European Rail Timetable - Publication Suspended Until July

[LNW-GW Joint]

Just had an email informing of the suspension of publication of the ERT until July, restarting with the Summer 2020 version.
Apart from the steep fall in demand by travellers, the timetable itself has become almost a work of fiction with all the special country timetables and border closures/restrictions.
It remains to be seen how Europe's railways recover from an extended period of travel restrictions.
I normally just buy the Winter version to plan trips for the following year, but it would be a great loss if the ERT were to stop publication permanently.

 

[StephenHunter]

Leisure travel might bounce back pretty quickly; those unable to take summer holidays will take winter ones instead. Although there will may be some social distancing in force come winter.

 

[JonathanP]

Local leisure travel yes, but I'm not so sure about Europe-wide international travel.

Last year I took a European railway trip which involved crossing 12 borders. I think it's going to be a very long time before it will be possible to plan such a trip with any confidence of being able to carry it out without being turned back or put into two week quarantine.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The EU Commission would like the reopening of the EU's internal borders, or at least the Schengen borders, to be coordinated rather than by random local decisions.
But currently, with "states of emergency" declared in most countries, the state governments have control.
It looks like we will go our own way as is the new Brexit normal.
The DfT has at least got some agreement on maintaining links with France and Ireland, but these are minimal at the moment and largely for freight.
The key thing is social distancing and things like face masks and en route testing, and it remains to be seen how each railway implements it.
If we get into "health passporting" it will be a nightmare crossing borders.

 

[StephenHunter]

We're still in the EU free movement area until the end of the year; we're exempted from the closure of the Schengen area.

 

[181]

If anyone wants to support the timetable by pre-ordering the summer edition, or buying anything else from them, you've got until midday tomorrow (Thursday) before they shut down for two months (I'm not sure whether if you order anything else they'll send it out straight away or whether that might have to wait till July too). The website is here.