Mastodawn

2 weeks ago, girlfriend and me took a #nighttrain from Berlin Südkreuz to Budapest (EN 40457). On paper a 12 hour ride (20:25 - 08:29), in reality we arrived after 10 in the morning, since the train just stood around in Bratislava for at least an hour ("something with the rails" according to the conductor) and we started out with a >30minutes delay from Berlin.

I requested compensation through the #ÖBB -bot (which worked very well actually) and got a reply later on: denied, system says no, you arrived with less than an hour of delay.

What I noticed during our ride, is that somewhere after Břeclav (Czechia), our train state in the DB app stopped updating and it didn't take our Bratislava-delay into account anymore.

#crossBorderRail

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Cycling on Rails 3d ago

@quin_antarctic I also often notice the same thing where delays are not properly tracked across borders. Train operators generally only see delay within their "home" country but default to "on time" once abroad.

In my opinion, this is why the upcoming EU regulation on passenger rights should include mandatory tracking of delays across Europe in an open data manner. There cannot be effective compensation if operators pretend delays don't happen. cc @erpu @jon @stefanlindbohm @bovine3dom

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Cycling on Rails 3d ago

@quin_antarctic @erpu See my experience last December on the Munich-Warsaw night train, where finding an accurate source for the delay was challenging: https://mastodon.social/@cycling_on_rails/115807268291974432

Basically, if the Interrail app cannot get the delay data right, there's a serious open data problem from the railway operator.

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Quin 3d ago

@cycling_on_rails @erpu Ah wait, I forgot about the part where this train was indeed also split up/combined. Our train was a combined EN40457/NJ457 combination from Berlin (from Warsaw actually I guess): EN to Budapest, NJ to Vienna.
So I assume ÖBB/DB will have ÖBB-data (Nightjet) up until Břeclav. Then it is split up/combined and I guess they are dependent on the Hungarian MAV for info (that should be the operator on the EN40457). Which didn't work then.

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Cycling on Rails

@quin_antarctic There are more details here: https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=DB&kategorie=EN&cislo=40457/@&nazev=&rok=2026&lang=en

Essentially yes, the Břeclav-Budapest segment combines trains coming from Berlin, Prague, Warsaw & Przemyśl. I would say that the Hungarian railways MÁV are most likely to have had the delay data upon arrival?

vagonWEB » Train compositions » 2026 » DB EN » EN 40457

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Quin 3d ago

@cycling_on_rails Hmm, looking at MÁV's site (https://mavplusz.hu), the timetable for this connection of last week shows not a single delay, and it doesn't go back further than last Sunday.
The planner doesn't go back at all.
So maybe it did, but definitely not anymore.

Come to think of it: we booked our tickets through ÖBB, you'd also expect the ÖBB to have a requirement in place, that they are able to see delays of trains for which they sell tickets, to prevent this kind of thing in the first place.

Menetrend és térkép: vonat, VOLÁN busz, helyi járat | MÁVPlusz

Menetrendek és térkép: valós idejű vonat, VOLÁN busz, HÉV és TramTrain menetrend. Útvonaltervező helyközi és helyi utazáshoz, akár Budapesten is. | MÁVPlusz

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Quin 3d ago

@cycling_on_rails I didn't know about vagonweb.cz yet though, another black hole to lose myself in I guess... Thanks!

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Cycling on Rails 3d ago

@quin_antarctic Yeah, it's a pretty cool resource! I really like the photo gallery, probably the most complete "Wikimedia for train pictures" out there 🙃 I'm thinking to contribute once I get the time to sort my pictures as there are still occasional gaps here and there.