Cologne Travel Forum

I tried to purchase all my train tickets (On Line)from Paris to Amsterdam via Cologne but the last leg of my journey was put "On Hold". Rail Europe states that there are construction issues from Cologne to Amsterdam. Should I cancel that leg and try when I'm there or wait until they confirm. Our trip is in September and I was already unable to get the economy seating.
Thanks,
Ken

Check train connections and fares on the websites of the national railway companies instead of using an agency like Raileurope that adds hefty surcharges and does not show all offers and connections.
For Germany: http://www.bahn.de (has timetable information for most of Europe, English version available)

Thank you Kathrin. It may be too late now unless I can cancel because of the problem...

Unless you mean you were forced into first class, please note also that there isn't really any such thing as "economy seating"! There are different prices on e.g. ICE trains for advance purchase, but the seating varies only between 1st and 2nd class, otherwise it is purely a matter of pricing (within the same class).
I don't know what dates you were looking at but for Friday 15 September I can see no issues on http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en.

P.S. Incidentally when a railway line is completely out of commission because of construction work, the train company runs buses instead, so I wouldn't put off buying a ticket just because of that, it doesn't mean you can't travel. It may, however, mean they are running fewer trains which can reduce available reservations and for some types of train there are limited numbers of the cheaper tickets.

On such a major line, however, it is more likely that trains are sent on a detour route and there is a temporary timetable with longer travel times for that period.

When looking up connections on bahn.de for your travel date such deviations or substitute buses will be shown. A major international route like this is never completely cancelled. When exactly are you planning to travel, so we can check?

There are railroad works on the Dutch side between Saturday, 12. Sep. 2009, 1am and Monday, 14. Sep. 2009, 5am.

The trains will be routed via Venlo during this time.
Some trains start/end in s'-Hertogenbosch / Utrecht Centraal instead of at Amsterdam Centraal.

> Our trip is in September and I was already unable to get the economy seating
So far in advance this is very unlikely.

We are traveling on Sept. 12. It looks like we're caught up in the same situation as Abalada. I wrote today to see if I could cancel that leg and confirm the first two. I will be traveling second class but I am paying economy rates for the first two trips. At least, that's what the web site states....

Folks,
We did reschedule or trip so that we corrected the Cologne to Amsterdam problem. We were flexible and now have all of our transportation concerns behind us. Next step is local trams/buses in each city. Thanks again!