Jon WorthToday I’m trying the fastest Berlin - Nuits-sous-Ravières you can do, changing only in Strasbourg and Dijon
Chances it doesn’t work: high
Chances I can blag my way to my destination anyway: also high (I’m on Interrail)
Just had to tell off an Italian guy for playing a video full volume on his mobile in the Ruhebereich (Quiet Carriage)
With 5 hours on this train it’s important to get the norms right at the start 😀
Why am I confident I’ll get to Nuits sous Ravières even if I miss my connection in Strasbourg?
Because I can go via Paris instead - which is staying on the train I am on
Yes, I don’t have a reservation for it. But it’s always easier to persuade a train manager to let you stay on than get on a train you’re not strictly allowed to take
And TERs I can take on Interrail anyway
This an interesting case
I can re-route via Paris personally as I’m on Interrail
Were I NOT on Interrail I‘d have to rely on AJC that requires *the same route* as original tickets
But that’d mean compulsory reservation trains that might be full, hence cannot be taken…
Siemens builds good trains
(Sure they’re not always perfect, but they’re never dreadful. Siemens would never build a Régiolis.)
Thinking further about this re-routing issue: my favoured re-routing if I need it (via Paris) is actually what would make most sense for SNCF as well (no trying to find space for me on another TGV)
But the rule that applies here - AJC - states precisely the opposite
I wonder how you could better allow “any suitable route” rather than same route?
Also on the Siemens builds good trains point
Desiro ML for SNCB is horrid - because SNCB ordered a terrible interior. Desiro ML for ÖBB is fine
Similarly a DB ICE 407 has a nicer interior but same engineering as a Eurostar e320
Two Aussies on Eurail have regular DB reservations to Paris, not Passzuschlag reservations. The DB train manager is being a total arse to them, blaming Eurail BV for this. NO! SNCF wants this Zuschlag. And DB communicates it badly.
AAAGGGHHHH
So I intervened
The bullshit from the train managers to the Aussies was too much, so I went and talked to them
I told the train managers their line this was Eurail's fault was bullshit (it's SNCF's fault insisting on this stupid supplement), and sorted the Passzuschlag for the Aussies on my laptop on DB's website
This train has a joint DB and SNCF crew
The line from the SNCF train manager was great when I told him SNCF will not even sell this Passzuschlag on its website
"But it's European!"
"And SNCF is not European?" I responded 😄
(SNCF doesn't want to sell it because it hates Interrail / Eurail, not because it can't sell it)
And now I have burned my bridges with the train crew
And I might need their cooperation to try to get my connection in Strasbourg
I shouldn't have been so determined to help these other passengers 😅
Also the situation for the train managers is a pain: they obviously get these Interrail/Eurail passengers with the wrong reservations on this train ALL THE TIME.
But has anyone managed to feed this back to make a better process? Obviously not... 🤷♂️
And now we’re delayed meaning my connection to Dijon is likely gone in Strasbourg
Today isn’t going very well just now 😡
But these moments are always interesting. You learn things.
To know WHAT to advocate and why in my rail campaigns it’s these times you realise what’s broken.
Here are two well meaning tourists wanting to see Europe by train, and the system has let them down.
And as ever: if you want a smooth Interrail / Eurail experience
DO NOT GO TO FRANCE
Germany *except to France* is fine on Interrail / Eurail
It’s seldom I’m this happy to see a TGV 😀
Connection to Dijon made. And I ought to be home on time
pglux.bsky.socialSo, no drama with the guards on the way to Paris
(But those are replaced with others in Strasbourg AFAIK).
WrzlbrnftWhat else would you expect in a country that
. is a leading tourist destination anyway
. loves bureaucratic hassles
. has a declining rail passenger offer?
Ajinkya Dahale@jon seems there's a supplement to italy and denmark as well? If anything Eurail only sounds more and more complicated, especially if your flights themselves are based on the cheapest train routes.
@ajinkyapdahale there are a handful of trains that have that there too. But those aren’t too complex.
@jon what countries would you suggest I stick to when using the pass, if ever the stars align that I can use it?
Tor Lillqvist@ajinkyapdahale @jon Simplified overall advice:
That depends on how much you are prepared to learn in advance the ”tricks” (if one even can call them that) specific for each country. If you flatly refuse any manadatory reservations and just want to take any train on a moment’s notice, stick to day trains within Germany, Austria, Switzerland. If you avoid the summer, you can go to Denmark, too. If you are prepared to be a bit careful and avoid trains with mandatory reservations, you can go to Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, too. And if you are prepared to stick to regional trains where necessary, you can go mostly anywhere, except further into Spain than Barcelona, and thus also Portugal. Obviously going between the Continent and the UK requires reservations.
That said, for instance for Italy, reservations for the non-high-speed long-distance ”IC” trains are cheap at 3€ and usually available on a short notice. But there is a trick, you buy such through the Austrian railways ÖBB.
@ajinkyapdahale @tml Yeah that ÖBB thing is odd, although not a major problem.
Central Europe is OK with Interrail. There are some compulsory reservation trains, but it's normally easy and cheap to get the reservations for them, and can mostly be done online.
@ajinkyapdahale @jon (For Italy, if going between cities where there are high-speed lines, paying 13€ for a reservation in a high-speed train wins a lot time-wise. For Naples–Milan 10 h vs 4.5 h.)
