So, you’ve made the decision. You’re going to take the
train to another European country. What now?
Here are your options:
Get a travel agent to do it for you.
Do it yourself.
Get a travel agent to do it for you
The best “travel agency” I have come across is not a
travel agency at all. It is a personal website originally started as a hobby by
“the Man in Seat 61.” Mark Smith’s favourite seat on the Eurostar from London
is seat 61, which he describes as “one of a cosy pair of seats facing each
other across a table” which “lines up with the window.” He is a railway
enthusiast who, early in his career, worked as a Station Manager in London, and
now runs “Seat 61” full time. His website is excellent, up-to-date and, without
doubt, the best place to go for advice about rail travel, not only in Europe,
but all over the world.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get your university
to call up “the Man in Seat 61” and ask him to book your trip for you …
… and, to make matters worse, most of the (larger)
travel agencies, which are procured by universities, are not specialists when
it comes to rail travel. This is because flying is their focus and rail travel
is a side activity. In my own experience, I have not (so far) received a
realistic plan for a rail trip in Europe (i.e., one that would not leave me stuck
at some station with a missed connection) from any of the travel agencies that
have been procured by my own employer.
Fortunately, with rising interest for European rail
travel, more rail travel specialists are emerging, and (hopefully) universities
will start using them …
In the meantime, I recommend the other option …
Do it yourself
This is, almost always, a better option than relying
on the kind of travel agencies which are procured by universities. And once you
get the hang of it, it’s surprisingly easy. With a little patience and
practise, one quickly learns how to plan, buy tickets and seat reservations for
comfortable rail journeys to just about any European destination. Helping you
get started is the purpose of this guide.
* * *
In this guide, I will specifically focus on rail
journeys between CIVIS universities. To plan any other European rail journeys,
I recommend going straight to The Man in Seat 61and:
Select the city where your journey starts.
Select your destination.
You will then be presented with one or more excellent
options for your preferred journey that actually work.
(Tip: I find it helpful to see a route on a
map. If you do too, I recommend the free Interrail Railway Map which can be
viewed and downloaded here.
The Man in Seat 61 not only explains where and how to buy
tickets and make seat reservations, but also displays an assortment of photos
and videos of the different trains you will be travelling on and the stations
you will pass through.
You will also find lots helpful information about
where to eat and where to stay overnight close to railway stations on your
route.
* * *
There are several online platforms which you
will find helpful when planning, buying tickets for, and making seat
reservations for a rail journey.
Of them, I found Rail Europe and DB
International most useful for the following reasons:
Both platforms can find routes in most European destinations.
Both platforms allows for “stopovers” for overnights
and/or increasing connection times. DB International also allows you to set a
“minimum transfer time”.
Both platforms sell “through tickets.” According to
Rail Europe, these represent “a single transport contract for successive
railway services operated by one or more railway providers”. This means that if
you miss a connection, the railway provider operating the delayed (or
cancelled) train must “immediately” offer you “continuation or re-routing,
under comparable transport conditions, to the final destination at the earliest
opportunity.” According to DB International, if you miss a connection, you can
“continue your journey on the same route or on a different route at the next
opportunity.”
Both platforms allow Interrail passholders to make
seat reservations (without buying tickets) on some routes. Rail Europe allows
Interrail passholders to purchase “passholder seat reservations” (which are
required on certain routes).
For journeys involving multiple rail providers, Omio
does not sell “through tickets”. Instead, Omio clearly states that it
sells “separate tickets”, each constituting “a separate transport contract”. In
their own words: “Connection is not guaranteed if any part of the journey is
disrupted.” For this reason, I do not recommend using Omio. To make matters
worse, Omeo doesn’t not allow “stopovers”. This means that longer rail journeys
will involve nights on trains (which are not always desirable for work trips)
and that you can’t increase connection times (which would be a good idea given
that Omeo tends to select unrealistically short ones …).
Trainplanet (very enthusiastically) informs you (correctly) that
Interrail is cheaper. However, Trainplanet is not equally clear concerning
journeys involving multiple rail providers. In their “small print”, Trainplanet
writes: “for delays or cancelled trains resulting in missed connections, we
recommend seeking assistance at the ticket office or travel centre at the
station”. This makes me suspect that they are selling separate transport
contracts (not “through tickets”). And Trainplanet seems not to allow
“stopovers” either.
Hidden away in their “small print”, Trainline
writes that the tickets you buy from them “represent separate contracts with
each of the carriers that you are booked to travel with” and that “we cannot
guarantee onward travel if a service on the first leg of your journey is
delayed or cancelled, particularly where you are making a journey using
multiple tickets including non-flexible ones”. And, Trainline seems not to
allow “stopovers” either.
Trainplanet and Trainline do refer to the “Agreement
on Journey Continuation”. (More on that in the section on “Missed
connections”.)
My recommendation: For journey planning, I recommend Rail Europe
and DB International. Unfortunately, neither site is all that good at
finding routes in Sweden. For this reason, if you are travelling to/from
Stockholm, you will also need to use SJspecifically for the part of your journey that is between Copenhagen and
Stockholm.
Here are a few “golden rules” for planning your
journey:
Plan your entire journey before buying any
tickets or seat reservations. For example, sometimes, when planning, one finds
that there are works on the railway line, which means that you need to opt for
a different route or times.
Plan your journey from finish to start. This
assumes that you know when you need to be at your destination. The start time
for your journey is then set by how long a realistic rail journey takes.
Make sure to plan realistic connections (this
“golden rule” eliminates several online booking tools – see below). Trains
(especially in Germany) are often delayed and sometimes quite substantially. As
a “rule of thumb”, I recommend minimum connection times of 1 hour for any
connection that matters to you, 2 hours if a night train is involved and 3
hours for onward journeys with Eurostar (This is to allow for “normal” delays
as well as the 45–90-minute check-in time). For example, on a journey from
Hamburg to Brussels to catch the Eurostar to London, it is far better to plan
for a relaxed lunch in Cologne (2 hours) than a stressful connection. If you
are on time: enjoy your lunch (The Man in Seat 61 has some great
recommendations). If not: grab a sandwich and get on your next train.
OK, with these golden rules in mind, let’s take a look
at how to buy tickets and make seat reservations.
