Traveling this summer from Amsterdam to Cologne to Cochem to Strasbourg to Paris
Are there trains that make this route without backtracking quite a bit?

I know that there is a TGV from Amsterdam to Paris, but not sure about our route

For the segment Cologne-Cochem, you'll probably have to change in Koblenz and for the Cochem-Strasbourg segment you may have to return to/through Koblenz but otherwise I suspect not much baktracking.

You can easily check the schedules and routes yourself using the www.bahn.de site; simply pick "English" from the drop down at the opening screen and work from there. Fairly intuitive.

You don't have to wait for someone to do this for you. You can find it out on your own.
www.bahn.com
Plug in your itinerary.

When you see the list of options, hit "show details"

Hit "map view" to see the route map.

When you are dealing with high speed trains, limited "backtracking" is more of a driving concern. When traveling on high speed trains, the relevant metric is the total trip duration. Are you not using "backtracking" as a proxy for "distance" which is a proxy for "time" for a car trip but not always for a train trip.

Unlike planes, you don't have to choose the exact connection displayed. The default connection assume you are a light traveler without mobility issue who knows how to find the next train's track number. If you don't like the scheduled transfer time, you can use a later train -- if is is a reservation obligatory train, you need to book that way from the beginning.

You don't have much summer left. TGV, THALYS, ICE trains benefit from buying advance web discount tickets.

Both the TGV and the ICE serve Strasbourg-Paris.

Thank you,
I'm not trying to get schedule advice, I can handle that myself, but was trying to find out :
1. If there are different types of trains that make the same run, which is faster
2. Also best to buy a 3 country pass; advance tickets, or tickets at the station?

Since we do make some changes at the last minute, I didn't want to be tied down to advance purchase if they don't make changes (even if I have to pay extra)

Thanks

Also wasn't sure if I have to book with 2 separate train lines (ie: German/French)

For the segment from Amsterdam to Cochem, do I book: Amsterdam to Cologne, then next day Cologne-Cochem,
or
Can you book Amsterdam to Cochem, stop in Cologne, then get back on for the 2nd leg?

Some info-laden sources to shed light on questions you pose in last posts: www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

As greg said above go to www.bahn.de/en and see if you can book trains between pt A and B- it will show a price for such a ticket and you can enter a stopover time that day at least I believe. Budget Europe's home page (www.budgeteuropetravel.com) has a very detailed coverage of how to fully use the Wunderbar www.bahn.de/en official German rail site.

Strasbourg-Paris use www.voyages-sncf.com or www.thetrainline.eu.

What is your exact time frame - how many days to do all that? If that's all the trains NO to any 3-country Eurail Select Pass and doing discounted tickets at sites mentioned above will be far cheaper than any railpass but if wanting fully flexible travel to hop off virtually any train anytme then vs full fare tickets it could be a deal - just check full-fare prices on sites mentioned above.

I know that there is a TGV from Amsterdam to Paris, but not sure about our route>

It's a Thalys train Paris-Amsterdam - www.thalys.com -charges railpasses about $30 or so extra above using a day on the pass.