Night trains and border crossings: Europe’s best new rail routes

Our slow travel expert checks out what’s new in the European train timetables unveiled this month

Warsaw has just moved closer to Munich, Berlin nudged towards Paris, and Aachen slipped nearer to Salzburg. These are just three examples of city pairs that are newly linked, as of this week, by direct night trains. None of these city pairs currently has direct daytime trains, so the overnight options create a web of opportunities. As always in December, rail operators across Europe are introducing new schedules, along the way creating tantalising links where none existed before.

In Britain the changes ushered in with the 2024 timetables are hardly dramatic; many services have just been tweaked by a minute or two here and there. There are extra trains on weekdays between Nottingham and Birmingham and some thinning out (yet again) of TransPennine Express schedules.