I am planning my trip to Europe after 14th December 2025 (the second Sunday). I need to reserve seats on some trains, but I can’t find any trains after that date. When will the new timetable be updated, and when will I be able to make reservations?
Solved
Train Timetable and Seat Reservation Availability After 14th December 2025 (the second Sunday)
Best answer by BrendanDB
Usually from October on those timetables will be slowly released, but there’s no clear line in it.
Spain, Italy and France are ex. more on the late side, making it only a couple of weeks before the new timetable. France will open reservation for Christmas period on October 1st, everything later only from half November
Switzerland, Germany, Austria are usually quite on time and should be avaible soon.
In which countries do you plan to travel?
If you need timetables to plan, just pick a random date e.g. next week, to get an indication of travel times and frequencies. The timetables usually don’t change that much. Usually only a couple of minutes few or less.
In Austria you can expect major changes though, because of a new major railway line opening between Graz and Klagenfurt.
It is impossible to answer this question. Every country may have different dates. Search the timetables on the railway sites (e.g. sbb.ch, bahn.de), not in the Rail Planner app which is less accurate.
You can find a reservations guide here:
https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm
+8Usually from October on those timetables will be slowly released, but there’s no clear line in it.
Spain, Italy and France are ex. more on the late side, making it only a couple of weeks before the new timetable. France will open reservation for Christmas period on October 1st, everything later only from half November
Switzerland, Germany, Austria are usually quite on time and should be avaible soon.
In which countries do you plan to travel?
If you need timetables to plan, just pick a random date e.g. next week, to get an indication of travel times and frequencies. The timetables usually don’t change that much. Usually only a couple of minutes few or less.
In Austria you can expect major changes though, because of a new major railway line opening between Graz and Klagenfurt.
Usually from October on those timetables will be slowly released, but there’s no clear line in it.
Spain, Italy and France are ex. more on the late side, making it only a couple of weeks before the new timetable. France will open reservation for Christmas period on October 1st, everything later only from half November
Switzerland, Germany, Austria are usually quite on time and should be avaible soon.
In which countries do you plan to travel?
If you need timetables to plan, just pick a random date e.g. next week, to get an indication of travel times and frequencies. The timetables usually don’t change that much. Usually only a couple of minutes few or less.
In Austria you can expect major changes though, because of a new major railway line opening between Graz and Klagenfurt.
I am planning to visit Italy, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, and I have purchased a Eurail Pass. I only want to make seat reservations on the trains where it is mandatory (for example, Eurostar from Paris to Amsterdam or Trenitalia from Rome to Milan).
My question is: Can I reserve seats for these trains directly through the train operators’ websites using my Eurail Pass and then add those journeys manually to the Eurail Planner app? Will this be a valid option, or should I wait until these trains become available for seat reservations on the Eurail website itself?
Yes, you can. Look at the link I provided in my previous post to find the best way to make a reservation, train operators don’t always sell Eurail reservations.. You must always add your journeys in the Rail Planner app to obtain a valid ticket, no matter where you reserve seats.
Hello, I have the same issue. I am planning to travel from Switzerland to Austria on the 14th with the Nighjet and there are no seats available. Furthermore, when I booked the trip on the Rail Planner app, it was written “Free” in bold at the bottom of the trip information so I assumed the seat rservation was mandatory but the price was included in the pass. I really don’t understand how it works and how can I book a seat online. Is it possible that Rail Planner proposes train tickets on trains that are already full?
Thank you for your help !
Hello, I have the same issue. I am planning to travel from Switzerland to Austria on the 14th with the Nighjet and there are no seats available. Furthermore, when I booked the trip on the Rail Planner app, it was written “Free” in bold at the bottom of the trip information so I assumed the seat rservation was mandatory but the price was included in the pass. I really don’t understand how it works and how can I book a seat online. Is it possible that Rail Planner proposes train tickets on trains that are already full?
You can't book anything in the Rail Planner app. In the app, you just register which train you're using; it's a replacement of the paper pass diary.
Where did you see that reservations would be free? In my app, it says "variable fees”. Could you post a screenshot?
In any case, there are still seats available, see below. You can book on nightjet.com or tickets.oebb.at. Add the Interrail/Eurail discount.
Here I have both : i have the “variable fees” but it is also written that it is “free” for the mandatory seat booking of the 14th (and it is not written for another reservation I made for the 19th so I assumed it was a particular case in which the reservation fees were included in the pass price). Also for my reseration on the 19th I have no information at all on the Interrail website to book the seat and on the OBB website the Nightjet train doesn’t appear at all, another train on the same timeline appears but with reservation fees super high. Is it normal? So sorry for all my questions it’s the first time I use interrail and I am trying to find my way in all of those specificities haha
Here I have both : i have the “variable fees” but it is also written that it is “free” for the mandatory seat booking of the 14th (and it is not written for another reservation I made for the 19th so I assumed it was a particular case in which the reservation fees were included in the pass price). Also for my reseration on the 19th I have no information at all on the Interrail website to book the seat and on the OBB website the Nightjet train doesn’t appear at all, another train on the same timeline appears but with reservation fees super high. Is it normal? So sorry for all my questions it’s the first time I use interrail and I am trying to find my way in all of those specificities haha
The price show for the 19.12 appears to be the full price. https://www.cd.cz/en/ sells the seat reservation for that train for arround 22€.
No idea why ÖBB is not givig the correct price for prag - budapest (because for the full journey of that train from Berlin-Prag it offers the same price of 21€)
As to Geneva-Vienna: IMO it's definitely a bug that it shows "free”.
As to Prague-Budapest: this looks like a bug on the Nightjet website. In the train that leaves at 0:36, you can only book seats from Prague. Couchettes/sleepers can be booked from Germany. The price for the seat is also incorrect. You probably want to use the night train at 21:58 and since ÖBB don't operate this night train, it's better to check the operators themselves, e.g. cd.cz. Add the Interrail discount and then you should see couchettes (from CZK 790). There's no through carriage with seats; you'll have to change in Břeclav if you really want a seat.
That also a good option that i noticed (10€ more for a couchette instead of a seat) unless you planned with using your pass for another train on the 19.12)
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.