Welcome
Timings in this edition generally cover the period from June 15 to December 13, although there are many exceptions that apply to specific countries or tables. Readers are advised to consult the introductory text at the beginning of each country section for confirmation of the published timetable validity. Differing validity periods may also be indicated for individual tables.
Our fully updated Rail Extra feature will be found on pages 589 to 601. It contains useful transport based information presented on a country-bycountry basis, including schedules for selected tourist railways that we do not normally show.
International
Timings of all Eurostar services are confirmed until September 6 (Tables 10 and 18). Engineering work on the high-speed line between Brussels and Lille from August 16 to 31 will result in extended journey times of between 15 and 30 minutes with services diverted via alternative routes. The Eurostar Sun service Amsterdam – Brussels – Marseille has been withdrawn.
One Ouigo service per day between Paris and Brussels now calls at St Quentin (Table 18).
The overnight seated service Stuttgart – Munchen – Wien (IC 461/460) has been withdrawn (Table 32). Train 301 Berlin Night Express Stockholm – Berlin is extended to Dresden on certain Fridays with return train 300 starting from Dresden on certain Sundays (Table 50). On July 31 and September 19 the southbound train is extended further to Chemnitz, returning on August 3 and September 21. Chemnitz is one of two designated European Capitals of Culture for 2025, the other being Nova Gorica in Slovenia.
From July 1 Railjet 257/256 Berlin – Decin – Praha – Graz will be withdrawn between Berlin and Decin (Table 60). Note that compulsory seat reservation will apply from June 15 to August 31 for all international journeys on the Berlin – Dresden – Praha corridor. An additional pair of EuroCity services will run between Berlin and Praha from June 15 to September 15. Departing from Berlin Hbf at 0007, EC259 will call at Flughafen Berlin, Dresden and stations to Praha. Northbound EC258 will depart Praha at 2028, arriving Berlin Hbf at 0057.
Two ICE services in each direction between Dortmund and Wien have been curtailed to only run between Frankfurt and Wien (Table 66). The services affected are 29 / 23 southbound and 22 / 228 northbound. Engineering work will affect international services via Brig on certain dates with journeys partially operated by bus (Table 82).
A new through service between Zurich and Pisa via Genova will operate from June 8 to September 28 (Tables 82 and 610). Southbound service EC155 departs Zurich at 0633, arriving Pisa at 1600. The northbound train, numbered 156, leaves Pisa at 1320 and arrives Zurich 2327.
Trains 1205/1204 Adria Budapest – Split and 1247/1246 Istria Budapest – Rijeka / Koper will run again for the summer season. Train 1205/1204 runs on even dates southbound returning on uneven dates, while train 1247/1246 runs daily for the duration of the season (Table 89).
A new summer service between Poland and the Croatian coast will commence on June 27. EN1277/1276 Warszawa – Wien – Rijeka will run four days a week until August 31. Between Warszawa and Wien it will run as a portion of the Sobieski (Tables 89 and 99).
Great Britain
On the Isle of Wight, the section of line between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde Pier Head has reopened following a lengthy closure period to allow essential maintenance work to be carried out (Table 106). It will close again for another short period after the summer season for further track renewal.
Most through services between Cardiff and Penzance have been withdrawn and now operate as separate trains Cardiff – Exeter and Exeter – Penzance. As a result, the Cardiff to Exeter services have been transferred to a modified Table 115.
The summer service on the West of England main line from London to Penzance, shown in Table 110, is valid until September 14. As is usual during the summer, the popular seaside town of Newquay is served by a number of additional long distance through services (Table 110). The local service from Par to Newquay in Table 113 is also completely revised during the summer season. An enhanced hourly service is expected to start running on the Newquay branch later this year following the completion of work to install a passing loop on this singletrack line. The Liskeard to Looe branch line has a completely revised service with a slight reduction in the number of trains on Mondays to Saturdays (Table 111).
Various CrossCountry services now make additional stops at Worcestershire Parkway station (Table 119). Manchester to Bristol services call in the southbound direction, with the extra northbound stops being made by trains heading to Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Transport for Wales has introduced some major alterations for its summer Sunday services from August 3 to September 14. The most significant changes affect Tables 136 and 149 for which we have published separate versions on page 579. Enhanced summer Sunday services will also be found in Tables 145, 146 and 148.
Table 152, which previously covered services from London to both Liverpool and Manchester, is now dedicated to the Liverpool route with services to Manchester transferred to a new Table 153. The reason for this is the introduction of additional services between London and Liverpool which do not run at regular intervals and have a different stopping pattern. Further services are expected to be added from
September 15.
