Train itinerary: Benelux, Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Ummmm . . . in NINE days???? Either change the number of days or cut the itinerary to 3 places that are in somewhat the same proximity ~ then ask whatever questions you may have concerning transportation.

Noted on your suggestion. I'm still wondering if 4-5 min. transfer time is enough and we won't miss the train.

Now I understand the question better. You are not stopping in all of those places; some are simply on the route. The 4 or 5 minute change times at Weinfelden and Konstanz should be fine. Those are small stations and the incoming train from Zürich should be on time. You might cross-check with the Swiss rail site SBB.ch to find routes that require fewer changes. For example, departing Zürich on ICE 768 you can reach Luxembourg in less than 6 hours, with changes at Basel, Strasbourg, and Metz, arriving in Luxembourg at 14:30 instead of the 16:45 you propose. the shortest change on that route is 9 minutes at Basel.

Yes, we're only passing trough some of the cities mentioned. Thank you very much for your response and suggestions. Cheers :)

Lola, I suspect the reason for the routing is not to do it in the best time but to be able to take the Schwarzwald Bahn from Triberg to Hausach, maybe also see Bodensee at Konstanz. Otherwise, the routing has a lot of regional trains for someone with a railpass. Obviously Offenburg and Strasbourg have plenty of time. Using the Bahn website, I found the arrival and departure tracks for Weinfelden, Konstanz, and Offenburg. Offenburg is a through station with a little different arrangement. Tracks 1 & 2 share a platform, 3 & 4, 5 & 6. All they have to do is go down the stairs from 5 & 6, go to the next stairs, then up to 3 & 4. They have enough time to go into the station building an grab a sandwich. Konstanz is no probem, track 1b to 1a. No platform change, just the other end. Weinfelden presents a problem. They have 4 minutes to make a two platform change (1 to 4c). It's doable as long as they are quick about it. Be at the end of the car with their luggage when the train stops, get off immediately and locate the steps. There will probably be others making the change; stay with the herd. This is a case where it pays to pack light.

That's great information as usual, Lee.

Thanks, Lee. You're also correct, we'd like to ride the train to the Black Forest line.. Your feedbacks are valuable to us. How do you know so much on the details layout for the stations? Can we find it from the web? :)

How do you know so much on the details layout for the stations? Can we find it from the web? For the most part, it requires a lot of digging, but after a while you know where to look. All the plans for all the stations in Bavaria are shown on www.bayern-takt.de (fortunately in German). Also the station plans for major stations in Germany are on the DB website, www.bahnhof.de/site/bahnhoefe/de/start.html. The RMV (Frankfurt metro) has some station plans for stations around Frankfurt on their website, www.rmv.de. You just find it here and there. I don't know why I know Offenburg. I think I found it online, but I've also been there. If you find a connection on the Bahn website, and expand it, you will sometimes see the track layout. A few years ago, I wanted to understand Bingen Hbf's tracks 101-103, and 201-203. I looked at satellite pictures of the area and finally figured out that the station sits on a wide platform with tracks 101-103 on one side and 201-203 on the other. Someone once wanted to know the track plan for Osterburken, a town in the eastern end of Baden-Württemberg. There was no station plan, but I found an old photograph, with a train sitting in the station and the track numbers displayed. There was no tunnel under the tracks then. You had to walk across the tracks between trains. You just find it here and there.