Lenny@tml @ajinkyapdahale @jon Slightly OT but is this the reason why I can't book tickets for Hamburg <-> Copenhagen on 06.07. already even though DB says they are bookable (always ends up in a reservation error)? And would you happen to know when they're available?
Mandatory reservations drive me mad.
@f09fa681 @tml @ajinkyapdahale Best guess: DB doesn't know yet if the train will run. But hell knows when it will know. This is always hit and miss.
Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE@jon We've mostly not gone to France since the Rainbow Warrior.
Nicovel0 🍉@jon so disappointing, could have such great inter Europe travel if not for these ridiculous pissing contests
🔏 Matthias Wiesmann@jon in Zürich, I suspect the average passenger cannot distinguish the Desiro trains from the KISS ones.
Sebastian Müller@jon the bwegt bw battery Mireoa have seats matching the windows and lots of legspace. The mainline not
Tim Tina@jon as someone with a manufacturers POV, I think this is very important to understand.
How well the train operates (reliability, cost etc.) depends mostly on the technical basis that the manufacturer has as well as the collaboration with the custumer, to match their specific operational needs.
But with most things that shape the passenger experience, the manufacturer must put in what the customer orders. Sure, you can and should make suggestions (e.g. layouting the seats to match the windows), but if you're in a competitive tender and don't get awarded any points for it, there is only so much you can justify.
@timstrutzi Sure, I totally get that. And Stadler, in my conversations with them, basically said that too me - interiors is where the customer thinks they can cut.
But some aspects - like does the train have doors that close tightly and do not rattle, has sensibly designed toilets, has good suspension - are things a manufacturer can do well (or not), regardless of customer. And that's what matters here - Siemens does that stuff generally well in my experience (as a passenger).
@timstrutzi Or - to put it practically - Siemens engineers would never allow their trains to have doors as bad as a Alstom (now CAF) Régiolis, or a ride as bumpy as a Bombardier AGC or those terrible EMUs CAF build for Media Distancia in Spain. Out of engineering pride if nothing else!
@jon does that (possibly sometimes) involve buying a second reservation?
@ajinkyapdahale Complex. It’s a grey area. A train manager *could* demand it, theoretically. But given I’d only need it if the train were late (the company’s fault not mine) they’d seldom make that demand.
@jon I see. Would it have made sense to book a reservation until Paris in the first place, assuming the price is the same? Or perhaps you must have made the reservation over the whole "connection", not just the one train.
@ajinkyapdahale Hmm, also tricky. I then leave a seat empty Paris-Strasbourg if the train does run on time! So I’m reluctant to do that. But there’s nothing to stop me doing that on Interrail indeed - Berlin-Strasbourg and Berlin-Paris seat reservations are the same price.
@jon It would feel bad indeed, but a better insurance against noncooperative conductors.
Also, it would replace a possible berlin-strassbourg + strassbourg-dijon reservation. I wasn't able to get a "seat only" quote on the DB app for this route, but for some other routes the reservation was 5.50€ regardless of whether it's one train or 3.
@ajinkyapdahale Even getting prices for Interrail seat reservations is a pain. I have Berlin-Strasbourg with DB Passzuschlag and Strasbourg-Dijon TGV reservation booked with Rail Europe
@jon Is "DB Passzuschlag" a website? Rail europe (or probably Trainline) didn't accept my Indian card once, so that's an additional drama (especially when I've heard of visas being rejected for not producing internal travel tickets).
@jon out of curiosity could you share that number? In my experience the cheapest early bird tickets are just about 10-20% over just the reservation, so for my upcoming trip I ended up canceling an eurail pass and booking a la carte.
@ajinkyapdahale €19 for Berlin-Strasbourg and €10 for Strasbourg-Dijon. But the cheapest regular ticket I could find for today was c. €150, so Interrail made sense
Passzuschlag is a special search on DB’s website
@jon On day of, of course. My particular bookings were Oct-Nov when the new timetable opened.
@jon magically, now it's showing the "seats only" reservation, but with a significantly less 5.50€ price. Is this different than the reservation with the global pass?
@ajinkyapdahale You need to use this search: https://int.bahn.de/en/buchung/start?KL=2&ET=PASSZUSCHLAG
@jon Noted. Though i still don't see why.
@ajinkyapdahale SNCF malevolence
@jon Yup just reading the main branch.
Cycling on Rails@jon @ajinkyapdahale That's the eternal problem with mandatory reservations. Once passengers have been stranded once they'll just book extra spots as an insurance if the fee is low, which leads to inefficient occupancy and more passengers blocked from traveling...
Similar situations arise with bicycle reservations, exacerbated by having only a handful of bicycle spots on long-distance trains. Btw, I still need to finish and publish my blog post comparing bicycle reservation systems in Europe. 🙃
Frank Bennett 🇯🇵@cycling_on_rails @jon @ajinkyapdahale One the Shinkansen, the problem is rather that passengers with large suitcases will park them in the small area behind the seats at the back of the train that's for reserved stowage only (including bicycles). Not a big problem, the conductors just need to ask people to move the stuff when someone who's reserved a spot needs it.
Alrick
Thomas@jon even in the regular cars that's annoying. Asking them if they want to use your headphones also does the trick ;)
Enola Knezevic