The integrated periodic timetable (ITF) is widely seen to be the most economical approach to serve the needs of Central European settlement structures with relatively short distances between rather small urban areas, whereas high–speed lines are better suited for long distances between large metropolitan areas. Many countries are about to start or have already started installing ITF across their railway networks. Others are running either regional networks or single lines in periodic timetables. Infrastructure development in these countries is more and more based upon the needs of ITF compliant railway operation. Furthermore, the latest review of TEN-R no longer talks of (high–speed) lines, but of (integrated) networks.
The growing number of different European networks that follow ITF principles increases the demand for a multilateral, systematic approach towards international timetable coordination as well as infrastructure development to avoid incompatibilities of both timetables and infrastructural measures between the highly interlinked Central European countries.
Based upon several previous studies dealing with both the theoretical and especially mathematical principles as well as the practical application of ITF and ITF compliant infrastructure development, a systematic approach to a supra–regional integrated timetable is presented. It shows that infrastructure investment is substantially more effective if it follows a systematic and therefore ITF based operational concept. Especially the relatively small sizes of countries in the central and South–Eastern European area lead to a high level of mutual interdependency between current timetable development and future national infrastructure projects. We should therefore consider the forthcoming sizeable investments in railway infrastructure in a multilateral context to identify potential problems, aimed at taking full advantage of a future pan–European integrated timetable.

railway, passenger transport, ITF, international integrated timetable, periodic timetable