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Why is adding a delayed earlier train to the pass not possible?

  • August 6, 2023
  • 6 replies
  • 283 views

Travelling around Germany last week, I found myself in the situation where I was able to catch an earlier train than planned as it was delayed.

Adding the journey to my mobile pass however was quite a hassle as it resulted in an error message saying something like “it looks like you're still on another train”. As a result it was impossible to add the respective train without removing the train I arrived on from my pass first.

Although I understand why the error message appeared (I arrived in Hamm on a train with arrival at 16.24 hrs, the train I changed to originally would have departed at 16.20 hrs so in theory this was an impossible change), I don't understand why there is no option at all to override that error and add the train anyway

In this case I ended up in first removing the train I arrived on from my pass, then adding the delayed train I took. And after disembarking at my destination doing the whole thing in reverse again to fix the gap in the statistics again.
Shouldn't this be much easier, as especially German trains can have significant delays enabling this quite frequently. (I actually almost caught another train being more than 2 hours late, that one would have been even more complicated to add)

Best answer by rvdborgt

I reported this 2 years ago but apparently Eurail don't see it as a problem because you can enter your journey manually and then the app doesn't complain about overlapping journeys.

6 replies

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  • Railmaster
  • Answer
  • August 6, 2023

I reported this 2 years ago but apparently Eurail don't see it as a problem because you can enter your journey manually and then the app doesn't complain about overlapping journeys.


  • Author
  • Rail rookie
  • August 9, 2023

Why is this topic marked as solved when nothing has been solved?


I had the same problem yesterday. I arrived at Freiburg im Breisgau at 18:18, the train in direction Basel would have left 18:14, but had a delay of 10 minutes, no problem to catch it. But as said, it was not possible to enter the journey in the app.

My solution was to shorten the previous journey a bit, I modified it to arrive at Freiburg-Wiehre at 18:13 instead of Freiburg Hbf at 18:18, then the 18:14 from Freiburg to Basel was possible 😇.

Maybe the best answer is: Don’t bother around with it. Noone really cares. In my experience, the train staff only scans the QR code, and if this is correct, they are happy. The QR code only shows the day, and no details at all about the current schedule.

And if the train staff really wants to see the schedule, just ask them how to enter it. They won’t be successful either 😜.


  • Right on track
  • November 10, 2025

I have experienced this quite a lot of times now, and it is still annoying.  

The last example yesterday: Train replacement bus from Flensburg to Kolding.  Bus departed when it was full, 20 minutes ahead of timetable.  In Kolding, the connection 30 minutes earlier worked without problems.

Entering to the interrail pass: No, not possible, you are still on the bus.  No, I myself know best that I am not.

I understand the sense of a warning message for that situation, but it really should be possible by hitting a “Yes, I actually invented a time machine, and travelled back to an impossible train”-button.


Angelo
Railmaster
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  • Railmaster
  • November 10, 2025

I think this is not possible, not because Interrial/Eurail doesn't want it, but maybe they think fraud could be possible.


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  • Railmaster
  • November 10, 2025

I don't see what kind of fraud would be possible when allowing overlapping journeys.