LNER has extended a number of its Leeds services to and from Bradford Forster Square, made possible by the opening of an additional platform at Bradford (Table 180).
CrossCountry now runs through trains to Stansted Airport on an hourly basis, rather than every two hours (Table 208).
Scotrail has retimed the first train of the day from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness on Mondays to Saturdays, now departing 26 minutes earlier at 0545 (Table 226). This enables a connection to be made with the 0841 service from Inverness to Glasgow.
The Scottish Citylink bus service now operates hourly between Inverness and Fort William with two services extended through to Oban. These additional through services double the number of journeys available between Fort William and Oban to four each way (Table 228).
France
As is usual in our Summer edition, our tables covering northern and western France (Tables 250 to 329) are valid for the high-summer period which this year is from July 5 to August 31. The service from September 1 will be broadly similar with some routes seeing additional trains. These tables will be fully updated in time for the September digital edition.
The Paris to Hendaye overnight service does not appear to be running this summer (Table 319).
Media reports suggest that rail services on the branch line from Montrejeau to Luchon will be reinstated from June 22 (Table 325). As we went to press the full timetable was not available but it is believed that trains will depart Montrejeau at 0812, 1044, 1351, 1551, 1851 and 2051, returning from Luchon at 0614, 0939, 1242, 1436, 1736 and 1936. Some services will run to and from Toulouse.
Trenitalia will introduce four daily return Frecciarossa services on the Paris to Marseille route from June 15; timings will be found in Table 350. Most of these trains also serve Lyon St Exupery, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. Certain trains have quite complex variations, so readers are advised to carefully check their reservation for confirmed timings. From the same date Trenitalia will also introduce an additional service in both directions between Paris and Lyon, meaning there are six daily Frecciarossa journeys each way (Table 340).
The regional TER service between Marseille and Nice will be enhanced from June 29 with trains running hourly throughout the day. Previously shown in Table 361, these trains have now been transferred to a new dedicated table, numbered 362.
Electrification work being carried out between Paris and Troyes from June 30 to August 31 will mean all trains are replaced by bus between Nogent and Troyes. A limited number of through trains will continue to run Paris – Chaumont – Belfort – Mulhouse, operating via Chalons en Champagne. A special version of Table 380 will be found on page 602 with amended timings during this period. TGV services using the high-speed line heading east from Paris have some significant variations during the high-summer period. As a result we have included two versions of Table 390 with the service from July 5 to August 31 found on pages 603 and 604.
Italy
Due to late availability of timetable data combined with a large amount of engineering work taking place this summer, the Italian section has proved particularly difficult to update for this edition. Long-distance and high-speed trains (those shown with train numbers) have been checked and updated where possible and are generally valid from June 16 to September 14. All other services should be regarded as subject to confirmation – we hope to have them fully updated in time for the July digital edition. A summary of engineering work affecting principal tables can be found on page 284.
IC 608 Lecce – Bologna is extended to Milano Centrale (Table 615).
Trains IC 558 and 562 Bari – Reggio di Calabria have been extended to and from Villa S. Giovanni (Tables 637 and 640).
Due to engineering work, services between Napoli and Baiano are operated by bus until September 30 (Table 639).
Spain
On May 22 Spanish Railways introduced an additional service in each direction between Madrid and Barcelona on Thursdays (Table 650). The new trains depart Madrid at 1357 and Barcelona at 1425.
Two additional daily Ouigo services have been introduced in each direction between Madrid and Malaga, doubling the previous service level (Table 660).
After nearly two years of closure for engineering work, rail services between Huesca and Canfranc resumed from June 9 (Table 670).
Additional platforms are being constructed at Valencia Joaquin Sorolla, temporarily reducing station capacity. Therefore, all Euromed services between Barcelona and Valencia will use Valencia Nord station until June 2026 (Table 672).
A third Alvia service has been introduced in each direction between Madrid and Badajoz. The new Alvia services 194 (from Madrid) and 291/297 (to Madrid) are routed via Plasencia, where the trains reverse direction, but do not call at Monfrague-Plasencia or Merida (Table 677).
Services between Madrid and the Spanish region of Galicia were recast from June 9 (Tables 680, 681 and 682). Two additional AVE services operate between Madrid and A Coruna on Mondays to Fridays with extra services also running on Saturdays and Sundays.
Through Alvia services 4064 and 4175 between Ferrol and Madrid have been withdrawn (Table 681), but alternative connections are available via A Coruna (shown on Table 682).
Portugal
Until October 5 an additional pair of daily InterRegional trains will run between Porto Sao Bento and Pochino (Table 694). Train 865 will start at Porto Campanha rather than Sao Bento and an additional service will run between Regua and Pinhao by extending existing trains.
