Major Timetable Alterations due to Construction Work
A summary of the current and future longer term impacts to European rail timetables, that are being caused by construction and improvement projects on the railways.
Table of Contents
When adding journeys in the Conductor Sam travel planner you may see notes stating 'Not on x date'.
This typically indicates that this train, or sequence of journey, is on the usual timetable, but it won't, or may not be, available on this specific date.
This scenario is most likely caused by engineering works on the railway, which is closing a section of track between two locations, or at a particular station.
The overwhelming majority of this work is carried out overnight when fewer passenger trains will be affected.
Though this makes night trains and the first and last departures of the day particularly susceptible to alterations.
If a project will require disruption over one or two days, it is typically carried out at weekends.
As this night and weekend work typically involves more than a hundred projects across Europe per week, they haven't been included on the summary below.
If you see 'Not on X date' when using the planner to look up a weekend departure, or are otherwise wondering why you can't find an expected train on a Saturday or Sunday, you check for national updates on the links below.
Summary of Major Longer Term Projects
These are the construction sites which:
- are affecting long-distance services
- will impact on services for a minimum of a week
- will be
- causing diversions, or
- resulting in replacement by bus on a section of the route, or
- causing a temporary withdrawal of all services, or
- leading to reductions in the usual service
- trains turning around short of their usual destinations
| When | Where | Impacted Routes |
| Until September 21st | at Hamburg | ICE trains between Hamburg and Cologne, Frankfurt (Main) and Munich (4) |
| Until September 22nd | between Villach and Udine | Vienna - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Venice / Trieste by Railjet train (2) Stuttgart - Munich - Udine -Vienna by Euronight (2) Vienna - Linz- Udine - Venice by Nightjet (2) Vienna - Linz- Udine - Venice by Nightjet (2) |
| Until September 11th | at Stuttgart | Stuttgart - Ulm - Munich (4) Stuttgart - Heidelberg (3) Koln / Frankfurt - Stuttgart - Munich - Austria (1) Stuttgart - Zurich (1) |
| Until September 30th | between Milan and Genoa | Milan - Genoa - La Spezia - Pisa - Livorno (1) and (4) Zurich - Luagno - Como - Milan - Genoa - La Spezia (5) |
| Until October 14th | between Sargans and Feldkirch | Zurich - Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Vienna (1 and 4) Zurich - Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Zell am See - Seltzhal - Graz (5) Zurich - Feldkirch - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - Vienna - Bratislava / Budapest (5) Night trains: Zurich - Budapest / Zagreb (1) |
| Until October 17th | between Davos and Klosters | Landquart - Klosters - Davos - Filisur (2) |
| Until October 26th | between Livorno and Grosseto | Milan / Turin - Genoa - La Spezia - Pisa - Livorno - Grosseto - Rome (1) and (4) |
| Until October 29th | between Genoa and Ventimiglia | Milan - Genoa - Albenga - San Remo - Ventimiglia (2) and (4) |
| Until October 31st | between Kolding and Hamburg | Copenhagen - Odense - Kolding - Hamburg (2) (most departures not affected) |
| Until November 1st | north of Engelberg | Lucerne - Engelberg (2) |
| Until Dec 7th on Mondays | between Dresden and Usti nab Labem | Hamburg - Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Bratislava - Brno Budapest (2) Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Bratislava - Brno - Vienna (2) Copenhagen - Berlin - Dresden - Prague(2) |
| Until December 12th | between Regensburg and Passau Additional connections available at Munchen Hbf | Cologne - Frankfurt (Main) - Nuremberg - Linz - Vienna (4 and 5) Hamburg - Hannover - Nuremberg - Linz - Vienna (5) Berlin - Erfurt - Nuremberg - Linz - Vienna (3) |
| Until December 12th | south of Lille | Paris - Lille (4) Paris - Bruxelles - Amsterdam (4) |
- diversions, or
- replacement by bus on a section of the route or
- a temporary withdrawal of all services, or
- reductions in the usual service, or
- trains turning around short of their usual destinations
| Aug 24 to Sep 3rd | between Como and Milan | Zurich - Zug - Arth Goldau - Bellinzona - Lugano - Como - Milan (5) Basel - Lucerne - Arth Goldau - Bellinzona - Lugano - Como - Milan (5) |
| from Sep 6th until ? | between Almuradiel and Jaen. | Madrid - Jaen (2) Madrid - Linares - Almeria (2) |
| Sep 11 to Oct 9th | between Chambery and Turin | Paris - (Lyon) - Chambery - Turin - Milan (3) |
| Sep 13 to Sep 29th | between Bruck/Mur and Graz | Vienna - Bruck/Mur - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach (and beyond) (2) Vienna - Bruck/Mur - Graz - Maribor - Ljubljana / Zagreb (2) |
| Sep 26 to Oct 14th | between Villlach and Lesce-Bled | Munich - Salzburg - Villach - Lesce Bled - Ljubljana - Zidani Most - Zagreb (2) Stuttgart - Munich - Villach - Lesce Bled - Ljubljana - Zidani Most - Zagreb by Euronight train (1) Zurich - Villach - Lesce Bled - Ljubljana - Zidani Most - Zagreb by Euronight train (3) |
| Sep 30th to Oct 4th | between Dresden and Usti nab Labem (not all trains) | Hamburg - Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Bratislava - Brno Budapest (2) Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Bratislava - Brno - Vienna (2) Copenhagen - Berlin - Dresden - Prague (2) |
| Oct 2 to Dec 12th | between Hannover and Berlin | Berlin - Hannover - Osnabruck - Deventer - Amersfoort - Amsterdam (1) Berlin - Hannover - Dortmund - Cologne (1) Berlin - Kassel - Frankfurt (Main) and beyond (1) |
| Oct 30th to Dec 12th | between Nuremberg and Munich | Berlin - Erfurt - Nuremberg - Munich (1) Hamburg - Hannover - Wurzburg - Nuremberg - Munich (1) |
| Nov 23 to Nov 29th | between Klagenfurt and Villach (not all trains affected) | Vienna - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach (2) Graz - - Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg . Germany (2) |
| tbc for much of 2027 | between Bad Gastein and Vlllach | (Germany) - Salzburg - Bad Gastein - Villach - Klagenfurt - Graz - Vienna (2 and 4 and 5) |
It's a good idea to double check the availability of train services around the start and end dates of the works listed above.
Work can often be scheduled to begin shortly before midnight or end in the early hours of the morning, meaning that the bulk of the days on the start / end dates can be unaffected.
Checking the national updates
Some of Europe's national rail operators publish guides to current and upcoming works on their networks.
They're particularly a good source of info if you want to check the route you'll be taking on a specific date.
Also as the tables above don't include works that are confined to single days / nights or weekends, they can be a useful source for checking instance of 'Not on x date' on a route not mentioned above.
| Austria | Belgium | Czechia |
| Denmark | France | Germany (Fernverkher) |
| Great Britain | Hungary | Italy |
| Netherlands | Norway | Poland |
| Spain (news service) | Sweden | Switzerland |
Simon Harper
Simon has been writing about international rail journeys for over 10 years and has travelled across 33 European countries by train.