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Interesting Train Maps for Europe

These are great for finding out where the trains actually go. And why there are some places that just don't show up on the usual sites.

Also I found that Rome2Rio is way to buggy to rely on. I keep reporting the problems of odd results and they keep telling me there are issues...

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ You can zoom in to anyplace in Europe and see if train lines go there.

https://www.chronotrains.com/en You can use this to provide a graphic look to estimate times from any station to somewhere else, like to see where you can take a short day trip in X number of hours, up to 8 hours max.

https://direkt.bahn.guru/ This provides you a graphic of Direct Connections from any train station, with time it takes to get there

We are doing a 4 month trip around Europe next spring and these made planning the probable routes much easier to plan.

One such thing I found was we may end up in Tirano after coming down the Bernina Express, and all the routes from there went back to Milan, adding hours to get to our next stop either in Verano or Venice. But OpenRailwayMap showed me that I could take a 30 minute taxi ride (or 1 hour bus ride) to Edolo and train direct to the main line in Rovato, bypassing Milan and saving hours of sitting on a train.

-Bill

Posted by
1542 posts

Thanks for the Links! I found that Rome2Rio assumed that everyone is a high roller and only selects the "Best" places; read "Expensive". I guess we can't depend on AI unless we can be more specific in our requests...sorry she who shall not be named!

Posted by
82 posts

The real problem with R2R is odd results. This is just one example of crazy results I received when looking for a way from Milan to Zurich then added Chur and suddenly there is only a bus option from Milan to Zurich, no more Trains in the list. But it does still list trains from Zurich to Chur.. Its odd results like that which make me wonder who is programming the app. That has happened many times the last few weeks of trial and error planning.

Posted by
667 posts

Ooooh, I love stuff like this. Thank you!

As for R2R, I've heard it's not reliable before, so I use it as a first step, but go to the direct app or site to confirm.

Posted by
82 posts

Yes, as mentioned in the OP...

30 minute taxi ride (or 1 hour bus ride) to Edolo

Posted by
3224 posts

You will also find rail network maps on the websites of national or regional providers.

Example: network maps of Deutsche Bahn for Germany. ICE / IC are the long-distance trains; the others are the rail network maps of German states.

Posted by
1333 posts

I've found that loading the national rail lines' apps onto my phone when I'm traveling in those countries has saved me immense grief. In Italy I'm using "Trenit!," which is superb. The Belgian, Dutch, Austrian and Polish apps have also been very good. SNCF in France and Renfe in Spain likewise. I just remove the apps when I'm no longer using their trains.