Blink and you can easily miss a thousand changes to European rail schedules. We’ve been taking a look ahead to next year’s timetables, just to see what Cheapos can look forward to in 2009. All the new services mentioned here come into effect on December 14, 2008.

Prague routes

Prague, which just this year benefited from a new night train from Amsterdam (which stays in the 2009 schedules), gets a further upgrade in the 2009 timetables with a new daily night train to Zürich (like many other central European night trains named after a heavenly constellation, in this case Canopus). And Prague gets a new direct daytime train to Belgrade, the EuroCity Avala service.

Paris to Berlin; Berlin to Bratislava/Budapest

The long-standing Paris to Berlin night sleeper service run by Deutsche Bahn is entirely recast in the 2009 schedules, departing from Paris Est (rather than Paris Nord, as at present) and no longer serving Brussels. No great loss, we might add, for the train’s Brussels stops were in both directions at such inconvenient hours that no sane traveller made use of them. Berlin secures new direct night services to both Bratislava and Budapest, as well as a revised service with improved capacity to Warsaw.

Across the Alps; Austria; Budapest to Munich; Amsterdam to Berlin

New Cisalpino trains bring great improvements to cross-Alps services in 2009 with reduced travel times on routes from Geneva and Zürich to Milan, Florence and Venice. And new trains across Austria too, where Railjet will introduce a new premium service linking Budapest with Munich via Vienna.

International train services from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (great for travellers arriving off long-haul flights) get more prominence with a doubling of frequency of trains heading east towards Hanover and Berlin.

British routes

In Britain, services on the route out of London Euston get a boost with increased frequencies to both Birmingham and Manchester and a new hourly service to Chester. But it’s not all gain, for direct services from Gatwick Airport to the West Midlands and Manchester are axed after December 13, 2008. Thereafter, red-eyed passengers arriving early at Gatwick off overnight flights will need to change trains at Watford Junction or Reading for connections on to Birmingham and northwest England.

Eurostar service from London

In the winter 2008-09 timetables some thirty Eurostar trains each day will link London with Brussels, Paris, Lille, the Marne valley and the French Alps. With fares starting from €77 from Paris return and €80 return from any station in Belgium to London, we wonder why anyone still bothers to fly for short hops across the English Channel.

Fuller details of 2009 rail schedules for Europe will be available in mid-November 2008. To keep abreast of developments, just get hold of the latest issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable.

About the authors

Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries, the authors of this post, are the editors of hidden europe magazine. The current issue of the magazine, published on September 4, has a feature on the Eurostar rail route linking France and England.

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We’re psyched that the new and improved St. Pancras train station opened this week in London. The depot, rebuilt and improved with a $1.7 billion budget, boasts more than just slick rails. Indeed, St. Pancras Station boasts the longest champagne bar in Europe, its own underground shopping mall and—most importantly—the fastest Eurostar journey to date from London to Paris. (Trains also leave the station for Brussels and Lille.)

We’re not, however, completely sold on the station’s PR: A daily farmer’s market in the downstairs arcade promises to be “Where the best of the British meets the flavours of the continent.” (Well, they’ve had their plates full.)

We recommend taking a virtual tour of the station.

On this side of the Atlantic, more “rail good” news as the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved $1.4 billion to keep Amtrak chugging along and improve track conditions. We’re glad to know our government, too, is finally taking note of the necessity for rail travel in an age of mass congestion and high fuel prices. Too bad Mr. President has promised to veto the bill.

Politics aside, we remain enthusiastic about the new station. And eager to try out that champagne bar. Toot, toot!

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