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Timetables and non-mandatory reservations


Hello. I’m trying to finalise plans and am looking at getting the train from Lucerne to Salzburg on Friday 26th April. I was getting confused by the slightly different options for trains depending on which website I looked at but think that was due to them only presenting options with fast connections. After a lot of searching around I found filters to increase transfer time on Rail Europe and that seems to have brought up the options that I was missing compared with Trainline. The Nightjet part says reservations are recommended but I can’t see how to select this on the Rail Europe site, though I can do so on the Interrail site.

I am wondering also if it would be best to put this as two separate journeys on to the app, ie Lucerne - Zurich and Zurich to Salzburg in case I want to change the train time for the first leg. Thank you

Best answer by rvdborgt

To search for timetables for a journey from Switzerland to Austria, you should use neither Rail Europe nor Trainline, but rather sbb.ch or oebb.at. 15 minutes to change in Zurich is fine, but you're free to use an earlier train. You can add the trains separately in the planner if you like; that doesn't make a difference.

A reservation for Nightjet is best done on www.nightjet.com (easiest) or tickets.oebb.at. Add the Interrail/Eurail discount. Reservation is mandatory in the Nightjet from Switzerland, only within Austria it's optional, but still recommended, since it can be very busy.

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  • Railmaster
  • 10552 replies
  • Answer
  • February 7, 2024

To search for timetables for a journey from Switzerland to Austria, you should use neither Rail Europe nor Trainline, but rather sbb.ch or oebb.at. 15 minutes to change in Zurich is fine, but you're free to use an earlier train. You can add the trains separately in the planner if you like; that doesn't make a difference.

A reservation for Nightjet is best done on www.nightjet.com (easiest) or tickets.oebb.at. Add the Interrail/Eurail discount. Reservation is mandatory in the Nightjet from Switzerland, only within Austria it's optional, but still recommended, since it can be very busy.


  • Author
  • Right on track
  • 7 replies
  • February 7, 2024

Thank you for such a quick response. I did try bahn.de and sbb.ch too but I still didn’t get the option I’m now probably going for. I wanted a bit longer at Zurich as this is my first Interrail trip and finding my feet a bit. 

I meant to say Railjet not Nightjet - sorry, head is spinning with it all a bit. Where is the best place to book non-mandatory reservation for Railjet Express please? Thanks for your help

 


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  • Full steam ahead
  • 4893 replies
  • February 7, 2024

  • Author
  • Right on track
  • 7 replies
  • February 7, 2024

That’s great - thank you


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