Highlights of the 2023 timetable

The nationwide and international train times in all of the countries featured on ShowMeTheJourney had an annual update on the second Sunday in December, so in 2023 the revised timetables came into affect from December 11th.
The timings of most of the trains are fixed until the second December Sunday in 2023, though routes to tourist resorts and some international services will also be enhanced in the summer season.
Also all timings can be subject to change due to construction works, particularly at weekends.

The vast majority of the changes were to do with adjusting departure and arrival times by less than 10 minutes, so the usage of specific timings on the journey guides have now been checked and verified.
What has also been checked are the overall frequencies on each route, but these are are less likely to have been altered.
Also fully updated are the travel guides on the menu below.

On this summary the idea is to feature the major alterations, which have impacted on leisure travellers in particular

These are the key adjustments to the international timetables

Additions:

(1) A new overnight train departs nightly on a Zurich - Basel - Freiburg - Offenburg - Karlsruhe ↔ Leipzig - Dresden - Bad Schandau - Decin - Praha/Prague route.

Enhancements:

(2) The overnight train from/to Munchen/Munich which splits on its route so that it can travel to and from Budapest, Venezia and Zagreb via Ljubljana has had its journey extended in Germany, so it now travels beyond Munchen/Munich from to Stuttgart via Ulm.

(3) The Nightjet train on the Wien/Vienna ↔ Milano route has had its journey extended to and from La Spezia via Genova.
Not only have Wien and Klagenfurt gained a new rail link with the Cinque Terre thanks to the station call in Levanto, journeys by rail from Austria to both the Italian and French Rivieras have become easier.
Around 1hr 15mins after the arrival in Genova, an Italian IC train will head to the French border at Ventimiglia, where it will connect with trains on to Menton, Monaco-Monte Carlo and Nice.
The station calls of the Italian IC train also include Albenga and Sanremo.

(4) On Monday to Saturday a train to Badajoz typically departs Madrid-Chamartin at 08:30 and calls in Madrid Atocha at 08:50.
In Badajoz it has a conveniently timed connection into an additional train over the border to Entroncamento in Portugal, where transfers are available into trains to both Lisboa/Lisbon and Porto.

(5) Thanks to the conclusion of improvement works, an enhanced service is now available on the Oslo ↔ Stockholm route, with up to five trains per day in each direction, more than double the previous service.

Withdrawals:

(6) Spanish national rail operator Renfe has ended its partnership with the French national rail operator SNCF so (for the time being) has discontinued its trains on the Lyon ↔ Barcelona and the Marseille ↔ Madrid routes.
Renfe is working towards bringing back these services for summer 2023 - and they have now resumed!

Additions:

(1) The Golden Pass Express is providing a new direct service on a Montreux - Gstaad - Zweisimmen ↔ Spiez - Interlaken route.

Amendments:

(1) Around 50% of the services on the Romanshorn - St Gallen - Zurich Airport - Zurich Main Station - Bern Thun - Spiez ↔ Visp - Brig route have been switched to a Romanshorn - St Gallen - Zurich Airport - Zurich Main Station - Bern Thun - Spiez ↔ Interlaken route, so Zurich will now have a direct rail link with Interlaken.

(2) On Saturdays and Sundays two IC trains in each direction are available on a new Geneve - Lausanne - Bern ↔ Zurich - Landquart - Chur route.
These adjustments provide a new direct link between Geneve / Lausanne with Chur, heading east these trains will be departing Geneve at 08:42 and 11:42
Heading west trains the trains to Bern, Lausanne and Geneve will be departing Chur on weekends at 13:08 and 16:08.

From January 23rd the major construction project, which will enhance Atocha station in Madrid, will cause the trains between Valencia and the Spanish capital to be switched so that they depart from and arrive at Chamartin station instead.
Though more of these services to/from Valencia will also be direct to/from cities in northern Spain, so will be calling at Chamartin station during their end-to-end journeys.

(1) Most of the services on the long-standing Basel - Freiburg - Karlsruhe ↔ Mannheim - Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport - Koln/Cologne route have had their services extended beyond Koln.
The new route is Basel - Freiburg - Karlsruhe ↔ Mannheim - Frankfurt Flughafen/Airport - Koln/Cologne - Dusseldorf - Essen - Dortmund - Osnabruck - Bremen - Hamburg.
As result multiple cities in north-west Germany have a new direct rail link with Freiburg and Switzerland.

(2) The high-speed line between Ulm and Stuttgart has partially opened and the trains which use it save 15 minutes compared to what had been the fastest journey time in both directions between Stuttgart and Munchen/Munich

To take advantage of this. most of the trains on the Dortmund - Essen - Dusseldorf - Koln Messe/Deutz ↔ Frankfurt Flughafen - Mannheim - Stuttgart route have had their journeys extended to/from Munchen/Munich.
So in most hours two trains per hour will be available between Stuttgart and Munchen/Munich.

Most of ICE trains which travel between Munchen/Munich and Karlsruhe also use the new line as do the trains on the Berlin - Leipzig - Erfurt - Fulda - Frankfurt (Main) - Mannheim - Stuttgart ↔ Ulm - Augsburg - Munchen/Munich route.
Though despite these trains now being only around 12 mins slower between Frankfurt (Main) and Munchen/Munich compared to the ICE trains which travel via Nurnberg, DB still isn't making tickets available for Frankfurt (Main) ↔ Munchen/Munich journeys on the route via Stuttgart.

Something else which is a tad bizarre is that the ICE trains on the Koln Hbf - Seigburg/Bonn- Frankfurt Flughhafen - Mannheim - Stuttgart ↔ Ulm - Augsburg - Munchen/Munich route, aren't yet using the new high-speed line.
So for the time being their travel times remain unaltered.

TransPennine Express is seemingly the only UK rail operator which introduced new routes at the December 11th timetable change.
The planned revisions that primarily impacted on Liverpool and Manchester, are:

(1) The stopping trains between Manchester Piccadilly station and Huddersfield have had their journeys extended to and from York via Leeds, then in alternate hours, they will switch between travelling between Newcastle and Scarborough.
As a result, in every other hour Manchester will now have two departures heading to Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
Scarborough will also regain its direct trains from and to Leeds and will have a new direct link from Manchester.

(2) The Manchester Piccadilly ↔ Leeds - Hull services are being switched to a Liverpool - Manchester Victoria ↔ Leeds - Hull route.
So Liverpool once again has direct trains to/from Hull,

(3) The services on the Manchester - Sheffield - Doncaster - Cleethorpes routes have been extended beyond Manchester to/from Liverpool, instead of serving Manchester Airport.