The Nightjet train on the Berlin - Dresden - Prague ↔ Vienna route is still available.

The Nightjet trains on the Wien ↔ Firenze - Roma and the Wien ↔ Verona - Milano routes will be diverted so that they can also call in Graz.
The train on the Zurich ↔ Graz route will also be taking a new route via Villach and Klagenfurt.

New trains will enter service on the Zurich - Basel ↔ Amsterdam / Hamburg routes.

These routes are not included on the new timetable so have been withdrawn:

• The EC/IC trains on the Hamburg - Bremen - Dortmund - Cologne - Bonn - Koblenz - Mainz - Mannheim - Karlsruhe ↔ Basel - Bern - Interlaken route are being surprisingly discontinued; A new service by ICE train will be taking an Interlaken to Cologne route, but it will travel via Frankfurt Flughafen so won't call in Mainz, Koblenz and Bonn.
• The EC train on the Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart - Munich ↔ Salzburg - Seltzhal - Graz route; In effect it has been replaced by ICE trains taking a Frankfurt (Main) - Stuttgart - Munich ↔ Salzburg - Villach - Klagenfurt - Graz route.
• The Railjet train on the Frankfurt (Main) - Heidelberg - Stuttgart - Ulm - Friedrichshafen - Lindau ↔ Bregenz - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Vienna route is being taken off; An ICE train on a Dortmund - Essen - Dusseldorf - Koln Messe/Deutz - Frankfurt Flughafen - Heidelberg – Stuttgart - Ulm - Friedrichshafen - Lindau - Bregenz - Feldkirch - St Anton - Landeck-Zams - Innsbruck will still be available.
• From June 13th the Railjet train on the Bolzano - Bressanone - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Vienna route is to be discontinued.

Not all of the significant maintenance and enhancement projects which will be occurring in 2026 have been confirmed, but what's already known is that that three of Europe's key international routes will be impacted at various times during the year:
More info is available on this travel planning guide.

1. Nuremberg ↔ Linz = From Feb there will be major impact on the ICE trains which typically connect Berlin, Frankfurt (Main), Hamburg and Koln to Wien/Vienna.
2. Buchs ↔ Feldkirch = From June 14th to October 14th work will impact on trains taking the Zurich - Buchs ↔ Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Wien/Vienna route.
3. Brig ↔ Domodossola = from May 30th to July 27th the EC trains on the Geneva - Brig - Milano route and the Basel - Bern - Brig - Milano route will be turning around in Brig.

Additional departures are now available on these routes:

• Zurich - Bellinzona - Lugano ↔ Como - Milan
• Berlin ↔ Poznan - Warsaw
• London ↔ Bruxelles - Rotterdam - Amsterdam

A full service of trains is now operating along the Koralmbahn which is a new 127km / 79 mile higher speed railway between Graz and Klagenfurt, on which trains travel at up to 230 km/h.

The express trains between Wien / Vienna and Villach via Klagenfurt have been switched to the new line so that they can call in Graz.
Hence Graz has been transformed from a station on the route which links Vienna to Zagreb, that also has a connection into Hungary, into a rail hub, which is also at one end of a new east-west route which crosses Austria via Bad Gastein, Villach and Klagenfurt.

The railway between Klagenfurt and Villach serves the resort towns on the shore of the Worthersee

The swathe of alterations justifies this separate guide which summaries all of the changes to the timetable.

As the national rail operator, ÖBB, is rolling the dice and has also used the December 14th timetable change as an opportunity to introduce a new category of train service to Austria - the InterRegio trains, which is now being used on six routes that link multiple cities, towns and ski resorts.

The German national rail operator, DB, has used the December 14th timetable update to make a swathe of changes to the national rail timetable.
They have been captured on this guide

The ICE services are being impacted by new principles that DB has applied to the timetable as much as possible:

• The core routes are to be standardized, with the same pattern of station calls per route.
• Trains will no longer be split and joined along their routes.
• One type of train will be allocated to each route.

Though some of the changes won't come into affect until May 1st, as the work to enhance the Hamburg ↔ Berlin is due to complete on April 30th.

Locations which will be particularly impacted by the changes include Bonn, Bremen, Kiel and Koblenz.

The pattern of the IC services has also been rationalized, as a long term project to fully replaced the older IC trains with the double-deck InterCity 2 trains is now complete.
There are just twelve core IC routes on the new timetable with no IC routes to/from both Frankfurt (Main) and Munchen.

DB has also made sweeping changes to the IC routes between Germany and Switzerland which have been summarised on this travel guide.
The most significant changes now in place are:

• Koln / Cologne will have direct ICE trains to and from Zurich and Chur
• Berlin will have direct ICE trains to and from, Brig, Visp and Zurich
• Brig and Visp will have a direct ICE train from Hamburg and Koln / Cologne
• Interlaken will have a direct ICE train to Koln / Cologne.

