European Rail Timetable

[CS2447]

Is it worth buying an older version ,slightly cheaper or is it redundant
Now with the online rail planners

 

[30907]

Is it worth buying an older version ,slightly cheaper or is it redundant
Now with the online rail planners

Depends how old. The major change is in December so Winter 22/23 will give a reasonable overview. Previous couple of years are distorted by Covid.

 

[181]

According to https://www.europeanrailtimetable.eu/printed-timetables-29-c.asp, the current and forthcoming printed edition each cost £24.99, and so does last winter's; an older one is only £2 cheaper, so you might as well get the latest one. (Maybe you might find one cheaper second hand, but the saving would be small compared with the cost of a European trip, and you wouldn't be supporting the continued existence of the timetable).

The digital edition costs £12.99, or a pound less for November 2022 and earlier: https://www.europeanrailtimetable.eu/digital-timetables-28-c.asp.

Journey planners, while useful, don't make timetables redundant any more than satnav makes maps redundant, but how useful the timetable is will depend on your requirements. If you're following an itinerary suggested by https://www.seat61.com, or making reasonably simple journeys where you already have a general idea of what services are available, or sticking to a small enough area to use individual operators' pdf timetables (if they provide them -- I think not all do), then online journey planners might be enough. If you want to get an idea of where you can go and when, or to see easily what the service pattern is or what alternatives there are to the itinerary suggested by a planner, you need a proper timetable.

 

[CS2447]

My journeys are April and May 2024 ,i have bought a Rail Map Europe Thomas Cook but its of little use especially when i get down Black Forest German Swiss Austrian borders area. DB's new link https://int.bahn.de/en has been a great help as im jumping trains a lot down on Day3 .

According to https://www.europeanrailtimetable.eu/printed-timetables-29-c.asp, the current and forthcoming printed edition each cost £24.99, and so does last winter's; an older one is only £2 cheaper, so you might as well get the latest one. (Maybe you might find one cheaper second hand, but the saving would be small compared with the cost of a European trip, and you wouldn't be supporting the continued existence of the timetable).

The digital edition costs £12.99, or a pound less for November 2022 and earlier: https://www.europeanrailtimetable.eu/digital-timetables-28-c.asp.

Journey planners, while useful, don't make timetables redundant any more than satnav makes maps redundant, but how useful the timetable is will depend on your requirements. If you're following an itinerary suggested by https://www.seat61.com, or making reasonably simple journeys where you already have a general idea of what services are available, or sticking to a small enough area to use individual operators' pdf timetables (if they provide them -- I think not all do), then online journey planners might be enough. If you want to get an idea of where you can go and when, or to see easily what the service pattern is or what alternatives there are to the itinerary suggested by a planner, you need a proper timetable.