In the same way that getting vaccinated to avoid
getting ill in the first place is far less painful than getting the illness
itself and fighting it with medicine, planning a rail journey in a manner that
reduces the risk for things going wrong is far better than needing to find
solutions when something does go wrong …
The most common “illness” of rail travel is missing a
connection. The “vaccine” is to plan your rail journey with generous connection
times. How long depends on how much it matters if you make a connection. Here
are a few “rules of thumb”:
If making a connection doesn’t matter (e.g.,
connecting to a local train that runs every fifteen minutes and which is the
final leg of the day), all you need is time to walk from one platform to
another (which can be quite far in some railway stations …), a connection times
of 8–10 minutes (which is considered acceptable by several online platforms) is
probably fine.
If missing a connection would cause only small
problems (e.g., connecting to a regional train that runs regularly and, on
which, seat reservations are not required), I recommend a minimum connection
times of 30 minutes (45 minutes in Germany).
If missing a connection would cause fairly big
problems (e.g., connecting to a long-distance train on which seat reservations
are required, or a train that, if you miss it, it will have “knock-on” effects
on later connections), I recommend a minimum connection times of 1 hour.
If missing a connection would cause very big problems
(e.g., missed Eurostar, missed night train), I recommend a minimum connection
times of 2 hours (3 hours for Eurostar, because of the 45–90
minutes check-in time.) If you arrive on time, enjoy a meal near the station.
If not, grab some food to take with you and get on your next train.
If you do miss a connection, here’s what to do:
If you are using Interrail, open the “Eurail/Interrail
Rail Planner” app on your mobile device to search for a later connection. If
seat reservations are required, follow the guidance in the chapter on “Seat
reservations”.
If you have a “through ticket” (e.g., some tickets
purchased from Rail Europe of DB International), you are legally entitled to
continue your journey on the next available onward train if a delay means a
missed connection (even if it is operated by a different rail provider). You
are also entitled to a hotel room for the night if you miss the last onward
train of the day. This is because “through tickets” are covered by the CIV
(Convention Internationale pour le transport des Voyageurs). If your ticket is
a “through ticket”, you will see “CIV” printed on your ticket. According to
Rail Europe “the [rail provider] operating the delayed or cancelled service
shall immediately offer the passenger the choice between one of the following
options:
Reimbursement
of the full cost of the ticket […]
Continuation or
re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to the final destination at
the earliest opportunity [or] at a later date at the passenger’s convenience.”
In practise, this means speaking with the rail
provider of the delayed (or cancelled) train.
If you have “separate tickets” (e.g., most tickets
purchased from Omio, Trainline or Trainplanet), you may still be entitled to
continue your journey on the next available onward train if it is operated by a
member of Railteam/HOTNAT or one of the rail providers that has signed
the Agreement on Journey Continuation (AJC). (See below.) If either
apply, speak with rail provider of the delayed (or cancelled) train.
Even if none of these agreements apply, it is always
worthwhile to speak with rail provider of the delayed (or cancelled) train.
They might still assist you, even if they are not legally required to do so.
Railteam/HOTNAT
HOTNAT (“Hop On The Next Available Train”) is a
service provided by Railteam members. These are Eurostar, SNCF (French National
Railways), DB (Deutsch Bahn), SNCB (Belgian State Railways), NS (Dutch State
Railways), SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) and ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways).
“HOTNAT allows travellers to take the next available
high-speed service leaving from the same transit station as originally planned,
when a delay on or cancellation of the inbound Railteam member’s high-speed
service prevents them from making their originally-planned connection.”
HOTNAT is “free of charge” and subject to the
following conditions:
The missed connection must be between two high-speed
trains of the Railteam alliance.”
“HOTNAT is available in Railteam hubs (Basel,
Brussels, Cologne, München, Paris, Zürich) and larger connecting stations.”
“HOTNAT only applies at the transit station where the
passenger originally planned to change trains and in case of train delays and
train cancellations.”
“The approval of HOTNAT is subject to the available
capacity on board each train.”
“Seats are not guaranteed.”
Railteam advise eligible passengers to “report to the
service staff at the international ticket/service counter for delay
confirmation and HOTNAT authorization.”
Because travellers from Sweden are likely to use SJ,
Snälltåget and/or Danish State Railways (who are not Railteam members) to reach
Hamburg, HOTNAT is only helpful if a missed connection is caused by a delay
which happens onwards from Hamburg (on the other hand, German trains are often
delayed, so you might still find HOTNAT helpful …).
Agreement for Journey Continuation (AJC)
The Agreement for Journey Continuation (AJC) is an agreement between SNCF (French National Railways),
DB (Deutsch Bahn), ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways), Trenitalia (Italian State
Railways), Renfe (Spanish National Railways), SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), CD
(Czech Railways), SNCB (Belgian State Railways), NS (Dutch State Railways), CFL
(Luxembourg State Railways), DSB (Danish State Railways), SJ, SZ (Slovenian
Railways), ZSSK (Slovakian Railways), MAV (Hungarian Railways), PKP (Polish
Railways) and HZPP (Croatian Railways).
In the event of a missed connection caused by a delay,
the AJC allows passengers to continue their journey on a later train even “if
they bought several different tickets for their journey, even from different
sales channels/ticket providers” provided that “the passenger had planned
enough connecting time to change trains.”
According to the Community of European Railway and
Infrastructure Companies: “If passengers miss their connection on an
international journey, they should receive a Delay/Cancellation Confirmation.
The original ticket(s) together with this confirmation are to be presented to
the staff of the [rail provider] whose train service was missed. […] This will
enable passengers to continue their journey at no extra cost on one of the next
available trains of the [rail provider] whose service they missed and for which
they held a ticket.”
The Man in Seat 61has further advise for European rail travellers on
what to do if things go wrong here.