The most impactful changes to train times in Great Britain which commenced on December 14th 2025 will occur on routes operated by LNER and CrossCountry.

Rail operator LNER has exploited the completed works, which have taken more than 10 years to offer an expanded service on the routes taken by its trains.

The new regular daily timetable, to/from King's Cross station in London, now comprises:

1. An hourly train only calling at King's Cross ↔ York - Newcastle - Edinburgh; This takes more than 10 mins off the previous regular timings of trains between London and both Newcastle and Edinburgh.
2. An hourly train calling at King's Cross ↔ Peterborough - Newark - Doncaster - York - Darlington - Newcastle - Alnmouth or Berwick upon Tweed - Edinburgh; With 3 trains per day extended to/from Aberdeen via Dundee and 1 x train per day extended to/from Inverness via Stirling and Perth; So the trains which travel beyond Edinburgh will be making more station calls, but the end-to-end timings will be little altered.
3. An added hourly train calling at King's Cross ↔ Stevenage - Grantham - York - Northallerton - Darlington - Durham - Newcastle; which gives Newcastle an additional hourly train to/from London
4. Every other hour there is a new train calling at King's Cross ↔ Peterborough - Retford - Doncaster - York; which gives York an additional 7 x trains per day to/from London; One of these trains is extended to/from Middlesbrough, but from May 15th the plan is for all of these trains to serve Middlesbrough
5. An hourly train calling at King's Cross ↔ Stevenage - Newark - Doncaster - Wakefield Westgate - Leeds; with extensions to Bradford Forster Square in every other hour and extensions to Harrogate in every other hour; This gives Bradford an additional six trains per day to/from London
6. An hourly train calling at King's Cross ↔ Peterborough - Grantham - Doncaster - Wakefield Westgate - Leeds
7. Every other hour there is a train calling at King's Cross ↔ Peterborough - Grantham - Newark - Lincoln

Trains operated by Lumo

Lumo, which competes with LNER on the London ↔ Edinburgh route has also enhanced its timetable.

Two of its five trains per day on its King's Cross ↔ Newcastle - Morpeth - Edinburgh service have had their journeys extended to/from Glasgow via Falkirk; which has more than doubles the number of trains making direct journeys between Newcastle and Glasgow.
Lumo has also introduced an additional King's Cross ↔ Newcastle service.

Plus from April there will be an entirely new route operated by Lumo which is; London Euston - Milton Keynes - Nuneaton - Crewe - Preston - Carlisle, Lockerbie - Motherwell - Whifflet (serving Coatbridge) - Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld) - Larbet - Stirling
Thus multiple locations in North Lanarkshire will be connected by direct train with multiple locations in England.
Stirling will also gain a second daily train from and to London.

CrossCountry has expanded its service between Reading and York to give seven trains per day in each direction between the two cities.

• One additional train per day is taking a Southampton - Winchester - Basingstoke ↔ Reading - Oxford - Leamington Spa - Birmingham New Street - Derby - Sheffield - Doncaster - York - Newcastle route; which provides Southampton with a new direct link to these locations north of Birmingham
• One additional train per day is taking a Reading - Oxford - Leamington Spa ↔ Birmingham New Street - Derby - Sheffield - Doncaster - York route
  not all station calls have been included in these summaries

The Swiss national rail operator, SBB, has made changes to the long-distance trains which take the Jura Foot Line which runs along the western shores of Lake Biel and Lake Neuchâtel.

• A once per hour IC service has been restored to the Basel - Délemont - Moutier - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains - Renens VD - Lausanne route; This provides a direct train service between Basel and Lake Geneva; transforming its access to/from Germany thanks to connections in and out of ICE trains at Basel SBB station; Connections to/from Geneve will be available at Renens VD.
• One of what was the 2 x per hour IC trains which take a St Gallen - Zurich - Olten - Biel/Bienne - Neuchatel - Yverdon-les-Bains - Renens VD - Lausanne route has been taken off the timetable, to be replaced by InterRegio services taking a Zurich - Olten - Biel/Bienne route and IC trains taking a St Gallen - Zurich route.

The availability of the new timetable on the ticket booking services also prompts changes to how some types of tickets and trains can be booked.

Hence these recent updates:

• Tickets for the German express trains, plus the ICE trains between Germany and Austria, Belgium and Austria can now be booked up until 12 months ahead.
• Also now bookable up to 12 months ahead are tickets for Swedish express trains
• Reservations can now also be booked up to 12 months ahead for journeys on the Bernina Express.
• Tickets can now be booked for travel on the Glacier Express up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
• The Austrian rail operator has re-designed its ticket booking service for both day and night trains, including travel on the Nightjet.