--- title: "Back on Track: A €19 Amsterdam to Paris Train Leads Europe's December Timetable Change" description: GoVolta's €19 Amsterdam to Paris train, new Nightjet cabins to Zurich, faster German ICEs, and why Munich to Rome now waits until summer 2027. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-07T20:08:14.671Z updated: 2026-11-07T20:08:14.686Z canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/europe-new-train-routes-december-2026 image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-940365.webp categories: Smart Travel content_type: News region: Europe publication: Rich Travel Magazine --- Every year on the second Sunday of December, Europe's railways move to a new timetable, and this year the change falls on Sunday 13th December. It brings a new direct line between the Netherlands and Paris, new sleeper carriages on the night train to Switzerland and faster trains across Germany. Two routes that were promised for this December, Munich to Rome and Brussels to Basel, will now start in summer 2027. For travellers leaving from London, the biggest change is Eurostar's new direct service to Antwerp from 14th December, which we covered in our guide to [the new night train from London to Lake Como](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/london-to-lake-como-sleeper-train). ## A Direct Train From Amsterdam to Paris From €19 GoVolta, a Dutch low-cost rail operator, began running trains from Amsterdam to Berlin in March 2026. From Monday 14th December it adds a daily direct train between Amsterdam Centraal and Paris Gare du Nord, with fares from €19 one way and two pieces of hand luggage included. A large suitcase costs extra. According to GoVolta's published timetable, the train leaves Amsterdam at 07:46 and calls at Haarlem, The Hague HS, Rotterdam Centraal, Lage Zwaluwe, Roosendaal, Antwerp, Ghent, Arras and Amiens (Longueau) before reaching Paris at 14:54. The return leaves Paris at 15:49 and arrives in Amsterdam at 23:29. The train uses the older conventional lines rather than the high-speed route, so the journey takes about seven hours, more than twice as long as Eurostar. In return you pay less and gain direct links that did not exist before, such as Paris to Ghent, The Hague and Haarlem, and Arras and Amiens to Amsterdam. Shorter hops between Belgium and the Netherlands or France start at €10, which makes the train an easy way to reach the Christmas markets of Antwerp and Ghent. ## New Cabins on the Amsterdam to Zurich Night Train From 13th December, the ÖBB Nightjet between Amsterdam and Zurich runs with Nightjet New Generation carriages, as Swiss Federal Railways confirmed in May. The new trains bring mini cabins, small private sleeping pods for solo travellers that cost less than a full sleeper compartment. The Dutch rail site Treinreiziger.nl reported cabins on the Zurich train bookable from €54.90. The same carriages have run between Amsterdam and Vienna and between Amsterdam and Innsbruck since spring 2025. With the new timetable, the Amsterdam to Vienna Nightjet also returns to its original route and no longer runs via Salzburg. ## Faster Trains Across Germany Deutsche Bahn's new timetable adds about 20 daily international journeys, taking the total to more than 320 a day. Three ICE Sprinter trains a day in each direction will link Hamburg and Munich in 5 hours 20 minutes, stopping only at Hanover and Nuremberg. Trains between Stuttgart and Paris rise from 10 to 12 a day, and Frankfurt to Vienna rises from 12 to 14, with the faster direct trains via Passau returning on 19th December. Hamburg gains three direct trains a day to Amsterdam, and from March 2027 Hamburg to Copenhagen runs seven times a day in each direction. Deutsche Bahn's cheapest saver fare stays at €6.99, and Bahncard prices do not change. ## Munich to Rome and Brussels to Basel Wait Until 2027 Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB and Trenitalia had planned to start direct Frecciarossa high-speed trains from Munich to Milan and Rome at this December's timetable change. The start has moved to summer 2027 while the Italian trains complete their approval tests in Germany and Austria. When the service begins, one train a day will run each way on each route, calling at Innsbruck, Bolzano, Trento, Rovereto and Verona, with the Rome train continuing through Bologna and Florence. The partners expect the journey to take about six and a half hours from Munich to Milan and about eight and a half hours to Rome. SNCF, the Belgian railway SNCB and Swiss Federal Railways will also extend the TGV INOUI between Brussels and Strasbourg to Basel from July 2027, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The train will leave Brussels-Midi at about 7am and reach Basel at about 12.30pm, and the return will leave Basel at about 2pm. Swiss Federal Railways says that with the planned times, travellers from London cannot change at Lille and reach Basel on the same day. ## Book Early and Check the Dated Timetable Long engineering works will still slow some routes. Deutsche Bahn's work between Berlin and Hanover runs until December 2027 and adds up to 80 minutes to some journeys. Check the dated timetable for your own travel day rather than the standard one, and book early for the weeks around Christmas. For more rail news, read how [Spain scrapped seat reservations on its regional trains](https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/back-on-track-renfe-seat-reservations-belgrade-trains).