The Comboio Historico excursion train from Regua to Tua returns this summer but, due to gauge clearance issues following modernisation works, it will be hauled by an historic diesel locomotive until the necessary safety checks have been made to allow a steam locomotive to be used once again.
Sweden
Services operated by SJ (Swedish Railways) are valid until August 31, although the large amount of engineering work taking place across the network, along with complex summer variations, means that it has not been possible to show full details. Passengers are advised to recheck timings when reserving or before travel.
Notable areas where bus substitution is in place this summer include the Borlange – Ludvika – Mora line which is closed between July 14 and August 10 (Tables 755, 758 and 766), whilst there is no rail service between Mjolby and Hallsberg from July 7 to August 10 (Table 755).
A new through service between Malmo and Oslo, operated by Vy, will be introduced from July 14 with two journeys each way, although it will only run for a four week period until early August (Table 735). Another innovation aimed at summer holidaymakers is Snalltaget’s twice-weekly Malmo – Stockholm – Storlien train, details for which will be found in Table 767. Note that on certain dates the train will run via Goteborg rather than the Malmo to Stockholm main line.
Germany
Line closures and other trackwork continue to have a large impact on the German rail network. The most significant change will be in the north with the complete closure of the Hamburg to Berlin line from August 2, requiring special versions of Table 840 and other associated tables which will be found on pages 606 to 608. Many trains are diverted via Salzwedel, whilst others are cancelled between Hamburg and Berlin, including trains to and from Praha via Dresden. Services on the Hamburg – Rostock – Stralsund route (Table 830) are also affected with only a limited number of through IC trains (which are diverted via Lubeck). Note that Wittenberge will be left without trains during this period, the journey to Stendal being partly by bus (Table 841).
Another significant period of engineering work affects most of the Koln – Hannover – Leipzig – Dresden IC trains, which are split to run in two sections from June 7 to August 8, no longer running between Bielefeld and Hannover (Tables 810 and 866). From July 26 to September 5 it is the turn of certain services in the Stuttgart area to be retimed, with some bus substitution involved, notably affecting S-Bahn services to the airport (Table 936a) and some Stuttgart – Zurich trains (Table 940). These changes are in connection with the major Stuttgart 21 project, which involves the complete rebuilding of Stuttgart’s main station with underground through platforms replacing the existing terminus.
Later in the year, Essen to Dortmund via Bochum will once again be affected, this time between September 6 and October 31, with many trains retimed and others rerouted via Wuppertal. Bochum will only be served by local trains. Where possible, details are shown in our tables.
Those wishing to sample the excellent Harz narrow gauge network (Table 867) should note that there are no trains serving the Harzgerode branch (with no bus substitution) during the current summer timetable, which runs until November 11.
Just under four years since the line between Koln and Trier via Gerolstein was severely damaged by flooding, the middle section between Kall and Gerolstein is the final part of the route to be fully restored allowing the long-awaited return of through trains between Koln and Gerolstein from June 16 (Table 915a). Work to electrify the entire route is continuing which means the section between Gerolstein and Trier will be closed to rail traffic until September 29. The full service between Koln and Trier will resume for a short period until October 12. This will be followed by further service alterations between Euskirchen and Gerolstein as electrification work continues.
Another line with an improved service is Table 849 where the hourly Halle – Naumburg trains are extended to Erfurt which, when combined with the Leipzig – Erfurt – Eisenach trains, gives a half-hourly service between Naumburg and Erfurt.
Austria
Readers are reminded that major engineering work on the Tauern Tunnel route continues until July 13 after which normal services are expected to resume. A special version of Table 970 will be found on page 609 with details of the amended service until July 13.
Table 956 has been updated with the full service between Jenbach and Achensee until October 25. Table 957 has been expanded and updated for the summer season, showing the full bus service between Krimml and Mayrhofen as well as updated steam train schedules between Zell am See and Mittersill.
Work to electrify the Wien – Marchegg – Bratislava route is taking longer than expected and it is now hoped the full service will resume on October 10 (Table 996).
Czech Republic
Due to engineering work, services between Zittau and Liberec are operated by bus until September 30 (Table 1117).
⚓ Ferries
DFDS has introduced a new direct ferry service between Rosslare and Dunkerque which operates five days per week with a sailing time of between 23 and 25 hours (Table 2138). It should be noted that it is only available for passengers with vehicles (including bicycles).
DFDS is also operating a service between Kapellskar (Sweden) and Paldiski (Estonia), timings for which will be found in Table 2412.
Table 2502 has been expanded to include additional sailings between Algeciras and Tanjah (Tangiers) operated by Balearia and Trasmediterranea.
