Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable
Cover in 1993; elements of this version were in the cover design from 1988–2004
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| Editor-in-Chief | John Potter |
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| Editor | Chris Woodcock |
| Former editors | Brendan H. Fox (1985–2013); J. H. Price (1952–85), et al. |
| Categories | Travel reference; passenger rail transport |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 20,000 (as of 1977) |
| First issue | March 1873 (as Cook's Continental Time Tables) |
| Company | European Rail Timetable Ltd (2014–) Thomas Cook Publishing (and predecessor Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd.), 1873–2013 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | Oundle, Northamptonshire |
| Language | English, with 4-page introduction in four other languages |
| Website | European Rail Timetable |
| ISSN | 1748-0817 |
The European Rail Timetable, more commonly known by its former names, the Thomas Cook European Timetable, the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable or simply Cook's Timetable, is an international timetable of passenger rail schedules for every country in Europe, along with a small amount of such content from areas outside Europe. It also includes regularly scheduled passenger shipping services and a few intercity bus (coach) services on routes where rail services are not operated. Except during World War II, it has been in continuous publication since 1873. Until 2013 it was published by Thomas Cook Publishing, in the United Kingdom, and since 1883 has been issued monthly. The longstanding inclusion of "Continental" in the title reflected the fact that coverage was, for many years, mostly limited to continental Europe. Information on rail services in Great Britain was limited to only about 30 pages (out of about 400-plus pages) until 1954 and then omitted entirely until 1970. June 2011 marked the 1500th edition.
Although minor changes to the publication's title have been made over the years, every version included "Continental", rather than "European", from 1873 through 1987 — except for a brief period (1977–1980) when the coverage was expanded to worldwide and the name became the Thomas Cook International Timetable. From 1981, most non-European content was moved into a new publication named the Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable. "Rail" was added to the title only relatively recently, in 2005, making it the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable, but its coverage continued to include some non-rail content, such as passenger shipping and ferry timetables. The Timetable has been recommended by several editors of travel guide books for Europe, one of whom described it as "the most revered and accurate railway reference in existence".
On 1 July 2013, Thomas Cook announced that it would cease publishing the Timetable and all of its other publications, in accordance with a decision to close the company's publishing business altogether. The final Thomas Cook edition of the Timetable was published in August 2013. However, at the end of October it was announced that publication would resume, independent of Thomas Cook Group, in February 2014 as a result of agreements that had been reached allowing the formation of a new company for that purpose, European Rail Timetable Limited. The new company is owned by John Potter, who was a member of the former editorial staff. The new version does not include Thomas Cook in its title. The first issue compiled by the new company was published in March 2014, with the publication title now being European Rail Timetable.
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