Alas, we’ve returned from our patriotic turkey festivity to find, with great relief and thanks, that France’s rail strike has ended.

The strike that derailed commutes and clogged highways ended on Friday, after nine days of severely limited national, regional, and local public transportation services. The Herald Tribune reported Friday that only 2 percent of workers were still out, and that trains were running close to or on schedule.

High level (read: presidential) negotiations helped get the workers back on board, but negotiations between the unions and rail official continue today (Monday).

Thus, dear reader, ends our daily rail strike update. Indeed, another reason for giving thanks.

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It’s a sunny Friday here in NYC, but in France and Germany, commuter moods are clouded with continued rail strikes. Here’s the latest:

France

The rail strike entered its third day on Friday. The BBC reports a slight increase in the number of trains and metros running across the country, and a significant decrease in the number of workers participating in the strike.

Only 200 of 700 TGV trains across the country are running.

In Paris, the Metro is running with delays, although two lines are not running at all. One third of the city’s buses are not running.

Rail workers voted to continue the strike over the weekend, although support seems to be thinning.

Germany

On Friday, the second day of passenger rail strikes has affected millions of commuters’ journeys. 3,000 workers have walked out since the strike began.

The BBC reports that suburban and inter-city transportation is hit the hardest, with most intra-city transportation systems running smoothly.

The strike is set to end at 1 AM Saturday morning. The union, however, is threatening to strike again over Christmas and New Years holidays if conditions aren’t met.

We wish our friends and fellow Cheapos in France and Germany good luck with their commutes. See you on Monday!

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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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Even the most seasoned European traveller can be caught unawares by rail schedules changes. Most European rail companies introduce major timetable changes over the second weekend in December, and this year there are some big alterations in the offing.

There is no more civilised way of making a big hop across Europe than on a night train, and the new schedules see a whole raft of new night train services. Take Amsterdam for example. The Dutch city has always featured on Europe’s night train schedules, but for 2008 Amsterdam secures new daily services to Copenhagen, Dresden, Milan, Minsk, Moscow, Prague, and Warsaw.

For the first time for many years Switzerland and Bavaria will benefit from direct overnight trains to Poland and points east, with new direct night sleeper services from Basel SBB and Munich to Warsaw and Moscow. Fixed fares apply for travel on most European night train routes, often with little advantage for railpass holders. A one-way journey in a shared sleeper costs from €69. For those on a budget, couchettes are priced from €49 and a one-way overnight in a reclining seat begins at €29.

The changes are of course not limited to night train services. New for 2008 are a daily direct train from both Vienna and Prague to Stralsund on Germany’s Baltic coast, a very handy new daytime train from Kraków to Budapest (less than nine hours on a beautiful route through the mountains that straddle the Polish-Slovakian border), a new fast direct daytime service from Paris to Munich (just over six hours) to supplement the long-standing Paris-Munich night train, a new direct Berlin to Copenhagen link (where the entire train gets shipped on a ferry between Denmark and Germany), and a new direct once daily train from Geneva Airport to Venice.

Rail travel in Europe can challenge even the most competent travel planner. Web sites like those of the Deutsche Bahn can help. But there is really no substitute for the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable, a gem of a book updated each month. For many savvy European travellers, it is required bedtime reading.

This is the fifth in a series of fortnightly blog posts by the editors of hidden europe.

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Photo by seadipper

You’re strolling around Venice when suddenly it strikes: an insatiable craving for Mélange mit Schlagobers. Where did this hankering for the whipped, caffeinated Austrian delight come from? Who knows? In any case, you need to get yourself to Vienna pronto.

Taking the night train from Venice to Vienna is an old Cheapo trick. Why does it make sense?

For one, hotel rates in Venice are notoriously inflated, from €100 to €200 per night, with a few one-star pensions and hostels running cheaper. In comparison, a 2nd class overnight ticket between Venice and Vienna costs about €75. If you have a Eurail pass, traveling on the Allegro line can be even cheaper. Deals are also sometimes offered on the route—over one Easter weekend not long ago, we scored a €45 ticket.

Once you’re in Vienna, there are more affordable hotels to choose between. You’ll pay between €45 and €75 for a cheap room. A more upscale room can be had for between €75 and €149, leaving you enough money to go on a ravenous strüdel binge. What happens in Vienna, stays in Vienna, after all.

SkyEurope flies between Venice and Vienna for even less. This summer they’re offering €.01 fares, which swell to €19 once taxes are taken into consideration. Cheap, no question, but traveling by night train allows you to consolidate your lodging and transportation costs and eliminate time- and euro-sucking trips to the airport.

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photograph courtesy of Joeri van Veen

Planning to be in Paris in the springtime? SNCF (the French national train company) is running several promotions this week (March 12-19, 2007) . Promotional fares are for journeys from Paris over the next few months.

The best deal is the €66 round-trip fare to London, per person, when you travel with a buddy. You have to reserve before April 10, 2007 to get this fare, and it’s not valid for all trains.

Other great deals include €19 one-way tickets (again, per person, assuming two people traveling together) from Paris to Brussels, Bruges, and Liège. Another good deal: €30 per person will get you and a chum one-way tickets from Paris to Lille or Dijon. The key to the lowest fares is flexibility with your travel days.

Use a credit-card to reserve your journey online in advance. You can pick up your ticket on your departure day from an automated machine at the train station.

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